"College Pressures"

In College Pressures by William Zinsser, he explains the four major pressures that we as college students go through each and everyday. Economic, parental, peer, and self-induced pressure are the ones that Zinsser states to be the main pressures he sees college students go through.

Zinsser states in his essay that he wants us to savor each segment of our education as an experience in itself and not as a grim preparation for the next step. He wants us to experiment, trip and fall, to learn that defeat is a instructive as victory and is not the end of the world. I totally agree with Zinsser on this because we need to fail and learn from our mistakes to overcome it and rise above it later on in life. Mistakes are there for us to learn from, not to tear us down. In college all students(the ones that want to succeed), push themselves to the edge and overwork themselves because they want to transfer to the top college in the nation or be better than their peers. Zinsser states that we are looking for that edge; something that will look better on paper if we were to compete with someone who are about equal. The other thing that I found alarming is how Zinsser talks about how some students go to college only because their parents want them to and society will perceive them better. They are obligated to “fulfill” their parents’ expectations. I think that the parents are only there to support their child in anything they do, and not there to push them into something that will benefit them(the parents). Parents are there for support that their child needs to succeed in their life. I really don’t believe that the parents have a say so in what their children want to do in life. Who cares if they are paying for the school, they have no right to tell their kids to go into a specific field because it will better suit the parents needs.

With peer and self-induced pressure Zinsser points out how when every other student is working harder and doing better, the only solution is to study harder still. We tend to do more than what’s expected from us because we want to be better than the next person in life. Society plays a huge roll in this because if you want to get accepted into your dream school you have to fight for your spot and beat out all the competitors. We are obsessed with studies, so we give up so many opportunities that come our way like one avoids sports and extracurricular activities because we want to focus more on our academic studies instead. I like how Zinsser states how we are worried about the values that are nurturing a generation so fearful of risk and so goal obsessed at such an early age. I agree a hundred percent!! that’s how society sees it also. Detours are good. We don’t need pre-planned roads to follow because there will be plenty of time to change our minds on the things we do in college. We don’t need a map to follow! We can make up our own map.CHANGE….. IS ALWAYS GOOD.