I can’t get on with my colleagues in my student organization — should I quite?

Yes if it is distracting you from your degree, says our elder. But it could be a valuable opportunity to learn how to get along with people.

Dear EWC

In my university, we have many organizations, but the leader of those organizations is the Student Congress and I’m a part of it. I like my job there; however, I don’t like some of the students there — perhaps we can call them my colleagues. They stressed me out and I’m really uncomfortable with them. I had a big fight with one of them months ago and still couldn’t get rid of the anger until now. I can’t get along well with them and they are horrible. I really want to quit. The organization is really depressing, but I still have work to do there.

Ketchman replies

In my opinion, the primary reasons to attend university is to get an education that will help you to become a better informed and capable citizen of the world and your country; and, depending on the program you’ve enrolled in, prepare you for a career. If your work with the Student Congress is obstructing those objectives to such a degree that you may fail to achieve them you should give serious consideration to leaving the Congress. It’s very important to always remember what your primary objectives are and not become distracted by other, less important, concerns.

I suggest that, before making your resignation, you give careful consideration to the opportunities that your present situation is providing. If you are planning a career after graduation you will, at times, find yourself in situations where you will be working or associating with people whom you don’t like and who make you uncomfortable. It may not be possible to distance yourself from those people and so your present situation might be a good training opportunity. I don’t know the details of your disagreements and can’t, therefore, offer any specific suggestions. Every job you will ever have will come with certain obstacles to be overcome. Among those obstacles will be certain people whom, for whatever reason, you will have difficulty working with. Learning the skills necessary to work with those people will be enormously helpful to your success, whatever career path you might choose. If you’d like to provide some details I might be able to offer some suggestions.

I wish you success in whatever you choose to do. Please call on us again, whenever you’d like a bit of advice or another opinion on anything you could use some help with. We’ll always do our best for you.

Letter #: 444444
Category: School