21st Century Teens: Pressure of Achieving Educational Success - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the 21st century, teenagers face pressure from various facets of life. There is pressure from their peers to behave or act in a certain way, pressure from social media, pressure from society to act and behave in a certain way, stress from school and lastly pressure from their parents. In most cases, the most pressure experienced by teenagers entails with success in their studies. Educational success is one of the best achievements a person can attain in society today. When one becomes successful in education, the community often has a positive outlook on the person and treats him more favourably (Flaster).

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Unfortunately, educational success has led to too much pressure on the shoulders of teenagers to pass high school and get a higher education. In the world today, a person is supposed to pass through different levels of education. There is an elementary school, middle school, high school and finally colleges and universities. Going to college is the epitome of knowledge and men and women who pass through them are considered to have a higher education. It may be because college helps bridge the gap between the job market and potential employees. Thus in getting formal employment, a person has to pass through college first. Therefore essentially, college helps instil in people the skills and knowledge which are relevant in the employment world (Hughes et al.).

All over the world, it has become a tradition that teenagers, after high school, are required to go to colleges to further their studies. In some families, if children do not go to college, they are seen as failures in life. The reason for this is that there is a stereotype propagated and it may be true that people without a higher education mostly end up in jails or getting low paying jobs in the society. Thus no parent wants their teenage children to end up having to become failures, so they ensure that their children go to college.

Therefore, in this day and age, going to college has created too much pressure on teenagers of the world. Firstly, the reason for this pressure stems from the fact that a person without a degree is nobody in society. In today's world, a person who does not have the necessary qualifications for formal employment will not be in consideration for a job. Thus there are fewer employment opportunities for people without degrees. Consequently, there is too much pressure on teenagers to get a degree to be in consideration for any profession.

Secondly, the fact that most parents today did not get a college education, and they see their peers who had it, make it in life has propagated the fact their children should get a college education. Parents thus make it known to their children very early in life that their goal in life is for them to get a higher education. The intention of parents may be right, but they do not realize that this creates a lot of pressure on their children. Children in most cases, do not want to be a disappointment to their parents and therefore feel that they are obligated to get higher education on account of their parents.

Thirdly, parents want their kids to become like them in life. For instance, if a parent is a doctor or a lawyer, he or she expects that their children should follow in their footsteps. The parent may be leading a comfortable life as a doctor or a lawyer and wants that for their offspring. As a result of this, it has created pressure on teenagers to make sure they succeed in life as their parents. And hence children feel obligated to work hard in school and go to university and fulfil their parents' dreams rather than their dreams.

Fourthly, the labour market needs people with specific qualifications and who have a degree, masters and a PhD. The skills required in the job market have made teenagers feel pressured to get them, or they will not have a better living condition. Everybody in this world strives to live a good life without any hardships. In today's world, this can mostly happen by having formal employment which will guarantee them a source of income. And after having a profit, one can have the life he or she wants. All of these cannot be achieved if you do not have the necessary qualifications required by the job market i.e. a degree, masters or a PhD (Seo, and Lee).

Fifthly, the fact teenagers are curious and the fact that they observe some of their friends going to distance places to college, this, in turn, makes them want to experience that. Consequently, the option available to them is to pass high school and get good grades for entering into a college. By this fact, they force themselves to work hard and also go to college for the experience. As a result, teenagers are pressured to succeed and go to college to be like his or her peers.

All in all, some parents even consider that they do not put enough pressure on their teenagers to college. In fact, on the contrary, the parents are looking for new ways to ensure their children focus on their studies. Parents blame the modern age we are in for the laziness they observe in their children. Firstly, parents blame the internet for everything. The internet has taken all the attention of children, thereby making them lose focus on their schoolwork and therefore fail to go to college (Prabandari, and Yuliati).

Secondly, parents think by the fact that they do not spank their children or reprimand them when they are wrong has contributed to teenagers feeling less pressured. They compare their children's lives with theirs were getting yelled and being beaten was the order of the day. And thus they assert that the fact that they are soft on their children resulted in teenagers becoming lazy and become failures in society.

Thirdly, parents equate parental duties as only to ensure that the kids succeed in their education. Most parents are in tune with other aspects of their children's live but only interested in their academic studies. And hence parents think that by doing so they are showing love and affection to their children. In an analysis of the arguments propagated by the parents, they do not have any amount of substance. First, the internet has made life so much easier for teenagers. They can get any learning material they require or any information at the touch of a button. The internet has made learning more fun and interactive. It has removed the burden of autonomy in education and improved the quality of education.

School going children can now challenge their teachers in specific topics, and the teacher cannot easily mislead the learners. It has, therefore, made teachers improve the quality of their teaching skills and hence suitable for education. In this new world, there is no need to act in an inhumane manner towards your children for them to succeed in life. Research has shown that talking to teenagers like adult's converse with each other produces a much positive effect than that of spanking and yelling.

Conclusion

In conclusion, society must realize that teenagers should be left to be teenagers and should be given guidance on the correct path. The significance of this statement is that parents cannot force teenagers to take the same career paths as them. Everybody in this world is not the same and parents should accept this fact when it comes to their teenagers. Society must combat teenage mental issues and depressions, which is mostly as a result of too much pressure on teenagers.

In the united states of cases of suicides and mental health issues have significantly increased compared to the last decade. According to the American Psychological Association for the Stress in America Survey teens and adults ion America is competing at the same stress levels (Hinnant et al.). It is also a fact that how parents act is linked to the teenage suicides experienced in the communities. Parents who are detrimental to their kids are at a high chance of having their loved ones ending their own life than parents who are positively related to their kids. The fact is most of this stress is due to academic pressure - academic stress due to please parents, teachers and to keep up with their classmates.

Works Cited

Flaster, Allyson. "Kids, College, And Capital: Parental Financial Support And College Choice". Research In Higher Education, vol 59, no. 8, 2018, pp. 979-1020. Springer Science And Business Media LLC, doi:10.1007/s11162-018-9496-0.

Hinnant, J. Benjamin et al. "Approach Behaviour, Stress And Substance Use In Young Adults". Stress And Health, vol 33, no. 2, 2016, pp. 164-168. Wiley, doi:10.1002/smi.2684.

Hughes, Christina et al. "Motivation, Fortitude And Success: The Impact Of Academic Efficacy And Academic Commitment On Academic Performance Among Minority High School Students". Children And Teenagers, vol 1, no. 2, 2018, p. 93. Scholink Co, Ltd., doi:10.22158/ct.v1n2p93.

Prabandari, Kinanti, and Lilik Noor Yuliati. "The Influence Of Social Media Use And Parenting Style On Teenagers' Academic Motivation And Academic Achievement". Journal Of Child Development Studies, vol 1, no. 01, 2016, p. 39. Institut Pertanian Bogor, doi:10.29244/jcds.1.01.39-53.

Seo, Bo-Jun, and Jin-Yeol Lee. "A Mediating Effect Of Ego-Resilience In The Impact Of Academic Stress On School Dropout Intention In Teenagers". Future Oriented Youth Society, vol 15, no. 2, 2018, pp. 179-200. Future Oriented Youth Society, doi:10.34244/fy.2018.15.2.179