CULTURE OF COMPETITION EFFECTS STRESS ON STUDENTS

A Culture of Competition and Success

and the Effects of
Stress on the Student Generation


Laura Wake-Ramos
The Pennsylvania State University

CAS 202









May 21
st
, 2012
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Abstract
College starts in kindergarten (Robinson, 2006). In this generation,
every three-year-old goes to preschool, which prepares for kindergarten,
which prepares for elementary school, which prepares for middle school,
which prepares for high school, which prepares for college, because
college is the finish line in order to be successful. This generation has
heard about competition and individual success since they were babies
(Jill, 2012). This paper focuses on how the ideology of college has been
communicated and warped into a dominant force, pushing students
along a linear path of education in order to become successful in society,
rather than a distinguished opportunity to be exposed to new, higher
ideas. This paper also focuses on the Critical Theory of Communication in
Organizations (CTCO), because it explains how the educational system
has become a moneymaking corporation, outside of the interests of
student education. This paper focuses on the consequences of the
pressure on students and society, and hypothetical solutions in the
education system.
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A Culture of Competition and Success
and the Effects of
Stress on the Student Generation
College has progressively distorted itself into a controlling cultural
focus of this generation, causing students to blindly race in cutthroat
marathon without a known direction. A generation ago, a fewer than a
third of high-school seniors were college-bound; now more than twice as
many say theyre shooting for a bachelors degree (Kantrowitz, 2012).
Yet many students dont believe their education is valuable for the same
reasons that their parents did decades ago. A survey from the University
of California in Los Angeles polled over 30 freshmen in 2005 and 1976. In
1976, a survey discovered that 49% of students found making money an
important reason to go to college, and 75% gave reasons like to learn
about things that interest me. Contrarily, in the 2005 survey, 71% of
students said making more money was a very important reason to go to
college, and 65% said they were aiming to get a general education and
appreciation of ideas (Walsh, 2006). Students years ago valued a college
education as an enriching experience meant for intellectual growth,
whereas many students now view their education as a pit stop on the
road to wealth, fame and success. (2006). This kind of mentality causes
disturbing competition and consequences among the students. First of
all, college has become a brand scheme, similar to the fashion industry.
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Students are not considering the perfect fit for them, such as location,
programs, or size, but by the colleges prestige. There is an increasing
number of people who think that if their child does not go to a certain
level of school, they wont make it in life, says Bruce Poch, dean of
admission at Pomona College. Furthermore, there is no evidence that a
name-brand degree guarantees anything (2002). This results in the
mysterious game of college applications. Students are now trying to
predict what these colleges are looking for, and packaging themselves
for the part. They stuff their days and resumes with community service,
club leadership roles, academic awards, athletic achievements,
Advanced Placement classes, perfect SAT scores, and a 4.0 GPA. Many
of todays applicants boast accomplishments that were rare a generation
ago. And that makes it even harder for the colleges to distinguish
between them (2002). A burgeoning industry of private college
counselors has occurred in the past decade. These counselors can cost
as much as $25,000 for four years of advice, and a surprising number of
families are willing to pay for them (2002). Furthermore, there has been a
growing trend in cheating and plagiarism in schools and colleges, as
students are so competitively driven to be above everyone, and many
experts refer to this generation as the copy and paste culture (2006). In
the end, this lifestyle of overachieving leads to increases in ulcers,
depression, alcoholism, anxiety disorders and such control-related
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maladies as eating disorders, self-mutilation among teenagers are a result
of parents, teachers and colleges pushing too hard (Salt Lake Tribune,
2006). Students are losing their youth, and ability to carry a balanced life.
They should be spending time sleeping, eating, and staring into space
to discover their true interests (2006).
The CTCO, created by University of Colorado communication
professor Stanley Deetz, seeks to ensure financial health of corporations as
well as human interests (Griffin, 2012). He believes that these national
corporations are the most dominant force in society, and this kind of
corporate control has diminished the quality of life for most citizens. They
control and colonize modern life (2012). Deetz presents a
communication model that emulates language as the principle medium
through which social reality is created and sustained. Language is a part
of the production of the thing that we treat as being self-evident and
natural within a society (2012). His model yields four different ways in
which public decisions can be made: strategy, consent, involvement, and
participation. Involvement, which will be focused on in this paper, is
defined as the stakeholders free expression of ideas that may, or may
not, affect managerial decisions (2012). Deetz claims that people
believe they have free expression of ideas, however, they have no voice
in the matter. This can become an issue, because when individuals realize
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their ideas arent represented in a final decision, it can lead to cynicism
(2012).
This evolution of the college education can be explained using the
CTCO theory, because college now has become an economic
corporation, just like any other business. Nationally, colleges and
universities are spending 50% more on marketing than they did in 2000
(Luettgar, 2008) in order to make their brand seem more marketable to
the upcoming generation. High schools, for example Troy High School in
Orange County, CA, love to boast that 99 percent of its graduates move
on to college the next year, feeding their students to the industry
(Carpenter et al, 2007). Certain subjects, such as math and science, are
being emphasized in public schools, while other subjects, such as art and
music, are at the bottom of the academic hierarchy (2006). The public
school system is pushing this academia because they offer the most
career opportunities, and as a result, discourages students away from
discovering their real talents. According to the CTOC, students are
experiencing Involvement in decisions of their education. They believe
they have open and endless opportunities, yet dont realize that they are
being nudged on a certain path, and being trained to think slightly to
one side (2006). Then, in the end, as proven by the recent trend, many
are feeling the result of cynicism of their goals, inspirations, and stressful
lives. College psychotherapy services are being pushed to their limits by
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regular student patients. Columbia reports an increase of 40% of student
visits since the 1994-95 academic year, and SUNY Purchase as seen a 48%
increase over the past three years (Berger, 2002). MIT reported 50%
increase in use of mental health services between 1995 and 2000, and
showed an increase of about 69% in student psychiatric hospitalizations,
reflecting a growing number of students with serious mental health
conditions (2002). Columbia, MIT, and University of Michigan are
undergoing research and program developments to improve their
services in response to a number of highly publicized suicides (2002).
Depression has gone from being a housewifes disorder to a students
(2002). College is supposed to be the years of self-growth, and discovery
of innovation. However, instead, this generation has become
emotionally fragile, and will only create a self-centered society where
mistakes are seen as failures, rather than a process of learning (2002).
In order to reverse the trend and prepare this generation for the
future, there has to be an educational revolution. Sir Ken Robinson, an
advocate for creating an educational system that nurtures creativity,
believes there has been an academic inflation of a certain intelligence,
and undermining the process of creativity, which he defines as the
process of having original ideas (2006). School academic systems should
be balanced and flexible to allow students to create their own learning
path, and educate children as their whole being. Currently, national
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education systems emulate that mistakes are the worst thing you can do
(2006). Instead, the teaching process should focus on the innovation, and
creation of solutions, not the right way and wrong way to solve a
problem. This would be a proper solution validated by the CTOC theory,
because students would actually be able to be involved in the choices of
their education, and make their own choices for their future. Then,
students would feel confident in their decisions, and believe that their
education is valuable for their intellectual growth and future. Another
solution that must be considered in order to secure a stable generation is
self-education for signs of depression. Experts note that college years are
when depression and other mental illnesses tend to first manifest
themselves, however college itself does not cause depression, but its
stresses including sleep deprivation, and substance abuse, can trigger
those who are vulnerable (2002). About 15% of the general population is
possibly vulnerable to develop depression symptoms (2002). The idea is
to catch yourself in self-defeating thoughts like, This is going really badly,
Ive really lost my touch then build up a mental argument for why that
isnt so (2002). Furthermore, the educational system should be
encouraging students to carry balanced lives, to strive for reachable
goals, and to worry more about their mental health, rather than their
future success. Rather than setting and striving for goals based on a pure
desire to achieve, their underlying motivation impels them out into the
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world to avoid failure (2012). After all, if success takes the joys out of
life it couldnt possibly be considered success (2006).
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Discussion
This generation has heard about competition and individual
success since they were babies, and weve found increases in self-belief
across traits that relate to achievement, success, leadership ability, and
self-confidence (2012). However, as a consequence, this generation has
been molded to be afraid of failure. There has been a relapse in the
educational system. The current system forces students along a singular
path of learning, and opposes students branching off to discover their
talents, interests, and dreams. Instead, students are afraid of deriving from
this path and making their own choices. Furthermore, instead cultivating
active, creative, eager learners, the system has produced identically
packaged machines that are impatient to race to the top. The
educational system through college, has developed into a money-
making corporation, therefore, the prospective students developed
money-making, striving-for-success goals, like a business. This is why the
CTCO theory can be applied to explain this phenomena, because its
goals have evolved into a corporation. There must be changes in the
educational system, in order to not make the same mistakes in preparing
the upcoming generation.
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References:
(2006). Learning balance: Colleges, parents pressure students too much.
The Salt Lake Tribune.
Berger, L. (2002). The Therapy Generation: As pressures rise, campus
mental health services struggle to keep up. New York Times, D30.
Carpenter, E. & Leal, F. (2007). Pressure bears down on college-bound;
Local high school students shooting for a spot at a top university feel
the strain. The Orange County Register (California), A2.
Griffin, E. (2012). A First Look at Communication Theory. McGraw-Hill, 54-
64.
Jill, C. S. (2012). Overachiever. Psychology Today, 44(6) 33-34.
Kantrowitz, B. (2002). How to win the college game. Newsweek, 139(14),
46-51.
Luettgar, L. (2008). Brands speak beyond images; reflect lifestyle, student.
Rochester Business Journal, 24(18), 22.
Robinson, K. (2006). Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity. Ted.
Walsh, M. (2006). Academic Stress: Students Face Mounting Pressure to
Succeed. PBS NewsHour.