The pressure of being a student (Yui S.)

   About ten months have passed since I became a college student. I’ve become accustomed to leading a college student’s life, but I feel some pressures at the same time. I think most of the students have the pressure and not all students have the same problems. The types of pressure differ from person to person; for instance, there are economic, academic, social, and emotional pressures. Academic pressure is the most serious for me. The pressure is composed of three main points, computerization, studying a language and getting grades.

    Computerization is one of the differences between high school and university. In high school, teachers teach by using art blackboard, on the other hand, in university the professors conduct a class by using computer or illustrating a lecture with slides. College students are required to master computer skills; for example, they must take a class to learn how to use a computer easily. Moreover, some classes make students to hand in their homework by using the computer. It makes them feel uncomfortable because they are not used to using computer system such as Excel and Word. Although acquiring computer skills is necessary both in a university and in a company, computerization is tough work for students.

   Studying language is another academic pressure. Though college students have been studying English since they were a junior high school student, in university, they have to learn another language besides English, such as Chinese, Korean, French or Germany. As for me, I like leaning both English and another foreign languages, so I don’t think it is a pressure. However, not all students think so. It might be stressful for some of the students to learn another language at the same time because they have not acquired English skill yet, nor do they have confidence in speaking it. Students who don’t like studying even English might feel more pressure.

    Getting grades also make students stressful. Whether students can get grades or not depends on their participation in their classes. In the university, students are evaluated not only through examination but also how many grades they get; therefore, it is more difficult for them to move up to the next year. If they are absent from the classes too often and fail to get a credit, they have to retake the class for another year.

   To sum up, college students feel more stress than high school students, for studying at university means that they have to acquire a variety of skills. Though they might be sometimes exhausted with the pressure, it is necessary for them to get over the pressure by themselves..