Recently, in my AP Language and Composition class, we've been going heavily into the concept of depression. We read websites similar to these, about how some students were too stressed to get out of bed and sometimes could not even live their life as they were afraid of being a "disappointment" to their parents. Most of the time, the stress was only one factor but more than likely, it was due to the effect of the helicopter parent. A helicopter parent is defined as someone who takes an overprotective or controlling of their kids. While reading the effects of the stress and depression, all the students in the class admitted to having being affected by something similar but not to the extent of the college kids.
The reason that so many students fail in college is due to the release from their largely overprotective and over-controlling parents. This might seem counter-productive but it is true that a lot of students become overwhelmed by this new freedom and are incapable of facing it on their own. This causes a decrease in self-identity and makes them feel insecure while feeling like a failure to the rest of the world. But all the blame cannot be put on the helicopter parents, some schools just have a high emphasis on students and growing stress.
The situation has gotten so bad in some colleges that a former Yale professor has been quoted in saying, "Don't send your kids to Yale". This has seriously become a situation that is not safe for the students as a desire to be the best or the greatest in every possible situation has caused the issue to mental health to come up in every college, and take over many of the discussions taking place. Students put themselves through stress to get into these colleges and they are going into even more stress being part of the institution. This vicious cycle is damaging and can cause severe long term health but parents still insist on sending their kids to top colleges as "college is forever, stress is temporary".
I'm still a high school student and I go through many of the same problems as these college kids, but not to the extent they feel it. Still, the amount of pressure and stress builds upon a person and if they are unable to release that stress, it can become very counterproductive as they hold onto the negative energy. As my school has one of the highest stress-related disorders in Georgia, I have come to understand the mental toughness it takes to be an academic and an all rounded student a the highest level. I just feel as though students shouldn't be hurting themselves mentally and physically to in this competitive rat race to the top only for the concept of getting into a good college. In college, the same excuse can be used to get into a good grad school. It is a never ending cycle but we can make it easier on ourselves.
