Nevin Estevez 

English 11000

Professor Vicars 

The Aesthetics of College; Stress Chamber of Education And Its Negative Impact on Students

Glorified in Movies, TV shows, and even some Books, the college experience is described as an experience. Full of parties, flared personalities, raging hormones, and jocks; The experience is said to be one of a kind. And that it is. But, not in the context, it is served to us years before we embark on our own college experience. College is nothing but a steroid-abusing version of high school, inheriting the things that make college egregious, and enhancing those difficulties.

What raises my curiosity is how many colleges take pride in using the word “rigorous” when describing their workload and classes. Why not the phrase “engaging”? Or, the term “thought-provoking”? Well, because it probably isn’t. See, colleges are just as antiquated as high schools. They expect different results from the same, old filter. It’s like expecting a clogged toilet to flush. It’ll just keep filling with water until it cannot hold any more water and overflows, creating a mess. This is what college is. A messy analogy, to further prove how “messy” one’s life can get pursuing higher education. An article over at livescience.com conducted a study and found that up to 40% of all college students engage in binge drinking. (four drinks on one occasion for women, and five drinks on one occasion for men). Plugging in the information given to us in this source, that means a typical college classroom of about 15-20 students, almost half of them engage in binge drinking. 

Now, if we push further and factor in the general effects of alcohol consumption, one looking won’t have to travel too far to find binge drinking affects cognitive abilities. This specific activity does a number on students’ brains, with research showing that young adults who drink heavily have abnormalities in the gray and white matter of their brains. (livescience.com) Simply put, the part of your brain that is responsible for processing information you are constantly receiving in your day-to-day life. The stresses of college without a doubt cause students to make not-so-scholarly decisions, especially this one. 

While it may be a temporary solution and sigh of relief at the moment – this little fun can stem into a habit, which can long affect the consumer after sobriety is re-attained. Which can all be avoided if students weren’t given absurd amounts of work, with ridiculous quantities of materials that they have to almost memorize to then stress about a score on a test. Because if they don’t do well enough on the big test, they’ll most likely fail the class. Then possibly mess up what very minuscule support they have from financial aid, and on-campus jobs, which have become an unfortunate commonality amongst students, with quite frankly – egregious pay. All these hurdles, and challenges, and students are expected to perform at the best of their mental capabilities? How would you fare? Knowing what a tragic amount of students, 70% to be exact, (collegeaffordability.urban.org) know? The debt they owe constantly on their shoulders, the pressures of passing classes to not fall behind or disrupt any benefits or stringed loans they may owe? It is a situation that is as bad as it sounds, maybe much worse. 

It isn’t news that humans need plenty of rest, exercise, and some “deload” time. But, for the average college student, you will need to sacrifice one of those if you want to be successful. And for many students rest doesn’t seem to be something easy to come by anymore. One study of 120 university students found that 60 percent had pulled at least one all-nighter during their college careers. Unfortunately, such sleepless nights were correlated with a lower GPA. (livescience.com) 

As a rebuttal, you might say “one day of no sleep can’t hurt too much.” But the reality of the situation is that it will. After 24 hours without sleep, you’re cognitively impaired. In fact, at just 17 hours without sleep, your judgment, memory, and hand-eye coordination skills are all suffering. At this point, irritability has likely set in. Beyond feeling tired and groggy, you’re tenser and more emotional, your pain receptors are very sensitive, and believe it or not, your hearing is impaired too. (fatiguescience.com) It is vital for someone to get enough rest each night. Not just for their health, but also as mentioned above, for their productivity. Because there is not much room for error — practically none at all. 

From the Source: College Students Express their Feelings Through Media

As the process for this topic began to harden, I struck a blockage. I didn’t want to sound like a broken record. So, I was stuck on what direction to take this paper. That’s when I remembered: I have the power of the primary source. I can report exactly what college students feel because I can get those answers from those students. So, I packed my bags and proceeded to go on the cesspool of human society — the internet. Specifically, I asked Reddit: “Students of College, how does college make you feel?” I waited. Then I received my answers. My first user that answered the question said that college made her feel “Depressed, Helpless, and hopeless.” A few minutes later, another user replies and says: “Tired, misunderstood, low level, tired (yes again), stressed, overwhelmed, and tired.” My last commenter said something quite shocking… “Like the dumbest mot——-cker to walk this earth lmao.” 

Now, here lies an overarching question: why must students endure these terrible feelings? Why pursue higher education if higher education seems to only birth these characteristics? But, more importantly, what can be done to prevent these feelings? I made sure to reply to these students with words of encouragement and reassurance because I know how lacking the education system is on its own. The help that is there for you to find – isn’t necessarily very accessible. I have found myself being sent all over campus to speak with someone who can guide me in the right direction. So the help they love to deem as accessible and easily attainable isn’t necessarily what it’s made out to be. 

I decided to dig further into the college community online, and many students in the comment sections of apps like Twitter, Tiktok, and again, Reddit, all express their frustrations with the issue at hand. So it isn’t like I am having any breakthroughs, or saying anything out of the blue. No, this is practically common knowledge. If a large number of people are saying the same thing, about different universities then there is some kind of negligence here. The claim of colleges having assistance on campus is very factual. There are places that you can go to for help on specific matters. But, it becomes increasingly difficult to receive this help when you realize that things don’t seem to be well thought out, or even poured some attention and critical thought. 

In my personal experience, visiting a part of the campus not many people are seen so I could replace a lost ID, I was met with the news that they did not accept card payments. They only accepted checks or cash payments. Now, this would be okay if this were a world where people still carried significant amounts of cash, and to be fair, I do not doubt in my mind that people still carry cash, but for a respectable amount of the population carrying cash is a thing of the past. Everything is in the banks and they use their cards. Now it’d be fair to argue that the college is still adapting if this technology was new. Well, it isn’t. What student is likely to carry around check slips? And what student does not at the very least have a debit card? To compensate, the schools cleverly place ATMs in the hall so that you could take out cash for a small fee of $1.50. What perplexes me is how can colleges practically become and embody monopolies of education – but yet can’t incorporate some technology that has become standard in any building that collects payments of any kind. Where is the consideration for the student? Throughout this paper, it is becoming an overarching theme that colleges seem to disregard their students’ needs in more ways than one. And that stress alone causes them to feel the way that the college students on Reddit feel. 

The Future of College Education: What it Could Look Like for The Next Generation and Those After 

There is no doubt in my mind that Colleges can offer a lifetime experience and beautiful memories we’d share until we can’t anymore. I know college is capable of that, and I know the education system is capable of much, much more than it is giving. Earlier in this document, I mentioned that colleges take pride in their rigorous work, and said that the work is just rigorous and nothing else of any real substance. Now as much as I still believe that I also believe that the work can be rigorous and hold substance if the lesson is of substance. And if it is of substance it can have an impact on the student for a while and maybe, even for the rest of their lives. How can that come about? Well, we’d need some reform. 

It is not news that college has been around for centuries. And that is very nice on its own. But if I told you that college education hasn’t changed since it began, you’d start to raise an eyebrow and understand that there is a gap here. Through the constant amounts of change, revolution, and everything in between — we as a society have seen plenty. But when we compare college education to the lessons that can be learned outside of the classroom – we start to skeptically weigh our options. College costs more than it would to buy and read books on finance would. Now, you may be saying “Sure, but a book wouldn’t offer the same experience as a finance classroom would. Also, college gives you a credibility certificate.” My rebuttal to that would be what exactly does College offer that cannot be attained by the library? Colleges have libraries within them for a reason. The difference is, the one outside of campus is much more accessible, convenient, and laughably cheaper. “Well, what about credibility?” That can be attained through experiences and success. “What about the experience?” There is no experience grander than the world. So college has been around basically forever. No real advancements have been made, and the gap between self-education and colleges is narrowing at an astonishing rate. Begging the question: Why even go to college anymore? 

In all, I am sure a large number of people are aware of the many faults and imperfections of the education system. It is obvious, and very blatant. Personally speaking, knowing that brings a smile to my face. Because College has been seen as an obligation to many, and it once was. But its refusal to “get with the times” for lack of better terms, and neglect of its students who by generation continue to become smarter and smarter is their biggest downfall. It is only a matter of time before colleges have to make a move because quite frankly, society is advancing. Advancing faster than ever before. There is no competition in the education system but the system’s antiquation isn’t its biggest issue anymore. It is a smarter, more capable, and more knowledgeable society. And that is what shift, and advancement I speak of. The collapse of colleges and universities is approaching and now… they must play a card.