Due to my uncanny similarity with the group of college students William Zinsser described in his essay “College Pressures,” his words induced within me feelings of guilt and regret. Throughout my years of schooling, there have been many occasions in which I have labored to a maximum which resulted in an almost unbearable amount of stress and panic. Oftentimes, I credited this anxiety to my teachers who assigned many projects and tests; or to the School Board that made continuous changes to the learning curriculum and expectations for “success.” At the beginning of his essay while he elaborated on his thesis, William Zinsser, master of Branford College, countered this thinking, “It is easy to look around for villains -- to blame colleges… the…
Her essay originally was published in the Academe, the journal of the American Association of University Professors. It has 5 sections and each section is about one full page in length. The first section of her essay discusses the changes in universities’ images and ethics. Students are developing their identities and lifestyles which is why college is important. Several university…
Binge drinking is a reality of college life in America and perhaps the central focus fraternity life. In Henry Wechsler’s article entitled, “Binge Drinking Must Be Stopped” Wechsler discusses that freshman’s learn during the first week of school where the alcohol and parties are and often has a binge drinking experience even before purchasing a text book. The argument is that freshman’s know where to get alcohol at their first week of school, so they often come back for more and become abuse of alcohol. Wechsler argues that Universities and Colleges presidents should take care of abuse drinking. Wechsler present very little of the opposing side.…
College students today have become disengaged and it started back in 1995 when students started to gravitate more towards partying and watching TV, instead of studying and writing papers thinking that their professors would excuse it and give them a considerably good grade. More than ever today, that statement is true across various campuses- but it has grown worse throughout the past nineteen years. In this paper I will be discussing John Leo’s view about college students and comparing it to today’s students and then I will be discussing one characteristic that college students have involving disengagement in school. Back in 1987, college students took going to college as a blessing and with every class they had, they would work their hardest to get the grades needed to head…
Scelfo provides, “Anxiety and depression, in that order, are now the most common mental health diagnoses among college students, according to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State”. By including precise data, Scelfo presents concrete evidence to her audience that is incontrovertible, thus enabling the reader to recognize the prevalence of mental health issues on college campuses. This information expands on the seriousness of such situations and stresses how more emphasis should be invested into making sure college students are emotionally healthy. Furthermore, Scelfo asserts, “In 2003, Duke jolted academe with a report describing how its female students felt pressure to be ‘effortlessly perfect’ :smart, accomplished, fit, beautiful and popular, all without visible effort”. By including this statistic, Scelfo further develops her thesis pertaining to the expectations of college students, specifically, how their mental states can be adversely affected by such pressures. By displaying legitimate feedback directly from college students, she effectively addresses the preconceived notions surrounding college life. In order to further convince her audience of the validity of mental health concerns, Scelfo incorporates reputable individuals in her essay, including, “William Alexander, director of Penn’s counseling and psychological services... Meeta Kumar, who has been counseling at Penn for 16 years…”. Although Scelfo might not be an expert on all subjects of mental health, she reinforces her assertion by including shared viewpoints from professionals, therefore making her own ideas more credible. Scelfo’s addition of logos and ethos emphasizes the factual evidence of of mental health issues among younger generations, prompting her audience to recognize the magnitude of such…
On behalf of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), researchers at the University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education surveyed 23,000 undergraduate students and 9,000 campus professionals (faculty, academic administrators, and student affairs staff) at 23 institutions participating in the Templeton Foundation-supported initiative, Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility. Data from the initial administration of the Personal and Social Responsibility Institutional Inventory (PSRII) in fall 2007 assessed the campus environment along five dimensions of personal and social responsibility: (1) striving for excellence; (2) cultivating personal and academic integrity; (3) contributing to a larger community; (4) taking seriously the perspectives of others; and (5) developing competence in ethical and moral reasoning.…
This assemblage of data provided a partial explanation as to why college is such a rude awakening for many students. Until that threshold in life, many students have been pampered until the mere mention of work sends a message of premonition. That rude awakening, nonetheless, would be much preferred for children living in the circumstances of Michael Oher in I Beat the Odds. In their augmenting years, values of work and determination were deeply instilled. Not particularly those of schoolwork, unfortunately, because many had absent parents not too concerned with the upbringing of their children. Rather, life on the streets grew values of dedication to oneself and their intended destination in…
This trend is getting into the habit of drinking as you enter college; it seems the two go hand in hand. It has become a rite of passage that weaved its way into the introduction of university life (National Institute, October 2002). Those students who never drank in high school seem to think drinking is suddenly okay when they start studying for their bachelor’s degree. This addition of responsibility is then balanced by the act of partying. It seems completely absurd that students choose to drink while investing around $20,000 a year in school.…
The Seven Capital sins play apart in every one's life. Whether it is something big or something small, the capital sins usually have something to do with the all of the sins you have committed. The seven capital sins or seven “deadly sin” consist of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. These are some of the worst sins you can commit and are a slippery slope when it comes to life choices . They make you less appealing to others and weaken your relationships with friends, family and most important ,God.…
According to National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, more than 1,800 college students die from alcohol-related causes every year while about 800,000 are being assaulted by other students, be it sexually or other assaults. About one in every four college students also accept that they have experienced academic problems. Despite the fact that college drinking has caused many issues, it has not been stopped, yet. College drinking is not only harmful for students who consume alcohol but also for other people who live around the campus. It has a bad influence on the social lives of the general population.…
Every young teenager dreams of coming to college and attending huge fraternity parties and going out on the weekends but with little self-control this can become a huge problem. It is a commonly known fact that alcohol is a drug that negatively affects a college campus on a daily basis and I see it first hand affecting UNC-Charlotte. There are a number of reasons that this is true. College is one of the main places that binge drinking occurs because you are finally living on your own and can make your own decisions. This is extremely unfortunate because most of the students in college are between the ages of 17 and 22. According to studies until the age of 25, the human brain is not fully developed. Because of this, the years of college can take a toll on your brain development. Along with the loss of brain development there is a large range of affects that alcohol can cause from having bad judgment, terrible grades, addiction,…
Grades, rather than education have become more important to students. Students are feeling a great deal of pressure to succeed in college; so that they can land that terrific job. With saying all of that, the rate of college students cheating has been increasing every year. There are several forms of cheating that take place; from going old school and writing the answers on your body; to todays’ technology such as cell phones and cameras.…
Growing up, I remember intensively watching popular television sitcoms such as “Saved by the Bell,” “Boy Meets World,” “A Different World,” and more to gain an understanding of what the college life was like. Zack, “the cool kid,” strolled through the dorms seducing any girl he lusted. Topanga, “the weird nerd,” was full of life and salivated at the thought of gaining knowledge. Lastly, Corey, “the average joe,” was viewed as insignificant and faded into the background. These three types of students, “the cool kid,” “weird nerd,” and “average joe,” are the basics for the criteria of what a college student is like. Although sitcom television has conjured its perception of the characteristics of college students, Southern University is a unique institute in which television’s taboos cannot accurately distinguish the types of students that inhabit the university. The most accurate classifications of this unique bunch are the, “Ds earn Degrees Jacks,” “Bob Marley scholars,” and “Rolle Polly round-a-bouts.”…
In Henry Wechsler’s, “Getting Serious about Eradicating Binge Drinking”, he discusses the issue of binge drinking. Binge drinking is an extensive problem on college campuses. The majority of colleges merely focus on the student, rather than what encourages students to drink. Fraternities, sororities, and athletics are huge sources of the students on campus who drink. There are many approaches colleges can take to decrease the problem, and many colleges are already getting a head start. It is also important to not ignore how often colleges indirectly encourage students to drink (20).…
The most common reason for cheating is to complete the course as soon as possible. In today’s world when you look at the word cheating you can find many definitions and meanings for it. Every person has a different definition for the word cheating. The word cheating to me means to copy someone else’s work as your own. Students can always find a way to cheat by using reference materials or getting the answer ahead of time in a close book test. Other students pay others to complete their homework. Cheating is a concern for all schools and teachers. Students always find a way to avoid the consequences of cheating, no matter how carefully schools work to prevent it. For some students cheating is an easy way to get good grades. However, many students think that their individual dishonesty will not affect anyone else.…