Jonathan Ho
July 7, 2008
Essay 1 (Final Draft)
Drive alone VS. Carpooling
In the United States, almost everyone owns a car. Driving is a life skill since most of the cities’ transit system is not an efficient way and an easy way, because the country is so big and public transit just cannot cover every place. As a result, driving a car and owning a car is significant advantage for everyone. People usually learn driving when they are teenagers. College students own a car is very common. They usually drive alone or carpool to school. Because of the high gas price and the importance of attendances in college, students should carpool to school, rather than drive alone.
The gas price is increasing rapidly over the recent years, which becomes a financial problem for college students. In 2004, the average regular gasoline price is about two dollars per gallon. In comparison to now, the gas price went up above four dollars per gallon. Consequently, the high gas price puts more stress to the college students because they are only dependent on the limited allowance and their part-times jobs. For students who are driving alone to school, they are on their own. They cannot share the high expense for gasoline with someone else, while they have a tight budget for textbooks and lunches, or other expenses. In addition, they need to work in part-times jobs until they can pay the heavy bills, rather than study. In contrast, the students who are carpooling to school, they are more joyful. They have lower expense on transportation, and they can buy supplemental books and eat in a better place rather than the low-price fast food restaurants. Moreover, they do not have to work a lot and they have more time to study or play sports. College students should carpool to school because they can share the expense on transportation, so they can use the extra money and time efficiently.
Another reason the college students should carpool to school is the importance of attendance. Students should not be late or absence in any college classes because they have more challenging curriculum and they need to understand it. If students are late or skip for class because they drive alone to school, it is necessary for them to spend much more time on study outside the classroom in order to cover what they missed. Therefore, it is a good idea to have someone able to urge them to school. On the other hand, students who are carpooling to school will have good attendances, because they can encourage each other to go to class and keep a good attendance. Therefore, carpool with someone is a better way for keeping good attendance in college.
College students should carpool rather than drive alone to school. The expense for transportation will not be a problem for them and they will decrease the chance of being late or skipping classes. They absolutely get more benefits from carpool to school, instead of drive alone.
