"College Pressures" By William Zinsser Essay Example

There can be a lot of pressures that any person may encounter in life. It can also influence one’s nature. One very good example for this is the situation when students have to deal with different pressures from peers, parents, concerns, and monetary issues during the course of their college life. Meeting new friends, teachers, places and encountering new experiences can be an issue. Pressures can be regarded as affirmative or undesirable dependent on the burden it conveys an individual. This paper is a discussion based on an essay entitled, ‘College Pressures’ by William Zinsser. It has a particular purpose on making parents aware of the loads of complications that college students face during the course of their college life.
The essay instigates with some sort of conversation from a student. But one maybe confused as to who the person is and who is he or she talking to. Afterward, it will be revealed that the student is actually talking to his dean. In this manner, readers will be able to get the idea that the writer is merely illustrating what is inside the mind of the student. He relates four types of pressures that students may encounter such as financial, parents, peer, and those that are self-induced. It can be detrimental to someone who is not ready to accept that it is but normal to encounter new things, people and atmosphere.Nevertheless, there are also persons who perceive this pressure as challenges. When one deems any form of pressure as a challenge, he or she becomes resilient.
Although this essay is based on the students’ pressure encounters during the latter part of 1970’s, it has the same intensity as to how it proposed as a means for contemplation for everybody that reads the paper. The writer tactfully relates that no one is to blame for these pressures and that it is normal to experience them. He first relates that there exists the problem on money to support oneself for college education. And that the economic difficulty has been brutal to everybody and it does not exempt students. On the part of the parents or guardians, the writer strongly suggested that they should be responsible enough to handle their children or kids going through college. Parents sought the best for their kids by stimulating to have good careers, but there are students who desired to sort out other ventures.  It creates pressure for some college students who desired to accomplish their parents’ or guardians’ anticipations, despite the fact that they likewise recognized that the anticipations that are correct for their guardians or parents, may not have make them fulfilled.

Moreover, the third pressure that the writer deliberate about is peer pressure.

Peer pressure is mostly experienced by freshmen students. He inferred that peer pressure is a feeling of contending with a classmate or of an acquaintance academically. The writer sets an example of two young ladies in their freshmen year who never realized that were just putting pressures on themselves as they thought of each other as a competition. The more each of them think that one is performing better than the other; both of them exert mote efforts in studying. This kind of situation is apparently observed during 1970’s of which reveals the fact that the students are more focused.
On the other hand, nowadays, most of the students tend to have varieties of distractions. It is quite typical for students to have a lot of priorities. Students are mostly inclined to engage themselves to a lot of extra-curricular activities that frequently keep them very busy. However, they are not aware that they are just instigating or creating their own personal pressure. The writer also divulges that he seemed to have perceived the students in negative way but he realizes this fact and tried to explain that it is normal for a student to go through pressures.
Zinsser conferred that these identified college pressures had been a burden for the college students to relish or appreciate their peer undertakings. To pick their own college paths to follow and to ensure whatever stuffs they discover motivating and more pleasurable to organize. The burdens he had recognized are measured as interruption for the students to follow their special ideas. He deliberated that these identified pressures had been upsetting the students but he did not expose that these pressures in due course will be regarded as precious for the students. It is a fact that these identified pressure which Zinsser deliberated as glitches and interruptions for students will be a significant feature in completing their true aspirations in life. He concludes this essay in a manner that illustrates the parents that numerous individuals enter college and alter their pathways numerous times before really picking what they desire to be. He ensures this notion as a means of expressing that it is okay to enter college uncertain of what one desires to turn out to be. Everything will fall into place in the long run. The writer is mustering some efforts to inform parents that college students obtain sufficient knowledge or innate abilities on themselves and certainly it is not anymore necessary for parents to contribute them a tough time concerning decisions on what to prepare or organize with their lives. He strongly suggested that parents should just remain as support force for their children.
The statistics acquired through numerous studies focus the problem or pressure of college student anxiety and the numerous concerns students go through because of the exceedingly stressful setting in schools and institutions of higher education. In William Zinsser’s paper, “College Pressures,” he deliberates the pressures that college students confronted in the late part of 1970’s. He was able to present significant details about the real situation of students in their college life. Although there might be a few differences form the pressures of complications he discussed but in general aspects most of the essential factors are the same.
The four leading pressures, which take account of financial, peers, parents and personal pressures are still pertinent nowadays.   Just like what Zinsser feels that the four main causes of pressures for college students before are still felt by students now. The solutions are correspondingly the same.  Zinsser’s essay served as a compelling piece for readers to ponder and reflect upon.

Works Cited:

Zinsser, William. “College Pressures”. The Norton Reader, Norton-Simon Publishing, 1978. < http://www.life.umd.edu/classroom/univ100i/zinsser.html
Lewin, Tamar.“Record Level of Stress Found in College Freshmen”. The New york Times. January 26, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/education/27colleges.html?_r=0
 Thaque 29. “Response to Zinsser’s “College Pressures”. November 16, 2013. <https://wrt30306fall2013.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/response-to-zinssers-college- pressures-2/