Every good school or college has a hostel for its students. Hostel life is challenging yet exciting. It offers numerous advantages but also comes with its set of disadvantages. It provides board and lodging to students who come from distant areas. One can clearly tell the difference between a student who lives in a hostel and one who lives with parents and goes to a regular school. Those who get the opportunity to stay in a hostel are likely to become bolder and more confident. It kills narrowness of mind. However, they may also incur certain negative traits.
Advantages of Hostel Life
Let us first look at the advantages of hostel life:
Teaches Independence – A hostel provides a congenial atmosphere for study. Hostel life teaches students to become more independent. Serious students learn many good things in hostels. They learn to take charge of their life by taking decisions solely in different situations. It broadens the mind and makes a student fully accommodative in all circumstances of life.
Boosts Confidence – Students are faced with different situations and meet all types of people while living in a hostel. They have to do everything for themselves. Dealing with different situations and people over the years boosts their confidence. This creates in them the habit of self-reliance. They are better prepared to tackle various challenges in life. Self-help is the best help and the students here are automatically trained in the lessons in self-reliance.
Instils Discipline – Hostels have a certain set of rules that need to be followed at all times. All the students are to abide by strict discipline. The students are expected to wake up, take a bath, reach their college and sleep at the same time each day. The students have to lead a disciplined life and they learn regularity and punctuality. This instills discipline in them. Students learn how to live together in perfect harmony and mutual cooperation.
Introduces to Various Cultures – Students from various cultural backgrounds come to stay in the hostels. They have the opportunity of reading newspapers, magazines and other useful books in the reading room attached to a hostel. Living with each other day in and day out, the students learn about their culture and traditions.
Builds Long Lasting Friendships – Staying away from the family, hostel buddies are there to take care of each other. It teaches you a lot of other things like teamwork, helping your roommates, a sense of unity and adjustment, etc. The hostel is the place where people make long-lasting friendships and memories to cherish forever.
Teaches New Skills – Hostel students need to do all their tasks on their own. This life tends to develop healthy competition and mutual co-operation among hostellers. They learn several new skills such as washing clothes, ironing them, cleaning their room, keeping their books tidy, purchasing stuff on budget and even cooking.
In many hostels, the students have to manage the mess as well. This helps them to learn how to manage a home and spend money carefully. They are allotted time for sports, games and some other healthy diversions. Therefore, hostel-life is a preparation for domestic life later.
