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Do college students who attend a Catholic university make different New Year's resolutions than students from secular universities? Some people assume there is no significant difference because most young adults appear to have similar values, regardless of their campus affiliation. Others, especially parents who know the cost of a private education, might hope for some diversity.
In December, 58 students attending a Catholic university submitted three resolutions for 2015. Their 174 responses were distributed into six categories and sorted according to the following rank order:
1. Personal growth - 31% - which encompassed goals like making new friends, learning to play a musical instrument, inventing an app, developing a more optimistic outlook on life and traveling abroad.
2. Healthier living - 23% - which meant more visits to the gym, consuming less fast food and getting an appropriate amount of sleep.
3. Education - 22% - which ranged from improving class attendance and GPA scores to acquiring better time management skills for turning in assignments early instead of waiting till the last minute.
4. Money issues - 12% - which focused on finding a better-paying job as well as curtailing spending.
5. Family - 11% - which amounted to allotting more time for loved ones.
6. Spirituality - 1% - which, although last, did not appear to be least because these included resolves like going to church regularly and developing a closer relationship with God.
Although there are similarities between Catholic and secular universities, there are also noteworthy differences. For example, examine these suggested resolutions for any college students, which were posted by adults who claim to be experts on campus living. Are the six below comparable to or divergent from the six above?
1. Drinking: do not trust the jungle juice. For those of us who are older than 18, jungle juice refers to a bowl filled with multiple liquors, which apparently is a common fixture at some frat parties.
2. Sleep late: never sign up for morning courses. This would be an unfortunate resolution for Catholic institutions, which begin teaching before 7 a.m. so that adjunct professors and ambitious students can be at work by 9 a.m.
3. Clubs: connect with any crowd you can. Shouldn't students be selective about which organizations they join? A language group is one thing. But keeping co-curricular activities in check might be a much wiser suggestion since the primary goal of college should be learning not mingling.
4. Friends: spend some time with off-campus agemates. Most students don't have enough hours to juggle their studies, jobs, family members and on-campus friends let alone connecting with outside cohorts. If students have that much free time, wouldn't their résumés be more enriched by displaying hours of volunteer work or tutoring sessions?
5. Student files: give away last semester's books and notes to underclassmen. Is this really a good idea? Textbooks are expensive and class notes may actually become a valuable resource in the future. Perhaps a smarter resolution would be to sell used books back to the campus store and gather notes into a more permanent, searchable storage entity.
6. Don't make any resolutions at all: statistics show that most people break them before the end of January. This idea of not making any New Year's resolutions is actually terrific advice for all college students, Catholic or otherwise, and for all adults too. Why? It's logical. The only way to break this resolution before February is by actually making resolutions and then keeping them.
For Holy Homework:
Do not make any New Year's resolutions on January 1. Then break this resolution within 31 days by a resolve to say one daily prayer that all college students will keep the good resolutions they make, especially those that pertain to their spiritual growth and their relationship with God.
Comments can be sent to: FatherBobPagliari@Yahoo.com
