William Zinsser College Pressures Essay

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William Zinsser’s essay “College Pressures” emphasizes the struggles students have in trying to conquer the college milestone in life. Zinsser believes that college has lost the authenticity of the overall goal of gaining knowledge for one’s own interest, rather than the overall need of going. He sympathizes with struggles college kids go through and hopes to provide insight on the overall situation. One of his major points are that succeeding the first time is not always the best way in learning, and that sometimes students need to fail in order to properly learn. The author mentions the “Four pressures, economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure” and how there are “No villains; only victims” that fall …show more content…

I suppose I believed some sort of freedom would be granted to me just because I turned another year older, however that was not the case. I did not gain any more freedom. By law I am legally an adult, but to my parents and society I am still just a kid. The more I think about it the more I realize I still am just a child; I just want to deny it most of the time. On the other hand, people set a precedent that children are ignorant and naïve. Therefore, opportunities to prove otherwise are nonexistent. A controversial topic pertaining age could be the legal drinking age. People who are for lowering the age limit to 18 have the argument, adults who are 18 can risk their lives at war in the military yet that can’t have a drink. Verses, the people who say 18 year olds are still not fully developed into making decisions, let alone under the influence. I can see both sides argument and agree with both, but I lean toward if people are willing to risk their lives at war they should be able to have a beer. I believe that age limits and alters people’s views on them. Growing up is about messing up with everything and learning from those mistakes, and people should not judge or limit others possibilities because they forget that they were once young

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