The College Fear Factor Summary

In the introduction to “The College Fear Factor”, Rebecca Cox provides examples of how students can find difficulty in succeed in college due many factors like the gap of communication between the student and the teacher, the expectations the teacher has are different from the expectations of the student, how fear is the leading factor for a student to fail is fear itself.
Specifically, Cox argues that “ The many students who seriously doubted their ability to succeed, however, were anxiously waiting for their shortcomings to be exposed, at which point they would be stopped from pursuing their goals. Fragile and fearful, these students expressed their concern in several ways: in reference to college professors, particular courses or subject matter, and the entire notion of college itself-whether at the two- or the four- year level. At the core of different expressions of fear, however, were the same feelings of dread and the apprehension that success in college would prove to be an unrealizable dream.” ( 25-26). Although some believe that fear shouldn’t be an excuse to failure, whatever shape or form fear come in, the students who attend college should be grown enough to control it and not let

them effective them in way, and fear is just a phase that goes away eventually, Cox insist that fear is the major factor in student’s fair and it should be organized not only by the student but also by the teacher.

I agree, in my view, fear is very powerful “it paralyzes you from doing the work” , it makes everything seem “harder” or impossible to do when

the opposite is true. For instance, I recently graduated from high school and like many students you get very excited for the future, excited to be a college student, but as soon as the college starts, I started to realize that I don’t know everything about college, what to expect or what’s expected of me, and the first day, first class could be the most terrifying experience. But after Cox’s article I became more aware of my fears and have more control in my decisions.
In addition, students who come to college not knowing what to expect, having low self esteem, and not sure of what they’re doing or supposed to do, and scared to ask, those are once that have a high chance of dropping out, and those students express the fear they have in multiple ways. Some might object, of course, on the grounds that the teacher’s job is not to comfort the student’s fear. Yet I would argue that a teacher can make things clear, easier and try the best to make sure the students are doing their best, or the teacher can make a student scared, terrified like Collen and then they eventually drop or fail. Overall, then, I believe that fear can sometimes hurt a person instead of warning them, and fear is a huge issue in college and it needs be notice from the student and the teacher to help the student succeed.