The Right to Freedom

On the 2nd of September I attended, what was largely believed to be, the event of the semester. The Engineers Breakfast is basically an event which is created to relieve some of the stress which engineers carry around with them all year round. Created for engineers but attended by mainly Bachelor of Arts students, the Engineers Breakfast has always been one of the most epic annual events held by students at the University of the Witwatersrand.

A day created for partying from 6 a.m-2 p.m flowing with lots of alcohol and of course, food! I, for one, did not expect to get as drunk as I did, but hey, freedom is an amazing thing. I did have a lecture to attend but guest lecturers aren't really exciting and besides, I got to see loads of people and meet lots of new people as well. So, the question is, should students be granted the right to unrestricted freedom? I say, hell yeah! How else are we going to learn to handle life in general? Having freedom comes with making mistakes and by making mistakes, we ultimately learn more and become more responsible. I'm a very responsible person and even though I did get really drunk, I had friends around me who took care of me, that's where responsibility comes in. Some people were getting really sick and there was no one around to help them, that's very irresponsible. If you know that you're going to be drinking to the extent of possible alcohol poisoning, you should make sure that you have at least one sober friend with you or be around responsible friends who will take care of you, even though they've had a couple of shots themselves.   

Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, a student knows this better than anyone else. You know that you shouldn't be doing certain things such as partying the night before a test or getting drunk before attending a lecture and often, 85% of students take on this responsibility. As for the other 15%, they simply just need a shove in the right direction. University, if not high school, is supposed to teach you to be more responsible, when to have a good time and when not to have a good time, when to work and when to play. Everybody fools around in University, no doubt, even the nerdiest student, but we know when to buckle down and get our lazy butts into gear and actually work. Passing is almost inevitable if you're responsible enough to attend lectures and tuts regularly, simple as that. How responsible you actually are will determine how successful you'll be in your varsity career.

Parents who shackle their kids in high school and don't let them go out often enough are going to have real problems when their kids go off to varsity. Also, giving your kid a curfew is not going to teach them to be more responsible. My parents never ever gave me a curfew but I had enough sense to know what time to go home and that at the end of the day, it was my mom and dad who were coming to pick me up and I certainly was not going to call them at 3 in the morning. This taught me to be more responsible, not a stupid curfew. In varsity, there's no such thing as curfews or bells that ring in between lectures, the school system is no longer there, freedom is everywhere. So, parents who might be reading this, I'm not saying don't keep your kid on a leash, I'm saying expose them to the real world and let them grow up before they're so sensitised that they actually don't know the difference between the real world and their world. Varsity is a whole new experience and you certainly don't want your kid to be antisocial. 

Freedom to a student is the best thing in the world, especially to students who live in residences or in flats and students who own cars. The thing is, students are adults. Most of us can handle the great responsibilities which come with freedom. Bunking lectures or tuts is only done if you know you can afford to miss it. Bunking tuts might not be a good idea but if your lecture slides are going to be on WebCT and if you know that the lecturer is just going to stand there and repeat everything that's on the slides, you can afford to miss that one lecture but you also realise that you have to work super hard to make up for it as well. 

I love having freedom. Freedom is amazing, especially when you're 7 hours away from home and your parents aren't there to question you about your various whereabouts. It's always good though to give your parents a phone call and tell them that you're going to a party or event, which is what I still do to this day, just in case anything serious happens. That again is showing responsibility. My parents don't ever tell me not to go somewhere but in the unlikely event that they do, I will not go, because I know it's for my own safety. Lots of freedom with lots of responsibility, yes, quite amazing. 

The right to freedom is just that..a right. You can not deny anybody the right to freedom, unless you live in a communist country. Some people possess freedom with great difficulty while others handle it with ease, it just depends on your upbringing, morals and values, parents and all that jazz. Love life, love freedom, love responsibilities, it will make you a stronger person at the end of the day :)

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves"

-Abraham Lincoln

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."

-Mahatma Gandhi

"Freedom is the oxygen of the soul."
-Moshe Dayan