College Pressures
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In the article, "College Pressures," William Zinsser expresses a wish that college students at Yale, as well as across the country, would "savor each segment of their education as an experience in itself and not as a grim preparation for the next step" (1979, p. 379). Instead, he notes students operate on stress overload brought on by a number of factors, most of which is brought about by the overwhelming urgency and need to succeed. Despite the fact that college is supposed to be a time when avenues for further study are explored and developed, students fear that if they are unable to find a field and succeed in their classes then they will fail in life. Zinsser discusses these many pressures that college students face while attending university listing them as "economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure" (1979, p. 379). By economic pressure, Zinsser refers to the rising cost of tuition, books, housing and other school costs, mentioning school loans as steep as $5000 (1979 levels) by the time a student graduates after four years, providing it only took them four years to graduate (1979). Because of the economic pressure, parents pressure their children to go into "practical" fields like business, medicine, or law so that they may find a good job as soon as they graduate and so get out from under the debt load. So a student may be more interested in becoming, for example, a teacher, musician, or artist, but instead
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versities have had. Additionally, although she knew that there was a 6-month grace period after graduation when she didn't have to start paying on those loans, she still felt pressured to find a well-paying secure job immediately upon graduation so she could pay that off as soon as possible. So, instead of trying for positions that would compliment her Art History degree, she took a job at an accountant's office and then took additional night courses so that she could achieve a higher level of pay at that office. I know someone else who would love to get his degree in Linguistics or perhaps Art, but he is putting himself through college and does not know how he will ever pay those loans back, so he decided to take a degree in Computer Programming and Engineering instead. That way, although he may be bored in his chosen field, he will still be able to find a position that will pay him a better wage than a Humanities or Liberal Arts degree would.
There is more than financial pressure on students however; there is also the parental pressure to succeed, as well as peer and self-induced pressure. My own parents, who love me very much, are very suspicious of any classes I may take that may seem "frivolous" in any way. They want
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Liberal Arts, William Zinsser, ARTICLE REACTION, Art History, Programming Engineering, Linguistics Art, economic pressure, ARTICLE SUMMARY, REFERENCES Zinsser, zinsser 1979, college students, self-induced pressure, College Pressures, college pressures, zinsser discusses, pressures college, 1979 economic, extra-curricular activities, parental pressure, Classification Division,
Approximate Word count = 1369
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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