Preview

College Pressures Zinsser Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
587 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
College Pressures Zinsser Analysis
The author, William Zinsser, is a very acclaimed writer. He has wrote for many newspapers, magazines, and serval books on the culture of the United States. The article “College Pressures” is a magazine article about the struggle that college students go through. Zinsser has created and taught many writing classes at Yale University. With these writing classes, he was able to see the types of students and what they went though. Therefore he was able to write this article. Since this was written in 1979 do these principles of pressure that the author talks about still applied to college students today?

Summary “In their urgency and their gallows humor they are authentic voices of a generation that is panicky to succeed” (2). This implies
…show more content…
There are four types of pressure each college student endures: economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure. Economic pressure talks about how students are trying to make themselves stand out so their applications look better than anyone else. Also in this section it talks about how an employer would rather employ someone who has a liberal arts degree because it shows curiosity. Next the article talks about parental pressure. Parental pressure talks about how students feel obligated to major in what their parents want them to major in. Lastly it talks about peer pressure and self-indulged pressure. Everyone goes through peer pressure, but as a college student it gets even worse. Every college student thinks they have to be the best. Students think they can only get an A and nowadays they think B’s are bad. Self- indulged pressure goes along with peer pressure. Self- indulged pressure talks about how students have a mind set of wanting to be the best. Students are perceived to do more than what they are expected to do. To conclude, the author talks about how college students are so afraid of failing and are set on succeeding at such an early age that they forget to enjoy

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Author Keith M. Parsons’s purpose was to briefly summarize the differences between high school and college to his future students. Parson begins his article by stating a few things that will guide you into becoming a successful student. He first wants to explain the difference between a teacher and a professor, “Teachers are evaluated on the basis of learning outcomes, generally as measure by standardized tests. If you don’t learn, then your teacher is blamed. However, things are very different for a university professor. It is no part of my job to make you learn. At university, learning is your job and yours alone. My job is to lead you to the fountain of knowledge. Whether you drink deeply or only gargle is entirely up to you”. (Parson, 1)…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article, College Pressures, William Zinsser shows parents the burdens that college students have while they are in school. In the essay he states the four pressures that the students face: economic, parental, peer, and self-induced.…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The application process of college was rather easygoing for the Baby Boom generation, born after World War II. The baby boomers who sought to attend a four-year college usually planned to go to a school within their state; many considered a college across the country to be far away. Few students felt the need to apply to more than two or three colleges, and many applied to just one. College choices were most often based on locality, programs, cost, and difficulty of admission, with a parental alma mater sometimes thrown in for good measure. For the most part, the whole process was fairly simple. The result was usually predictable if a student researched college information before deciding where to apply. There were shocks, some pleasant and some upsetting, but the topic of college admissions did not reach a fix of national mania. However, media reports a different story for American senior high school students. Recently many colleges have been breaking records for the number of rejections of applications; this helps competition for admission skyrocket. The best solutions to avoid this competition are to teach high school students creative writing for the application essay, reconsider the importance of the SAT/ACT scores, and avoid applying to ivy-league schools as an incoming freshman.…

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article, “college pressure” by William Zinsser, he convinced his theory about college pressures is about the main major pressures that measure our success in the future. Zinsser notes that college hyper-pressured as rat race leads them to financial security future which had expected for many generations of students. His sympathy to the student has trying to convince students that failure isn’t the end of the world. He is trying to tell us that this failure will give us strength to success in future.…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The evidence the writer uses to elaborate on this specific statement is that one of his students was the one that told him these three words. It is explained in this paragraph that the educators of the students really fight the toughest battle because they have to try and get students to actually want to learn and not just going through the motions to get by. It is common that students have no desire to learn the material they need and in the end our satisfied with their C degree and also hope that they get a job that pays well and they are comfortable with it. The rhetorical questions in this paragraph are in depth and have specific reasoning behind it. Most of them are explaining how students with C degrees will benefit in a workplace or if they have enough motivation in themselves or co-workers to get a job done effectively. In the start of paragraph six it has been examined that students use to go to college at a point and time to learn and enhance their education, but now college is used for the benefit of getting a good job to help out your future or there are plenty of students that attend college because their parents made them or more so of a student trying to prove something to their parent that they are most likely not ready for anyway. The writer suggests that parents should examine how their child going to college will benefit them in the long run or is it really…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Zinsser’s in his essay “College Pressure” published 1979, describes the pressures Yale students have economic, parental, and peer/self- induced. He says that these pressures make students afraid to take a risk and to try to take different paths. He wants them to believe in themselves and to try to enjoy their time in college. I have been a student at Reedley Community College for two years and the pressure I experience as a student and a mother are different from that the Yale student experienced.…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The article “The Coddling of the American Mind,” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, describes the increasing overprotective culture of American colleges, and why that is a negative thing for education. The authors include many reputable sources, as well as detailed arguments in order to convince the reader of this. For me, this article’s subject matter turned out to be more interesting than was anticipated. The article taught me some intriguing new words, like “microaggressions,” and “vindictive protectiveness.” It gave many examples to help illustrate the meaning of these words, and how they relate to colleges around the United States. It was also interesting to learn of the various ways overprotectiveness hinders college students. Such…

    • 244 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When one begins college, they may experience a whole new type of pressure that they have never felt before. One may feel the need to produce absolutely perfect work on all given assignments. This has become a new reality for college students that want to have a perfect score on every assignment, how much extra work they have done to improve their grades, and how many hours they have spent in the library just trying to get ahead. With college tuition going up each year, many students want to perform their best which could lead to better jobs and opportunities which can then help pay college debt. This is the new pressure that students are putting on themselves each and every day and many are afraid of falling behind in their work and will not…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    1223

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “College Pressures” by William Zinsser is about how college students are so worried about getting perfect grades, and under so much pressure to succeed. The article starts off with notes from anxiety filled students asking for advice from the dean of Branford College at Yale University. It only gives a few examples of the hundreds of messages that are sent to the dean asking for advice and help. This panic among students does not only occur at Branford College but at many colleges and universities across the country. Zinsser is also sought out for advice by the students of Branford; he is an English instructor at Yale University and the master of Branford College. He is close with many of the residents of the Gothic quadrangle, the resident hall where he also lives by. Zinsser states, “Mainly I try to remind them that the road ahead is a long one and that it will have more unexpected turns then they think. There will be plenty of time to change jobs, change careers, change whole attitudes and approaches” (208). This is stating that they need to relax, dare to take some risks, and experiment with life.…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ny Times Review

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I am convinced that the pressure to join the workforce at an early age and continue employment throughout college is a huge distraction to many students of today. People don’t see this as an accomplishment anymore because it is expected; most students are employed at some point during their education placing a burden on the student. According to Professor Ellen Greenberger, the lead author of the study called “Self-Entitled College Students: Contributions of Personality, Parenting, and Motivational Factors,” believe that parental pressure, competition amongst peers & a heightened sense of achievement anxiety as also to blame for student’s sense of entitlement. I can attest to the pressures of society to succeed this is, however, no reason to become an undeveloped…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peering into an 8:00 am class full of freshman college students, many observations can be made. There are students with their heads down, (obviously still listening to the professor) students with their pencils racing, students with their minds wondering, and students with their attention to the teacher. As one might note, not all students have their mind focused on what they paid for. Some people go through college as a party or just because it’s become one of societies “norms”; others have a set goal in mind. However, if used to its best ability, college allows one to gain an advantage over high school diploma holders, by attaining the knowledge, skillsets, and tools to achieve or explore their career goals.…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyone in America knows that college is where you want to be. At a very young and impressionable age, the children in our schools are asked what college they want to go to. As this idea that a higher education is something they’ll inevitably have, the children go on to believe they need it to have a better life. However, is that really true? College, in particular, is a very strange and corrupt system. Many problems reside on the modern college campus, so many that we wonder if going to college was ever the better option. The truth is, it’s not. Going to college is not worth all its burdening, and often crippling, costs.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Overcoming Perception

    • 1415 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Through the words of Johnetta Cole “if you really know yourself, if you believe in who you are, it’s amazing how much criticism you can withstand”. Everyone in his or her lifetime has experienced criticism that has impacted their life in such a manner that has shaped their lives, for students in high school and college it’s an everyday occurrence. Student’s experiences in education should not be influenced based on where they come from financially, how they are perceived academically, and if they choose to pursue a higher education.…

    • 1415 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    College Pressures

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the United States, college is a journey that can teach students some of the most important lessons that they will carry throughout their lives. Author William Zinsser write in his essay “ College Pressures ” that students can face a wide variety of pressures like parental, economical to even the most common type, self induced pressure. Although college is supposed to help students develop as individual people, they are placed into an environment that is extremely competitive when it comes to over all grades. This creates students that torture themselves over the grade places on their transcript and can increase the need for some students to look for an escape. Also, this type of self induced pressure can lead a student to make negative health choices. With these ingredients mixed together, self induced college pressures can influence students to make bad decisions.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    College Pressure

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Students all over the world are facing different kinds of difficulties while their studies at university. Reasons for that can be very different from student to student. For example, pressure from parents, problems with financial situation or doing homework etc. For some students college pressure is too high and even unbearable sometimes.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays