College Pressures
Introduction
One of the deans in Yale University said that one of the reasons why University students fall victims of college pressures is because “They are struggling to find an edge, something subtle that will turn out better on paper" (Liebendorfer, 2011). The dean claimed that the way people appear on paper in the contemporary society has become more important than the way they appear in real life. The predominant college pressures on University students are characterized by the urgency to excel in academics at all costs and at the same time maintain a high social caliber.
College pressures
College pressures vary from type, degree and intensity, and they also range from one continent to another. Whereas the most common cause of these pressures is not clear, experts like the sociologist Adam Liebendorfer, who explored the rituals and life lessons of the college drinking scene and argued that an individual’s psychology, have claimed that biology or personality is responsible for the denoting of an individual’s behavioral traits. Therefore, an individual’s body chemistry can affect his or her chances of developing addictions such as alcoholism (Liebendorfer, 2011).
According to William Zinsser, four kinds of pressures affect most students in Woodbury University. The types include parental pressure, self-inflicted pressure, peer pressure and economic pressure. Zinsser argues that looking very good is not enough, especially for students that are enrolling for law or medicine school. Students know that entrance into these schools will guarantee better law firms and hospitals hence more money and better job security. The pressure is heavier on students that aimed at only graduating and getting employed. The students...
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...ore change is a stimulant and the windows are not codified, and neither is the barrier closed” (Zinsser, 1978).
Conclusion
Ultimately, it will take the initiative of the individual student to break the shackles that he or she is entrapped in. They are young and should therefore not be focused in the dreams of their parents and the fears of their classmates. They must be encouraged to believe in themselves as men and women capable of designing their own future. Students assume that they have begun life in their present professions knowing that it was what they would have liked to pursue. Most of them however achieved successful careers through circular twists of events characterized by many about-turns.
References
Liebendorfer, A. (2011). The Social Network. (T. V. Ven, Ed.) Getting Wasted, One.
Zinsser, W. (1978). College Pressures. The Norton Reader, 2.3 and 4.
From the beginning of high school, students strap on their seatbelts and prepare for one of the most vigorous races of their lives – becoming successful. With the rare occurrence of a break, kids are expected to keep on driving as fast and as powerfully as they can in order to get into a “great” college, which would be followed by graduate school and then an actual job that would make a lot of money. In American society, common values include working hard, determination, and being so productive that free time is not even a question. However, this philosophy is taking a major toll on American college and high school students. For at least 40 years, America’s future has been steadily growing unmotivated, tired, and hopeless due to the overemphasis on performing well in school. This phenomenon is appropriately expounded in William Zinsser’s “College Pressures”, which takes a look at the top four sources of tension that cause these feelings of dejection and agitation. After reading this article, I came up with a few solutions to this national problem. It is time to switch the harsh, over-encouraging green light of education to a comfortable yellow one. In order to make this ideal transition, directors of education across the country need to primarily reduce the amount of out-of-class assignments, lighten the grading system, and incorporate days in the school year that allow students to express their thoughts about school and provide useful feedback.
Many people believe that students that encounter hard lives will commit academic sins. However, many professionals that successfully graduated college while having struggles in their lives, proved otherwise. In fact, Culpepper mentioned in his composition, “The Myth of Inferiority”, students might succeed in any academic institution, even if they experience hard lives (330). Also, he states that students with light loaded routines have the same chances to fail in college (330). For instance, there are a few important keys that contribute immensely to a student’s success. For example, they can be the student’s commitment, student’s self-judgment for registering in his/her compatible academic level, and the professor’s willingness and professionalism to mentor students with different
Scrivo, K. (1998, March 20). Drinking on campus. CQ Researcher, 8, 241-264. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/
While college times today are faced with more and more peer-pressure there are ways on getting through this. Everyday college students are pressured to either not go to class or leave work till the last minute for a little bit of fun. Surrounding yourself with positive people who share similar values helps a lot in overcoming this. I...
College student drunkenness is far from new and neither are college and university efforts to control it. What is new, however, is the potential to make real progress on this age-old problem based on scientific research results. New research-based information about the consequences of high-risk college drinking and how to reduce it can empower colleges and universities, communities, and other interested organizations to take effective action. Hazardous drinking among college students is a widespread problem that occurs on campuses of all sizes and geographic locations. A recent survey of college students conducted by the Harvard University School of Public Health reported that 44 percent of respondents had drunk more than five drinks (four for women) consecutively in the previous two weeks. About 23 percent had had three or more such episodes during that time. The causes of this problem are the fact that students are living by themselves no longer with parents or guardians; they earn their own money; students need to be a part of a group, be accepted; and they have the wrong idea that to feel drunk is “cool.”
The “push to be perfect” (Thomas) is at an all-time high. Pressure for perfection from peers, parents, teachers and coaches is so unreasonably high that many students don’t think that they will ever be able to achieve it. A student feels that it is impossible to get good grades, be athletic, in multiple organizations, and most of all appear to be happy. Students have turned to cheating, drug/ alcohol abuse, and even suicide to try and cope. They are competing with friends for top spots, and believe that if they don’t beat them, they are a failure. Not only other students, but parents play a big roll, too. Their own parents and the parents of their peers will compare kids. New Trier High School’s Jim Conroy said that the biggest problem about pressure comes from the parents who compare (Robbins). With all...
Weshler, Henry, and Wuethrich, Bernice. Dying to Drink: Confronting Binge Drinking on college campuses. Chicago: Rodale Inc., 2002. Print.
Binge Drinking is an intriguing phenomenon that many college students take part in all across the country. The issue of binge drinking has been a problem on college campuses for decades. Binge drinking has many horrible effects, but the problem starts with the causes for it. If the causes could be controlled then the issue would not get out of hand. Many college students give different causes for their drinking problems, and experts on the subject have their explanations as well. The problem is, while growing through adolescence anything can become an excuse for drinking, such as ¡§its Thursday the day before Friday, we need to drink¡¨ or, ¡§it¡¦s the last Wednesday of the semester, lets get some beer.¡¨
Binge or excessive drinking is the most serious problem affecting social life, health, and education on college campuses today. Binge or excessive drinking by college students has become a social phenomena in which college students do not acknowledge the health risks that are involved with their excessive drinking habits. Furthermore college students do not know enough about alcohol in general and what exactly it does to the body or they do not pay attention to the information given to them. There needs to be a complete saturation on the campus and surrounding areas, including businesses and the media, expressing how excessive drinking is not attractive and not socially accepted.
...y to increase their alcohol consumption during the first year of college, and those who drink before beginning college are more likely to continue drinking throughout college and into their adult lives” (Grekin & Sher, 2006; Hartzler & Fromme, 2003). The conclusions that were reached through this experiment by the authors help add to our current level of understanding about this specific topic. High risk drinking and drug use is an extremely dangerous thing that usually leads to addiction, over-consumption and in some cases the most unfortunate event, death.
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
The cost of college can promote a serious and focused class environment. Perhaps the rising costs can be attributed back to public money that has been too easy and a lax work environment (Wobbekind 93). An increase of college cost may be subliminally inforced to filter out individuals who will work harder in their studies from those who do not have the ability to keep up. A constant internal consideration of the price may push students to do their best in order to avoid thwarting their chance to better themselves. However, this constant internalized conflict often proves detrimental to those seeking
Social influence/peer groups were one of the dominant themes in my observations, surveys, and literature. Social influence looks at how individual thoughts, actions and feelings are influenced by social groups (Aronson, 2010).The desire to be accepted and liked by others can lead to dangerous behavior. College life can be an overwhelming experience for first time college students and transfer students as they struggle to manage class time and social activities in an attempt to fit in in the new environment that they may not be used to. Students can experience too much anxiety and drop out of college or fall behind in classes. Working at the Campbell Student Union information Center, I observed a great deal of students falling into this trap of social influence and peer pressure.
College for an incoming freshman is exciting, however, it is often focused on the social aspect such as the connections that can be attained through Greek life, parties and independence. Due to the social interactions, freshmen tend to drop out of college after their first year. Focusing on what college is meant for can prevent these situations. The pressures of college such as impressing parents, and maintain a high standard GPA-wise can lead to stress and freeze a student from achieving the proper academic performance. During the mid 1900s, college was considered more of a luxury than anything; people would attend college exclusively to acquire knowledge in hopes of obtaining a career after graduation. People in the twenty-first century, however, attend college to get away from home and enjoy freedom at parties. Education is taken lightly, and those who feel that education isn’t the main focus of college should not apply for sakes of the greater good.
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