College Pressures William Zinsser Summary

In the article, “College Pressures,” William Zinsser discusses the many struggles college students face while trying to focus on their studying. He convinces the reader of his point by using different types of rhetorical strategies. Zinsser’s usage of the rhetorical strategies such as getting straight to the point, quoting, paragraphing, the use of word pictures, and choosing a title was effectively done in his article to persuade his reader of the struggles faced by college students.

“We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over."-ScrewTape. In this quote, God, who Lewis names the The Enemy is characterized as a selfless, giving father. While Satan, “Our Father Below,” is a self-loving, deceitful father.

Teens today are fighting a losing battle against stress. Schools pressure teens into competing in tests and even when applying to colleges. According to Noelle Leonard, PhD, a senior research scientist at the New York University college of Nursing "School, homework, extracurricular activities, sleep, repeat—that's what it can be for some of these students."

We have experienced it at some point in our school years it comes to learning. We have some classes that grab our attention. Some classes just bored us to death. What makes a class dull and bland? Is it how the professors present the material or the students' lack of interests? What Is College For? By Gary Gutting and My Year as a Freshman: Connections to the Path Ahead by Cathy Small both discussed the issues of "lack of academic engagement" and "limiting factors" that occurs in universities. In these two texts, they both ask the same question to their readers. What causes the lack of academic engagement between students and professors? Who is responsible to improve the academic engagement; students or professors?

There are many accomplishments that we have achieved, yet many to achieve, and the race towards them never seems to stop. Well, this is the case for many students because the race towards achieving high grades never comes to an end. Grades are meaningless in the grand scheme of things, as they do not control the rest of your life, but yet are still overly looked upon and can affect a student’s life drastically. However, a poet once said, “Life is not a race, but a journey, to be savored each step of the way” (Nancye Sims). This point is further justified in an essay by the American author, named Alfie Kohn, “How Not to Get into College: The Preoccupation and Preparation”. Alfie Kohn’s essay is concerned with the fact that grades are nothing more than a number and they do not make up your life; stressing out about your grades will lead you to missing the important aspects of life that you are blinded to. I personally feel that Kohn has started a great discussion about grades; how high school students are highly influenced and affected by grades. I believe that grades have a significant impact on students because they are getting in the way of important events and moments in their lives, and also students tend to overly stress themselves due to several reasons such as over-valuing grades.

Pressure, a thorn in the side of every student. In The Boat by Alistair MacLeod. While pressure may be beneficial, too much pressure may result in unhealthy amounts of stress. For as long as I could remember, my parents placed a strong emphasis on my academic success. Stereotypically, they decided I would become a doctor and expected me to get good grades. They simply expected me to do well in school. In third grade, I was consistently scoring perfect on my spelling tests, however, once I scored a measly 3/5 and my parents spent a whole hour yelling at me, telling me that I had to stop playing video games and read more books. Everyday, I feel the pressure radiating from my parents. This is similar to the narrator’s situation, he’s being pressured

In the story “College Pressures” written by William Zinsser, is about all the pressure, changes, and the feeling that come with college. In the story Zinsser, talks about how things that used to not be as important are some of the most important thing now, such as a transcript can make or break you when you are going up against a different students. Zinsser also talks about how people think that colleges act like villains with all of the prices and all of the things they make you buy, but really they are not villains in this equation, we are all just victims. Zinsser also captors all the pressures you put on yourself including peers, financial, and parents. He talks about how we can let our peers get to us, so we work too hard and forget

Peer pressure is influenced by society, which is a major problem among teenagers. Sometimes to fit into a certain group, teenagers need to hide or lie about their achievement. Diane Ravitch gives us a great example of that when she mentions a girl who “makes straight A’s”, but will never talk about it because “it’s cool to do really badly. If you are interested in school and show it, you are a nerd.”

According to “College Pressures” by William Zinsser, there are four varieties of pressures: economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure. As I was reading the text I kept a minor self-discussion trying to acknowledge what types of pressures I relate most to least. Unsurprisingly, I felt mostly related to both the connection of peer and self-induced pressure. As a student, I have experienced in multiple occasions where I’m in a classroom and the instructor is getting understandable feedback from my peers, and I’m the only one who is puzzled even though I had good grades. However, it did not stop there… I began to give into my anxiety and became psychologically depressed because I kept doubting my own

As I look back on my journey to college, I faced many different problems and disadvantages even before taking my first steps on campus. In Linda Banks-Santilli’s “Guilt is one of the biggest struggles first-generation college students face” many first generation students view being the first one in the family as a major flaw before entering college (Banks-Santilli, 2015, Par. 4 &7). The lack of self-respect makes it difficult for students to achieve success without help or motivation. The students have to change their viewpoint about being the first to go to college in their family as a weakness and make it a strength to help motivate them to be better students. At the beginning of college, I viewed being a first-generation college student

William Zinsser writes in the selection, “College Pressures” about the social, political, and economic pressures of going to a major university and how it encourages students uniformity and overachieving. Zinsser states numerous times when students ask for help to balance a normal life, while still satisfying the needs of themselves, their peers, and their parents. While he explains all of this, it is hard to believe that he is not only exposing a difficult situation, but also trying to bring change to this situation. Many times Zinsser explains how everyone wants to take the “right” road, which is the safe, easy choice for students to get them exactly where they want to go in a safe way. Even if that is truly not what they want to do, or what

in her article “the end of the college essay” Rebecca Schuman argues that college essays shouldn’t be used in required courses anymore. Schuman claims that “everybody in college hates papers” and that many students have trouble writing college essays either way therefore she feels there’s no need to have students write college papers.

Suicide. The action of killings oneself intentionally. A word synonymous with despair and tragedy, this act may be taken due to several reasons but if focused on a particular demographic, such as college students, the reasons may be clearer. It is widely accepted that causes of suicides are largely (if not completely) mentally related. With high amounts of stress and pressure coupled with ever amounting expectations on still developing minds, it does not seem difficult to correlate why the rates of suicide among college students is steadily increasing. Besides the lacking mental fortitude, these feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness within students, which may cause depression and even suicide, is caused by social or personal pressure from oneself or by their peers.

As students, we have set standards: get good grades in every subject possible. In reality, this is highly tiresome and stressful; we must cope with our teachers, impress our parents, win over our peers and as the seasoning on top of the salad of stress, we must maintain a social life. To do all these things in the twelve hours we are given in the day renders us into a frenzied state blinded with the wall of stress. We blindly get through the day, take a couple of tests, cheat on the subjects we hate. Stress warps our sense of judgment and pushes us into doing things we’d never do if

(Co) In fact, it is also correct that grades have negative effects on students’ mental condition. Illnesses such as depression, cancer, etc, have a cause on the outcome of students’ grades due to absences. (Horton) If sickness is the cause of low grades, grades are inaccurate to measure their ability to learn. Grades can dramatically drop because 26% of Americans, 14 years old and older, experience mental disabilities such as anxiety and major depression (Ramirez). Shockingly, the main cause of their mental illnesses is because of school, including grades. Students who attend school more often actually get high-average grades, in contrast to the ones who are always absent (Horton). In addition, depression and anxiety heavily affect their performance in school. “Extreme anxiety, severe clinical depression, obsessive compulsive order attention deficit disorder… are illnesses that are related to memory loss are examples of such dysfunctions that may lead to procrastination,” says Brandon Gaille, a psychology researcher. Again, procrastination is one reason why students fail to do work. Grades are said to drive students to push themselves even more, yet it is not entirely true. Some students cheat, causing their grades to fly high, and that doesn’t reflect wit at all. In a survey of 24,000 students at 70 high schools, Donald McCabe (Rutgers University) found that 64 percent of students admitted to cheating on a test, 58 percent for plagiarism, and 95 percent for some other form of cheating. (Facts) This proves that grades are more likely to cause students to cheat than to motivate