Natural and
Artificial behaviors for College Students
In his text “College Pressures”, Zinsser
examines the behaviors of college students nowadays and those of a decade ago.
He argues that the unpredictability of life, exploration and enjoyment in
college, and being true to feelings are natural and that the external control
over life is artificial; he endorses this kind of natural over the artificial.
Zinsser defines unpredictability of life
as natural. He states that students have enough time to change jobs, careers,
attitudes, and approaches (210). This list of items covers every aspect of
students’ lives. These changes suggest that students might not end up doing the
job that matches or even related to their major. The vast difference between
the knowledge students acquire in college and that is required and used in
their career makes the unpredictability an innate property of the career life
of students. Zinsser invites “a mixed bag of achievers” to tell students how
they get started and most of them get into their field by accident (215). It is
very common for students who major in physics to work for Wall Street companies
and there are more physicists working in financial field than ever before
(Physicsworld). Moreover, Steve Jobs, the co-founder and the late CEO of Apple
Inc., in his early life dropped out of college but started to drop in on
creative classes. This change transformed the rest of his life. Zinsser argues
college students will have the same transformation lying ahead of them; the
transformation will make their life unpredictable. Zinsser claims that students have the right to
“experiment” and “trip and fail”(210). Zinsser argues that failure is not
serious; he regards failure highly and asserts that failure is as instructive
as victory. Mistakes are unavoidable and uncontrollable. The random occurrence
of mistakes makes life naturally unpredictable.
Zinsser claims that exploring, enjoying and
relaxing during the college life are natural. He wants students to explore, to relax
and to enjoy this state of life rather than treat college merely as a mean to
the future job. Zinsser presents the leaning experience in the past age.
Students at that time could take course from music to anthropology and
“[journey] through college with a certain relaxation” (211). He argues that the college life was like a
journey and students were like travellers in the bygone age. According to human
biology as well as human psychology, travel as one of the most popular
recreation activates around the global, will refresh mind and body and is built
into human nature (Bruce xi). Zinsser uses metaphor to relate study in
college to travel as he thinks that they share many characteristics. First,
travel is to somewhere unfamiliar, somewhere we have a limited knowledge about.
When we travel to a place, we desire to encounter exotic goods and alien customs
and see something otherwise forever hidden from us. Exploration is the most
exciting part of travelling. Zinsser believes that college life is similar. Students
in college have the opportunity to dip into every kind of knowledge ever
created and learn something otherwise will be forever unknown to them. A future
physicist can take a class on the relationship between science and religion; a
future actor can learn how the advance of microbiology affects the development
of psychology. Secondly, travel is about enjoying and relaxing. When we travel,
we are free from the trivial work of everyday life. We push all trouble out of
our mind. Bills, broken furniture can all be dealt with later. Life in college
is similar. When students are away from class, Zinsser argues that they should sometimes
“forget about their peers and go to a movie” (213). They should sometimes put
their writing assignment out of their mind for a while and just relax and enjoy
with their friends. It is human nature to do whatever brings enjoyment. Darwin argues
that, “all man desire their own happiness”(248). He uses the scientific method and the evolution
theory to explain behaviors of human society and establishes that the desire
for happiness is universal in human nature. Zinsser uses this analogy to travel
and the natural desire for happiness to argue that it is natural for students
to exploring, enjoying and relaxing during the college.
Zinsser believes that being true to
feelings is natural. He employs a personal story about a girl who is in love
with art. Zinsser claims that the girl who secretly takes art class despite of
the opposition from her parent is a “free spirit on a campus of tense students”
(212). Zinsser argues that being true to aspirations is being free in spirit. “Free
spirit” reminds readers of wild animals in nature. Zinsser establishes the
connection between the girl and animals in nature to argue that being true to feelings
is natural. We believe it is human nature to be free as “[all]
human beings are born free”
(The Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Free in spirit is therefore
natural. Moreover, Zinsser believes that the girl “deserves to follow her muse”.
Diversity is the basic property of the species. Darwin believes that the
varieties or the individual difference is the key to evolution (106-115).
Because of the diversity within and between species, natural selection can
choose the fittest individuals of the species and the fittest species.
Evolution is basically the aggregation of such selection over a long period. Diversity
is also the natural property of this modern era. The ever-increasing
information flow is making the world more diversified than ever before.
Students, as active members of the society, should be diverse and follow their
individual affinity. Furthermore, feelings include the desire for knowledge. Zinsser
loves to hear students “play their ideas” and their inquiring minds exhilarate
him (211). Curiosity and the desire for knowledge are highly valued from
ancient times to now. Even in ancient Greece, there are a group of philosophers
dedicated to understand reason behind all kinds of phenomenons. Curiosity also plays
out in the individual level. Curiosity is effective from the day a person is
born. Psychological studies have shown that babies as young as three months old
will be intrigued by the gravitational effect. They will stare at falling objects
tentatively and later try to drop object themselves as experiments (Meltzoff). Dickens argues that emotion is
fundamental to human and is the motivation of the progression of civilization.
Therefore, It is human nature to wonder about the world and explore the reason
behind. Empathy and mercy are important
feelings too. Zinsser observes that
students in the past age cares about the world and ask such questions as “why
is there so much suffering in the world?”(210). Empathy and mercy are the
natural emotion of humans. They date back to the bible: “Be merciful, even as
your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Therefore, Zinsser’s arguments on passion,
curiosity and empathy show that being true to feeling is natural for human.
Zinsser argues that following a path set
by external force is artificial. He first argues that following the path set by
the parents is artificial. He describes that students “are caught in one of the
oldest webs of love and duty of love”(212).
Zinsser uses metaphor of “Caught” and “webs” to show that students are
like helpless incest, caught in the spider web. Spider web symbolizes the
parents. Students in the web are in the mercy of their parent, cannot act own
their own and lack spontaneity. Such parental control force students to act
artificially. Moreover, he observes that otherwise cheerful students are taking
courses without any joy (212). The contrast between “cheerful” and “joyless”
and the oxymoron of “joyless tenacity” illustrate that Zinsser believes the
courses produce no fun for students. He uses the simile that students are
taking class “as if they were going to dentist”. We all experience the pain,
the fear and the unwillingness of going to the dentist. Almost no one will
voluntarily go to the dentist even though the visit is occasional. Those students,
however, choose to take those classes everyday. Natural selection makes humans
in such a way that they are wired to pursuit happiness and avoid pain. It is
similar to pleasure principle proposed by Freud, that we all follow ”the programme
of becoming happy”(54). Students who follow path set by their parents feel no
joy through out their college academic life. It conflicts with the basic
principles proposed by Darwin and Freud.
Therefore, following the path set by parents is artificial.
Zinsser furthermore argues that setting the
career based on security of future is artificial. Students want a plan “that they can
follow unswervingly to career security, financial security, Social Security
and, presumably a prepaid grave”(210). Zinsser uses the juxtaposition of
“security” and “grave” to argue following a rigid plan is artificial. Self-preservation
is the most important natural law in the state of nature and is also the
foundation of society according to contract theory (Rousseau, Hobbes). Death as
the very opposite of self-preservation is obviously not desired. Because it is
strange for the young to desire death or to desire a grave, it is equally
unnatural for them to desire a map that will secure the rest of their life,
including their death. Therefore students’ following a carefully crafted plan
is artificial.
Zinsser regards natural characteristics
of life and natural behaviors of students highly. He first praises the
unpredictability of life. He observes that, “luckily for [him]”, most of the
successful people “[get] into their field by a circuitous route, to their
surprise, after many detours”(215). “Luckily” suggests that Zinsser believes
the observation matches his philosophy. He uses “circuitous route”, “surprise”,
and “detours” in one sentence; all three phrases suggest the future is not
planned, but happens by coincidence. He further quotes the speech by Carlos
Hortas, “They ought take chances”, otherwise “something in spirit will be
missing”(214). Zinsser uses Hortas’s speech to endorse the unpredictability of
life.
Moreover, Zinsser endorses being true to
feelings. He describes the pursuit of one’s passion despite parents’ objection
as “no small achievement in itself” (212). The author puts dashes around this
phrase to emphasize the point that he greatly values the freedom that one can
pursuit his or her passion and considers it as a major achievement. He further
believes that students should “have the power to shape their own future”(213)
based on their dreams not their parents’. When discussing the exploration and
enjoyment and during college, Zinsser states that he does not care whether
students get As or Cs and he “would rather employ graduates who have [the]
range and curiosity ”(211). His contrasting attitudes towards grades and
curiosity implies that he believes satisfying the curiosity and the desire to
explore are much more important than the final results on the transcript.
Zinsser also believes the empathy and other quality of humanity are essential.
He wishes the admission officers will really look for “the extra dimension of
commitment or concern”(211). He believes that such concern towards the world
will “make them [students] good lawyers and doctors”(211) and is essential to
the students.
Zinsser pities that students are forced
to behave artificially and hope they can cease to do so. He wishes students can release the “clammy
grip of the future”. “Clammy grip” means the artificial control of future is
actually chocking the life out of students rather than secure it. Students in
that situation have to give up their passion on their natural talent and
hobbies. He mentions the release from such grip is his wish. The word “wish”
clearly expresses his pity towards the students who impose the artificial
control over the future. Zinsser also tells students to relax but “they can’t”
(211). As Zinsser put it, his wish and suggestions for students are native
(210) and expresses his frustration towards the artificial behavior of
students. Zinsser believes that students are forced to act artificially and he
regrets that deeply. He mentions, “violence is being done to the undergraduate
experience”(213). He suggests that the external control over students’ life is
violence. Violence is a strong physical force that forces victims to submit. Violence
is not accepted in the modern society; there are hundreds of laws to prevent
violence and to punish actors of violence. Zinsser’s word choice “violence” implies his
strong distaste against the externally controlled undergraduate experience. His
pity towards students and distaste towards the twisted undergraduate experience
express his disapproves of the artificial behaviors of students in his essay.
Zinsser praises the natural manners of
life and students: the unpredictability of life, the exploration and the
enjoyment in college. He argues against the external control over life, which
he believes to be artificial.
Works cited
Bruce
C. Daniels (1995). Puritans at Play. Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New
England. St. Martin's Press, New York. p. xi.
"City
Risk Pays off for Physicists." Physicsworld.com Homepage.
Physicsworld, June-July 1998. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.
Darwin,
Charles. The Origin of Species. New
York: Norton & Company, Inc., 2001. Print.
Dickens,
Charles, Fred Kaplan, and Sylvère Monod. Hard Times: An Authoritative Text,
Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2001. Print.
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. New York: Norton & Company,
Inc., 2010. Print.
Hobbes, Thomas, and Richard Tuck. Leviathan.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. Print.
Meltzoff,
Andrew N. Born to Learn: What Infants Learn from Watching Us. Thesis.
University of Washington, 1999. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The
Social Contract;. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968. Print.
The
Holy Bible. Illinois: Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News
Publishers. 2001. Print. English Standard Version (ESV).
The United Nations. "The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights" UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 17 Mar.
2013.
Zinsser, William. “College Pressure”. Ed.
Linda H. Peterson, et al. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012.
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