There are many adults who face great pressures. On the other hand college students have a lot of things going for and against them. They face many trials, tribulations, and bumps along the journey of a higher education. In William Zinsser’s article, “College Pressures”, the author articulates one student’s comment stating, “I desperately need a dean’s excuse for my chem midterm which will begin in about one hour. All I can say is that I totally blew it this week. I’ve fallen incredibly, inconceivably behind.” That is just one example of student’s college pressures. We as a society must help this situation by lending a helping hand to young adults. There are many types of college pressures that trouble college students such as economic pressures, peer pressures, and self- induced pressure.
One type of pressure that troubles college students is economic pressure. Zinsser writes, “They live in a brutal economy. Tuition, room, and board at most private colleges now comes to at least $7,000, not counting books and fees. This might seem to suggest that colleges are getting rich. But they are equally battered by inflation.” Many students are facing problems within their school finances. On the other hand as the article articulates, colleges are not getting rich as students think. There is a bigger picture to look at according to the article. Tuition only covers 60% of what it cost to educate a student, and usually 40% is from endowments, grants, and gifts. Before we place ourselves into a something we must do some research. While economic pressure is one type of college pressure, another type is peer pressure.
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Zinsser writes, “In the late 1960’s,” one dean told me, “The typical question that I got from students was,” ‘Why is there so much suffering in the world?” or “How can I make a contribution?” Today it’s, “Do you think it would look better for getting into law school if I did a double major in history and political science, or just majored in one of them? Many others deans confirmed this pattern.” Many students are in an illusion believing that they have to have all of these different credentials to prove their worth for a job. On the other hand many students have evolved over the years which makes this situation complicated. As the article articulates, in the late 1960’s questions were different than today’s questions from students. Many of us have lost the fact that we are being sub concisely programmed to keep up with the jones whether in school or at home. We must understand that we are putting too much attention into what looks good on paper instead of focusing on looking good in person, having morals and honor. We must not allow peers’ credentials to pressure us into trying to compete and find what’s best for us. While economic pressure, and peer pressures are two types of pressures on college students, self-induced pressures are another.
The final type of pressure that troubles college students is self-induced pressures. Zinsser writes, “I see four kinds of pressure working on college students today: economic, parental, peer, and self-induced pressures. It is easy to look around for villains to blame the colleges for charging too much money, the professors for assigning too much work, the parents for pushing their children too far, the students for driving themselves too hard. But there are no villains, only victims.” We as individuals are becoming troubled by ourselves, we tend to over analyze things or overlook them. We are not conscience of the methods that go along with college and life in general. The blame is on us, we as students must wake up and help ourselves be at peace
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and to have less pressure on ourselves. Clearly, economic pressure, peer pressure, and self- induced pressure are types of pressures that trouble college students.
In closing, we as students, professors, and ordinary people have to spend more time improving the pressures we face and make more time for ourselves in our daily lives. We must not allow economic, peer, and self- induced pressures keep us troubled and must always keep on with our education no matter what type of pressure we may face