William Zinsser College Pressures Analysis

Many college students face or feel some kind of academic pressure by graduation. Author

William Zinsser wrote, “College Pressures,” published in 1979 in the magazine Country Journal.

He insightfully complains that America does not proclaim the right to fail and the young are becoming old. His wish is for all students to have some release from their grip of their future. He strongly expresses that he wants students to have a chance to enjoy each part of their education and experience in itself, not just as a break for the next stop. Zinsser expresses his personal desires for students to trip and fall, and to learn that defeat is as instructive as victory. In his article, Zinsser sets the stage with several examples of notes written to

They’re paying all this money and…”

Zinsser expressed that parents and students are caught in one of the oldest webs of love and duty and guilt. Zinsser uses many personal experiences which strengthens and helps support this pressure. Throughout this article, Zinsser describes another one of his proven college pressures.

The one that he describes next is peer pressure. He stated how peer pressure is intertwined with self-induced pressure, and he continued to use his personal experiences to prove and express his points. Zinsser explains, “I had a freshman that I’ll call Linda,” one dean told me,” who came in and said she was under terrible pressure because her roommate, Barbara, was much brighter and studied all the time. I couldn’t tell her that Barbara had come in two hours earlier to say the same thing about Linda.”

The final pressure that Zinsser discusses is the parental pressure. He first explains how parental and economic pressures are very comparable and intertwine. The author explains,” The parents mean well; they are trying steer their sons and daughters towards a secure future.” The authors goal in stating this is to show that parents cannot just play a positive role but also