Interests vs. Requirements: Young America’s Pressure
Because of the pressure to excel in one field that will, in the long run,earn the student a high income, there remains little room for experimentation. Students today tend to focus their attention in one particular, narrow path. In order to feel secure about their future, they strive to set up, as Zinsser puts it, a life map,“that they can follow unswervingly to career security, financial security, Social Security, and, presumably, a prepaid grave” (Zinsser 482). Although students’ minds are curious and experimental, they are not comfortable with taking chances and risking failure. They have a lot on the line and their biggest fear is forone thing to go wrong. The classes they take are classes that are mandatory for whatever their major may be and they do not typically take the next step and try something new. Thisaffects their educations in a negative way. Students who graduate college without having had the opportunity to take courses in subjects that interest them, beyond the field of their major and minormay not be considered well-rounded, liberally educated students. These students are likely to be well-educated in their particular field, but they are not differentiated from any other person with the same degree because they have focused on the same criteria. The typical student does not strive to be ordinary; they want to have something that will make them stand out and look better than other students. Unfortunately, being that the main thing that concerns them about their future is income, they choose to excel in courses that strictly meet the requirements for their field of study. If they did not have to worry so much about how much money they will make in their career, most students would probably major in a field quite different than the one they have chosen. They would also take courses that they are interested in rather than only courses that are required.
When today’s college students think...