College Pressures - Grade: A PDF

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argumentative essay about college pressures by william zinsser...

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"College Pressures"

William Zinsser's article, "College Pressures," published in 1979, asserts that there is no clear path to success in the educational journey and that college students face a lot of pressure along the way. Zinsser illustrates this with explanations of four main pressures students face. The writer is mainly addressing college students, raising their awareness regarding the importance of enjoying the educational journey. Zinsser's tone in the text is friendly and simple to establish a friendly relationship with his main audience, the students. Zinsser wants the students to know that there is no one right way towards a successful life because everyone is unique. He says that students must enjoy college life, and he also hopes that they acquire knowledge through life experiences and to "to trip and fall" so they can really learn that failure does not mean defeat. The writer doesn't blame the students for the college's tenseful atmosphere as he states that there are four types of pressure that can be identified, economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure. Zinsser shows the various parties that are creating the issue. The government, for example, is overwhelming the students with heavy tuition fees. The parents are always in search for what suits their children regardless of the children's approval, and there is the peer's pressure as college became a competitive scene, and there is also the pressure and fears students put themselves into. Zinsser wrote his article so everyone involved in creating those pressure recognize they are doing something wrong, he tries to ease the tenseful situation in college and helps his student succeed. In order to achieve his goal, the writer uses certain methods and techniques throughout his essay. The four types of pressures that Zinsser explains in the article are economic, parental, peer, and self-induced pressure. Economic pressure is when students stress about the rising tuition and housing fees. He mentions that even with part-time jobs during classes and a fulltime job in the summer students cannot cove all the educational costs. With this, even during the semester a big part of the student thinking goes to how will they pay for college which will drain their efforts both physically and mentally. Zinsser describes the economy as a "brutal economy" and the learners as "Poor students" which show that he is supporting his students as victims of inflation and the rising costs of education. This results in students' dreams to be merely a high paying job. Another pressure that students have to go through is with their parents. As the writer explains many of his students don’t really enjoy their major as it was a parental choice, this parental burden further complicates the educational journey. Zinsser uses a dialogue he had with a student, a dialogue student have with their teacher regularly, as he explains that his student only went to medical school because her parents wanted her to. He explains that this lack of free choice can only cause a dislike for the school and everything school related. To explain the peer's pressure, the writer describes how two roommates cause each other a low self-esteem because they think the other is better in school. His students' quotes are an example for peer pressure, and they reveal that this issue that is genuine. The quotes also make the reader feel empathy and probably relate to the story. The last pressure, the Self-induced pressure, is grade-related most of the time, Zinsser explains that students always seek to get an A and if they got a lower grade they are not good enough. The students' mindset is very troubled as they completely believe that the grade they are going to get will affects their life and their future direction. With that, they pressure themselves into long hours of studying with no time for fun.

Personally, I do agree with everything that Zinsser said in his article. After experiencing the American college life first hand and studying at an American University for one year I do have a very clear point of view regarding Zinsser's thesis. For the financial pressures, I could not agree more with what the writer said, as I saw how people work two and sometimes three jobs to be able to afford even half of their tuition. I know people who did not even have the time to have fun, even Saturdays because they were very busy working or sleeping. Everyone I knew hated the fact that they had to start their life in debt, due to students’ loans. Also, many students said that they did not care for school because they hated what they were studying, just because their parent paid for school with the condition of following the major of their choosing. as for the peer pressure, for example, I remember when me and my American roommate took the same class, I saw that there was a competition between us to see who would get the higher grade, even though it wasn't intentional, we would always brag about getting high grades in our homework, and one of us will get angry or sad because he got a bad grade. as for the Self-induced pressure, nothing can be more telling than finals week as I saw everyone walking with a lifeless look and with a fast pace. Everything I read in Zinsser's article I could relate to, as some of the pressure my friends experience all the time, and some pressure I go through myself.

To conclude, William Zinsser explicates to students and to parents alike, the burdens that college students have to carry throughout their educational journey. As he states the four main pressures that the students go through, economic, parental, peer, and self-induced, he tries to say to his students to not be afraid to fail and to enjoy their education because there is no manifested route to success....