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Suicide among university students project
Suicide among students essay
Suicide among students essay
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Little Boxes Essay Most people can never fully understand themselves. Humanity is subtle and nuanced, and so to have a better comprehension of our own lives, we place ourselves into boxes and give ourselves labels to simplify our personality. Despite my awareness of this truth, I in no way refrain from overgeneralizing and placing myself into categories based on traits that may or may not be entirely applicable. The most notable example of this is that I consider myself an emotional person. This is certainly true; I’m quite expressive with my feelings and have generally pretty high highs and low lows. I am often very emotive and find it difficult to control my actions when I feel strongly about something. But the issue with labels comes from the affirmation of any …show more content…
I often feel as though I am placed into a category of teenagers who are academically ambitious. Again, this is not inaccurate; I do have an innate desire to succeed in school, and I know that is a positive thing. The issue arises due to the immense pressure that is put on students like me by society. From an early age, I’ve felt an immense pressure from my family, my friends, and the media to put all of my energy into getting into a good college and getting into a lucrative field of work. This push may have positive effects on society as a whole, but for many individuals it is extremely unsafe. Each year, thousands of students kill themselves out of feelings of frustration and inadequacy in terms of life success. That fact depresses me immensely. I feel as though I have no room to decide to broader aspects of my future because I’ve been conditioned to understand the importance of academics, and sometimes I wish I could break out of this box. I long to focus more on being happy than on being successful because in my opinion, happiness leads to success and not the other way
Even after the competitive race to get into desirable colleges has subsided, students are still finding themselves relying on the pressures of success to motivate them and push them forward. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s article “Bright-Sided”, Ehrenreich explains a mindset shared by those in the market economy that is also internalized by students in college and even workers in the workforce, “If optimism is key to material success, and if you can achieve an optimistic outlook through the discipline of positive thinking, then there is no excuse for failure” (Ehrenreich 538). Through Ehrenreich’s proposed positive thinking concept, the stress and pressures that young adults place on themselves are self-imposed and intertwined with their logic and reasoning, but those pressures are initially driven into their mindset by society. People in current society are brought up to believe that they as individuals must take responsibility for their own success; students think that if they use positive thinking, they will get exactly where they want to be, and if they fail, it is because they did not work hard enough. It is exactly this ideology that leads to students presenting “signs of depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation” (Alicia Kruisselbrink Flatt, The College
Frank Bruni’s article, “Today’s Exhausted Superkids”(2015), condemns the social standards of perfection inflicted on teenagers during their high school years. Bruni supports his claim by acknowledging the stress teenagers experience on a regular basis, providing evidence from books relating to the topic, and questioning the extent of how insane the desire for college has become. Bruni’s purpose is to help push people to redefine success in order to help the youth become less focused towards a societal goal of higher education that causes countless children to become insane due to constant panic to earn a spot in the Ivy Leagues. Due to the topic of the article it is mainly written to college admissions and adults in order to address
As the economy evolves and the job market continues to get more competitive, it’s becoming harder to have a successful career without some kind of college degree. This creates a belief in many young students that college actually is a commodity, something they must have in order to have a good life. There’s many different factors that influence this mindset, high schools must push the importance of the student’s willingness and drive to further their education. College isn’t just a gateway to jobs, but it is an opportunity to increase knowledge and stretch and challenge the student which in return makes them a more rounded adult and provides them with skills they might lack prior to
The Overachievers by Alexandra Robbins is a non- fiction book that follows the lives of nine high school/ college overachieving students. On the outside they look healthy, happy, and perfect, but upon closer look the reader realizes just how manic their lives and the lives of many other high scholars are. It is no secret that high school and college has become more competitive, but the public doesn’t realize just out of control this world is. “Overachieverism” has become a way of life, a social norm. It is a world-wide phenomenon that has swamped many of the world’s top countries. Students are breaking under the immense amount of pressure that society puts on them. They live in constant fear that they will not live up to society’s, or their own, standards. People have put so much emphasis on students to succeed and to outperform their peers, and all before them, that it is changing them, and is having irreversible effects on them.
From the beginning of high school, students strap on their seatbelts and prepare for one of the most vigorous races of their lives – becoming successful. With the rare occurrence of a break, kids are expected to keep on driving as fast and as powerfully as they can in order to get into a “great” college, which would be followed by graduate school and then an actual job that would make a lot of money. In American society, common values include working hard, determination, and being so productive that free time is not even a question. However, this philosophy is taking a major toll on American college and high school students. For at least 40 years, America’s future has been steadily growing unmotivated, tired, and hopeless due to the overemphasis on performing well in school. This phenomenon is appropriately expounded in William Zinsser’s “College Pressures”, which takes a look at the top four sources of tension that cause these feelings of dejection and agitation. After reading this article, I came up with a few solutions to this national problem. It is time to switch the harsh, over-encouraging green light of education to a comfortable yellow one. In order to make this ideal transition, directors of education across the country need to primarily reduce the amount of out-of-class assignments, lighten the grading system, and incorporate days in the school year that allow students to express their thoughts about school and provide useful feedback.
As shown in Alfie Kohn’s How not to get into college; the preoccupation with preparation, and in Heron Jones’s Somnambulist, society is pursuing extrinsic motivators and extrinsic happiness, although many feel as though extrinsic motivators are important and essential to be happy, intrinsic motivators are what will truly make one happy for a prolonged period of time. In society’s pursuit of extrinsic rewards, society is losing sight of intrinsic happiness and thus, feeling unfulfilled and lacking intrinsic
In “How Not to Get Into College: The Preoccupation with Preparation” and “Somnambulist” the authors reflect on how individuals in today’s society are pursuing extrinsic goals rather than intrinsic goals. Individuals often pursue extrinsic goals because it causes them to feel temporary happiness; also corporations and board directors create a system which causes individuals to pursue the goals of the company or organization, rather than individuals pursuing their own personal goals. Individuals that are being motivated extrinsically by short periods of happiness or by systematic company designs, find themselves morally unsatisfied or numb to society due to them not fulfilling their own goals. Both Alfie Kohn and Heron Jones suggest in their
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
In today 's society, there are multitudes of pressure high school students face. One of the biggest pressures put on high school students is the decision of going to college. From the moment students enter into a secondary education, they are constantly asked questions about their future plans. Teachers and parents expect students to perform their best, while giving them no chance but to look towards college. In some cases, however, college might not be the answer. Other options exist as alternate avenues after high school, however, these are not as often expressed as the idea of a four year university. Although a college education and degree is most often more impactful than a high school diploma, there is too much pressure
In our society, a college education is no longer an option or privilege, but rather a necessity. The main reason people go to college is not because they want to, but because they have to. Guidance counselors and parents pressure most high school seniors to go to college because it is “the right thing to do.” Our society has it in our mind that if a person does not go to college they will not become successful. Exactly one year ago I was in high school, and being a senior was probably the most stressful year. Most seniors worried about filling out college applications and deciding what major to do. Inputting all your grades and knowing that you were not the best student is especially stressful. For most people, going to college seems
The stereotypical version of the normal life of a teenager proceeding to college would include high academic standards met throughout their high school career and outstanding outside testing scores resulting in automatic entry into the institution of their choice. Many of these individuals have the support of their accomplished family members in the form of financial support. There are those who have not had the luxuries of any easy upbringing but forced to decide between a life with a college degree or full-time employment. For myself I want to have it all and to achieve that I have taken on both.
Pressures on children in today’s society are a problem that is becoming more evident in academics as parents and teachers put more and more emphasis on these children to outperform their classmates, stress in the child’s life becomes an interfering problem (Anxiety.org, 2011 Weissbourd, 2011,). From preschool children to college adults, pressure to execute academic perfection extends across all areas of curriculum. In our highly competitive, American society, emphasis placed on academic achievement has never been so intense (Anxiety.org, 2011, Beilock, 2011). This need to be the best, fueled by our culture in America, has created a social force affecting education, a force to be reckoned with at that. Too often, parents and teachers sacrifice their chil...
Finding purpose is something every human has to do, but not all find a purpose that they are actually content living for. In Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro shines a light on this very topic. These students aren’t prodigies or even loved by anyone, but they live to serve a purpose bestowed unto them by their “Guardians” and they do so without question. This purpose leads to inevitable death, so the question arises why would anyone with a sane mind agree to a life such as this? The answer lies in psychology and that is precisely what the message from this novel emphasizes.
As I entered high school the pressure to succeed and live up to my parent’s expectations increased. I joined clubs that my parents approved of, I took classes that would look good on my transcript, and I studied 24/7 to keep a good GPA. Seeing the people around me happy and proud of me was a good feeling. I stayed up all night just so I could study and get good grades that would make my family and teachers proud. Junior year I never got more than four hours of sleep a night. I was a zombie just going through the motions of life. As I began to look for colleges, the pressure to be #1 grew. My parents took me on countless college tours, thirty seven to be exact, in order to find the “right school for me.” My parents drove me around the country visiting tons of top engineering schools. Occasionally we would visit schools I wanted to visit. But every visit went the same. If my parents chose the school they smiled the whole tour and spent the car ride home talking about how great it was. If it was a school I chose
Are the new standards and expectations the world has for teenagers really creating monsters? The amount of stress that is put on students these days between trying to balance school, homework, extra curricular activities, social lives, sleep and a healthy lifestyle is being considered as a health epidemic (Palmer, 2005). Students are obsessing over getting the grades that are expected of them to please those that push them, and in return, lose sleep and give up other aspects of their lives that are important to them such as time with friends and family as well as activities that they enjoy. The stress that they endure from the pressures of parents, teachers, colleges, and peers have many physical as well as mental effects on every student, some more harmful than others. The extreme pressure on students to get perfect grades so that they will be accepted into a college has diminished the concept of actually learning and has left the art of “finagling the system” in order to succeed in its place (Palmer, 2005). There are many ways that should be implemented in order to reduce the stress on students so that they can thrive because, withoutthem, the school systems will only be creating generations of stressed out, materialistic, and miseducated students (Palmer, 2005).