In Ghana, as a person grows from childhood to adulthood there are many things that will affect him or her one way or another. In my community, if you are a child you are meant to conform to whatever instructions you are given. If you are an adolescent then you are subjected to this stereotype, "You're too young to be an adult and too old to be a child." This simply implies that adults expect you to stand aside quietly when they make decisions concerning your life and the children expect you to be in a certain league of responsibility that restricts you from being their play-mate. To be called an adult, there should be signs of maturity and the attitude of helping to solve problems which pose danger to the community as a whole. Many at times adulthood in my community is ranked according to the age factor but the vital thing is having a good educational background.
During my childhood, I was unconcerned, unperturbed and unaffected by everything and everyone around me. My days were indeed dictated by the whims and trends of the moment. This ranged from the selection of the day's game to the latest prank available. Laziness and idleness were two vital attitudes which reigned in my childhood. This is because the advantage of you not washing your own clothes, not cleaning the household and not to forget helping in the kitchen made me so. Not only did I enjoy the above benefits but I also didn't feel the struggle my parents were going through to cater for me. On the contrary, freedom to do whatever I wanted was never permitted due to the high level of discipline in my family.
Unfortunately adolescence strolled in and messed up this balance with its associate complications: break in voice, growth of pubic hair, attraction to and constant obsession to the opposite sex. Since adolescence heralds in the feeling of independence, I also had that feeling of depending on myself. Although that period had just begun, it was as though I had just evolved into a young man. During my adolescence, the freedom I wanted finally came to light when I became a boarder at St. Augustine's College.
This freedom I had in mind due to the fact that I was going to stay away for 3 months from the custody of my parents was different from what my school offered. The freedom promised by my school was fleeting, strained and elusive. You aren't really free, in actual fact you are actually more restricted in school more than at home. Nevertheless, those three months were a pre-cursor to a month of enjoyment during vacation. In other words, I had in mind that I was suffering to gain. Vacations may be overrated because some people from other communities talk about parties but in my situation the "respect" of getting that far in your education was a huge step to my adulthood. This is because there is the belief that the knowledge acquired will be of benefit to the community in terms of solving problems.
The distinction between those who have made it and those who didn't becomes very clear. It becomes so dramatic, emotional and depressing in most cases. At this point even though I wasn't yet an adult I was seen so because I stand out amongst my peers who couldn't make it. The feeling of me completing high school came into mind but what actually kept me going was the heavy burden which I carried, that is finishing hard and helping to solve problems at home and in the community. The realization that I needed to give back to the community was the beginning of my adulthood even though I am still an adolescent. After my 3 years in St. Augustine's College my parents said to me, "children go to boarding school but men come out."
Stephen, you have a wide net thrown for this essay in terms of topics being discussed. There are a number of points that you mention which tells me that this is a college application essay. However, I am not sure about what prompt you are trying to answer. It would really help us in reviewing your essay if we knew what the prompt is so that we can make the proper recommendations regarding the content and adherence to the essay prompt. There is room for content improvement in the essay, but that will depend upon where the essay topic should be headed. The grammar errors can also be corrected once the topic and content of the essay has been modified and revised to suit the prompt requirements. I look forward to hearing about the essay prompt so that I can offer you better advice regarding how to narrow down the topic for discussion in this essay and how to best present your content.
