Student Anti-Intellectualism and the Dumbing Down of the University

Julie Bucsky
Prof. Smith
English 100: Essay #2, Revision
04 April 2012
A Stressful Life It’s 11 p.m. on a Tuesday, and a college student had one week to write a college paper due tomorrow morning, but is just now getting started. What should the student do? Does the student stay up all night trying to finish it or just not do the paper? The truth is almost, if not all, students have been in such a stressful situation. I have had many stressful times with homework and exams, staying up past 2 a.m. trying to finish a certain assignment or review for a test. I realized I had to change my attitude and come up with a plan to lower my stress and accomplish my goals. With this in mind, I turned to my parents and college counselors for guidance to develop this plan. I listened to their suggestions and ended up with my own plan to manage my time more wisely, add physical activity, and focus on one task, not anticipate the future. William Zinsser in the essay “College Pressures” (1979), suggests that students from Yale University in 1979 faced: financial, family, friends, and self pressures, when trying to succeed in college. Zinsser supports his essay with his own observations by working as a master at Bradford University and also uses quotes and examples from deans and students that attend Yale. The author’s purpose is to show students that they don’t have to plan the rest of their lives at such a young age; they must take chances and find majors that interest them. The author writes in an informal tone mainly for parents, but also to get people’s attention that such pressures are not necessary, that students must be tranquil, choose their own paths, and not give into such high expectations (Zinsser para. 1-48). My first drastic change was time management; organize my schedule so I would get a chance to accomplish all my goals. In fact, a research about stress mentioned that “both female and male college students perceive an equivalent magnitude of stress and senior college students perceive the highest stress” (Diaz para. 9). Knowing this I knew I would have to start the stress-free plan right away so I would not end up like most senior college students. Furthermore, research has shown that “universities should play a more active role in helping first-year students to make sense of time management, academic acculturation, self-directed, student transition, study habits, and student workload techniques”(Van Der Meer, Ellen and Marjolein para.2). My best option at this point as a first year student was to go to my counselor and get some tips on how to manage my time effectively. Ever since that day, I have been able to manage my time to my advantage. Every day I will make a list of activities I must get through by placing the events of most importance up top and work my way down until the one of least importance. The faster I got these activities done and crossed them off my list the less stress I had. My time management plan was to first use my mornings for exercise around 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. Then at 1pm I would work on the first half of my homework. After, that I would either do chores, socialize with friends and family, or work depending on the day of the week. Around the evening time at 6pm I would then finish the other half of my homework. This time management system so far has been very productive and given me more flexibility to do a little bit of everything in one every day. Another coping mechanism I found to be very helpful is including physical activity to my daily schedule. For this technique I went to my parents for advice since they are exercise fanatics. I just figured if they could fit all their responsibilities and still make time for exercising then so could I. At the beginning of my plan I would attend the gym about twice a week, but now I go 5 days a week and I always listen to music that is upbeat so it will keep me in a good and healthy mood. I’ll run Monday through Friday, then I will lift weights every other day, and on Sundays I’ll meditate or use some form of relaxing technique. It’s as if I can’t live without it, especially after reading a research by various doctors who said that “research conducted has shown that physical activity is an effective means of reducing anxiety and various indices of stress among college students and adults”(Spruijt-Metz,et.al. para.23). While another research done showed that “poor health behaviors were also linked with high levels of collegiate stress and that the college students who reported higher levels of stress also consumed greater amounts of “junk food,” less exercise and inadequate amount of sleep”(Miller, et.al. para.34). Both researches only made me want to exercise even more to relieve all that unnecessary stress. Overall I’m very aware of my time schedule and daily exercise systems to cope with stress, but I noticed I still carried some stress when thinking about the future. Finally, in order to get rid of the stress about anticipating the future, I would just have to think about my present issues and taking one step at a time. I noticed I would focus too much on getting the major of my dreams or making my parents happy and proud instead of focusing in the moment and what my goals are for right now. In fact, this high expectations and stress all start in high school. A study done by a research team at an “independent school showed that more than one-third of the forty juniors indentified that getting into a good college was more important than being a good person”
(Weissbourd para.87), the worst part is that their parents agreed. This situation is very unfortunate and students especially coming out of high school into college must focus of what they want to achieve and not what others want them to achieve. That is exactly what I ask myself every day, what do I want to achieve today? In fact, a study from Maintaining Positive Attitude mentioned to “not press fast forward now because then you will just end up making the same mistakes later on” (Machina et al. para. 54). Now I make three lists of accomplishments: one for past accomplishments, present accomplishments in the process, and accomplishments I plan on fulfilling in the future. Lastly, these methods have given me a better visual of how successful and maintain a peaceful, healthy and happy lifestyle. In the end, I believe my decisions to manage my time, apply daily physical activities, and not over thinking about the future have been the perfect stress-free plan. Of course not all the stress is gone, but the way I cope with college stress now will help me reach my future goals. Another point is that no matter what challenges in life are, I must take one task at a time with a positive attitude and always smiling at life. Also, I can’t try to accomplish all my challenges at once nor can I put it off until last minute and end up overwhelmed and stressed. The key is to keep my plan up to date and taking these challenges as experiences to become a stronger and more successful student. I even remember one of my high school teachers saying that some stress is actually good for the brain, so I think for now I have enough stress to keep myself challenged.

Works Cited
Diaz Marcela, et al. “College Students’ Stress Under Current Economic Downturn.” College Student Journal/45.3(2011): para.9. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 March. 2012.
Machina, Kenton and Anu, Gokhale. “Maintaining Positive Attitude Toward Science And Technology In First-Year Female Under- Graduates: Peril And Promise.” International Journal Of Science Education 32.4(2010): para. 54. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 April. 2012.
Miller Janine, et al. “Stress, Sex Differences, And Coping Strategies Among College Students.” Current Psychology 28.2 (2009): para. 34. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 April. 2012.
Spruijt-Metz Donna, et al. “Associations Between Physical Activity And Perceived Stress/Hassles In College Students.” Stress & Health: Journal Of The International Society For The Investigation Of Stress 22.3(2006): para. 23. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 April. 2012.
Weissbourd, Richard. “The Overpressured Student.” Educational Leadership 68.8(2011): para. 87. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 March. 2012.
William Zinsser. “College Pressures” Patterns For College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide. Ed.11th (2009). Print. 13 March 2012.
Van Der Meer, Jacues, Ellen Jansen, and Marjolein Torenbeek. “It’s Almost A Mindset That Teachers Need to Change: First- Year Students’ Need To Be Induced Into Time Management.” Studies In Higher Education 35.7(2010): para. 2. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 March. 2012.

Cited: Diaz Marcela, et al. “College Students’ Stress Under Current Economic Downturn.” College Student Journal/45.3(2011): para.9. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 March. 2012. Graduates: Peril And Promise.” International Journal Of Science Education 32.4(2010): para Premier. Web. 4 April. 2012. (2009): para. 34. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 April. The Investigation Of Stress 22.3(2006): para. 23. Academic Search Premier Weissbourd, Richard. “The Overpressured Student.” Educational Leadership 68.8(2011): para Web. 29 March. 2012. Studies In Higher Education 35.7(2010): para. 2. Academic Search Premier