Growing up there was a little girl that lived next door to me loved to play a game called Doctor and Patient. She would put on what looked like her big brother’s white button down shirt and run around the neighborhood asking people to be her patient. She approached my porch with her bright pink stethoscope and asked my niece if she could listen to her heart. She happily obliged. She created beating sounds with her mouth and told my niece that everything sounded good so keep up the good work.
They continued this for several weeks and became great friends.
Living in such close proximity meant that the girls went to the same school. Over the years their friendship continued to grow and they became inseparable throughout high school. As senior year approach the girls thought about what career they wanted to pursue. Fueled by their love of playing Doctors and Patients as children they both decided to go into the medical field.
The first semester hit them like a ton of bricks. They did not know that helping people involved so much work. So much to do in so little time and not to mention the cost. The pressure that is put on college students in this day in time are immense. College pressures, whether peer, parental, economical, or self-induced pressure, should attenuate.
The continuation of these extreme pressures will result in a significant failure among already struggling college students and cause severe health issue to those affected by the stress.
Statistically, 30% of college students drop out during their first semester of college due to stress and failing grades, while 1 in every 3 students won’t immediately return to college for their sophomore year. It took me two years to gather the courage to reenroll into college after initially going for only 9 months. The thought dealing with all of the pressure of being a college student literally scared me. The first time I attended college I was optimistic and excited even, but once I was almost finished with my Dental Assisting Degree financial, emotional, and parental pressure almost prohibited me from graduating.
Once ready to give it another shot thoughts of how would I pay for tuition and books, if I would make it through the tough classes, and if going to school was what I wanted haunted me. In William Zinsser’s “College Pressures”, he lists a few of several hundred college pressures and explains exactly what many, if not all students at universities, go through. “I see four kinds of pressure working on college students today: economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure” (438).
In that quote he observed a series of distinct patterns among college students. Those patterns are what he, as a Master, sees crippling college students every day (437). My stance in comparison to this essay is nearly identical to Zinsser’s views. As a college student, I also see several pressures that ruin my classmates all the time. For instance, Delfino who had to drop out of my Anatomy class because he couldn’t juggle work and school and Emily that couldn’t stomach being only a part-time mother and a full-time student. In 2011 roughly 4.8 million college students listed as having a dependent child and every 4 out of 5 students work part-time. These are just two factors that I believe that colleges should consider when developing strenuous and extremely challenging programs. Stress is a contributor to tons of life-threatening diseases and conditions.
I know first hand how stress cause a severe change in your life. Before I started college, I had a series of events happen that naturally caused me to stress. That stress made me depressed and caused me to not be as active and my metabolism to slow down. These factors contributed to weight gain and I am now at a higher risk of high blood pressure because of obesity. It is not only about being overwhelmed by pressure, it is mainly the stress that is created that causes a snowball, or continuation, of effects. According to the CDC, the Government Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading cause of death in America in 2014 is heart disease.
Stress causes high blood pressure and sleep deprivation causes immune systems to weaken which make you more susceptible to develop a heart disease. “I hear the clacking of typewriters in the hours just before dawn. I see the tension in their eyes when exams are approaching and papers are due: Will I get everything done?”” (441). Zinsser’s quote above is spot on. I too sometimes sacrifice much-needed sleep to finish projects, presentations or papers that I was not able to complete because of other assignments. I eventually had to stop because the lack of sleep caught up with me. This is a very serious issue and it is why I believe that some college pressures should diminish. Imagine pain grasping your chest like vice-grips.
Your breathing halts and refuses to nourish your lungs as you gasp and gasp for air. Flickers of your fondest memories appear then fade into pitch blackness. Darkness. The beep of machines startle you as light appears in your eyes. You look down at your arm and see an I.V. needle. The doctor walks in and exclaims how great it is to see you awake. You try to ask what happened but it comes out mumbled and slurred. Eventually you realize it’s because you can’t move one side of your face. Your family also enters and has tears in their eyes. The doctor explains how he’s talked with your family and has diagnosed as follows. He believes that the stress that you’ve endured associated with school is to blame. The sudden increase of stress caused an increase in Cortisol levels which heavily contributed to your Truncal Obesity and caused your blood pressure and blood sugar to spike.
The sleep deprivation also caused your immune system to weaken tremendously. Over time, hypertension lead to atherosclerosis and hardening of the large arteries. This, in turn, caused the blockage of small blood vessels in the brain. You had a stroke. Not only did you have a stroke, but you are now paralyzed on the left side of your body. With physical therapy, it is a chance that you will regain and estimated 40% of function back on that side. In an instant, everything that you have worked so hard for was for nothing. You realize that your dreams and goals have just become unreachable and your Nursing career is now not a reality that is in reach.
In conclusion, the pressure that is put on college students in this day in time are immense. College pressures, whether peer, parental, economical, or self-induced pressure, should be reduced. The continuation of these extreme pressures will result in a significant failure among already struggling college students and cause severe health issue to those effected by the stress. If these practices continue I could possibly start a slow effect of less intelligent generations. A solution to this heinous problem is a custom plan per group of students.
Every student is different. Problems start when we treat everyone the same instead of treating them according to their individual personality. I think that we should have more one-on-one interaction with our professors and our Dean as well. Understanding that some university are very large, there could be specific advisors for each class that works hand in hand with its professors. It would take away some of the numerous responsibilities the professor has. While helping the professors it also shows the student that help is there if they need it and that they are not alone in this. Going to college to become nurses, doctors and lawyers does not only benefit us. Our success benefits the nation. Invest in students like we have invested in ourselves to make our lives and the lives of patients, clients, and communities a better place.
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