Kyle Fulco
Miller
English 111
AMS Paper
Adult and student learners alike are facing many problems when it comes to effective learning
and expanding a students’ knowledge to the best of one’s abilities. One of the problems many people
struggle with is that need to prove to someone or maybe even yourself that you can do well in school
with added pressure coming from all over. Having family members and friends that are knowledgeable
is as helpful as it can be adverse. The way they are able to make a person feel by either helping or
bringing one down because something wasn’t as good as it could’ve or should’ve been could really
change the way that particular students tries to learn in school and complete assignments. With having
friends and family that are great students and who do everything the right way, it adds a substantial
amount of pressure for that person to be able to live up to everyone’s expectations. This pressure can
also cause a student to obsess over getting a perfect grade. This problem or effect of being held back
from learning can cause a student to not reach for their full potential or learn as much as they could. In
a sense it’s just holding a person back from possibly being an outstanding student. There’s a definite
difference between having expectations only to fail, and having them to exceed the standard. Though
the process is disheveled, working hard to achieve the best grade possible is generally a students’ main
focus. With the pressure added the problem we face is which course of action we are willing to go
through in order to move on and complete being a great student. To do well in school is to do well in
your future. Seeing past the struggles and pressures is what can motivate us to strive and do well, but
falling under the pressure and giving up is just as easy as it gets.
Family pressures are one of the most noticeable reasons for why a student would want to
succeed in learning. Having family who strictly went straight from high school to college, a student can
feel that added pressure to succeed. There’s always going to be something or someone that you want
to show you are able to succeed. In Gerald Graff’s Disliking Books at an Early Age he mentions growing
up as a “middle class Jew” and having the added pressure of his ethnically mixed Chicago neighborhood
and background (Graff 112). His problems ranged as to coming off to people as being “stuck up”
whereas in others situation it can come as the opposite. Gerald Graff explains different ways he tried
before discovering a way of understanding and following with his reading and learning. Graff is an
example of a student whose parents were pressuring him in order to succeed without the care of what
other people think. Asking questions and talking were a few ways for Graff to really dig in for that extra
thought in order to receive the best grade. He was able to take his problem with learning and transform
it into an easier way of understanding.
In an economy where finding a job after college is one of the most sought after things the added
pressure of the real world can be felt by everyone who is a part of academic learning. The pressure to
go to school, get good grades, and find a job afterwards is not as easy anymore. Not that it was ever an
easy project but having all that weight on your shoulders can affect how you learn and exactly what you
choose to learn. When people sign up for a major it’s almost that they are strictly forced to dedicate
themselves to that one subject. All the pressure from succeeding has now directed you in a path where
you will no longer be able to learn what you want necessarily and guide you only on what your future
job may be about. It’s simply closing a part of people’s minds that could possibly be filled with great and
helpful ideas. When you get to this level of your learning career the thought process becomes only
about achieving the highest possible classification whether you are able to breeze past the burdens
brought onto you through learning.
Certain people have acquired strategies to get through the pressures of everyday school work
and learning by looking outside the box and taking things a step further. In other words it is as if the
student is challenging themselves to break through it and successfully understand the problem. Just like
in Alexander Calandra’s Angels on a Pin that student pushed through the pressures of answering the
“appropriate” answer and just getting the normal credit he should have. Instead the student seems to
put the most interesting and simplistic way to solve the problem as his answer and it’s as though the
teacher couldn’t do anything but disagree with him just because he didn’t answer the question with
clear affirmation that physics in this case was used to get the answer (Calandra 158). There’s a real
world aspect of pressure there because this particular student didn’t just go with what was
hypothetically right but he went as far as to further the thinking so much that it was actually an easier
route to get to. All around us are undoubting pressures that each adult or student learners have to get
through in order to have more of an effective learning experience, notably if they would like to be able
to understand everything they’ve learned.
Things as we are growing up happen for reasons and a lot of the times the things we hate the
most can have the biggest affect on our lives. “It is an unfortunate fact of our psychic lives that the
images that surround us as we grow up-no matter how much we may scorn them later- give shape to
our deepest needs and longings” (Rose 96). This quote was taken from the first sentence in Mike Rose’s
Entering the Conversation where right off the bat you can take so many meanings from just his first
sentence. As for the aspect of pressure, it really amounts to the same thing he has said right here. The
pressures from growing up as a student or even pursuing schooling at an adult age and continuing on,
can shape what you will be doing later in life as perhaps a career or even how much you will have
learned in that amount of time. He explains how he would just go into the classroom and mostly
memorize what he was attempting to learn. For some people as I mentioned earlier, do the minimum
to pass with above average grades. For others they go above and beyond to prove that they truly will
and have the ability to succeed such as the student from Calandra’s story. Mike Rose also was beginning
to feel the pressure from the academy to change his writings and language to a different form that Rose
was not familiar with. It took quite a few different teachers for him to go through before one sat him
down and really worked with him on how to improve his English and literature skills. Finding help from
a professional in the field of study you are working on is the best way to entrust yourself in getting the
best grades.
Perri Klaus’ Learning the Language is about a medical student who as soon as he started
working in a hospital, his language and use of words changed based on how the doctors would talk and
communicate with one another. At first he would discourse his mother the English teacher on how
could they seriously be talking like this, but as the pressure to give into the “medical jargon” and accept
that this was his new way of communication at work (Klaus 49). Another commodity we could take from
this is that life’s everyday pressure not only can bring you down but in the end can help you. As said in
Mike Rose’s article that growing up the things that we may scorn will give shape to our lives and that we
will indeed grow a better appreciation for it as we move on with our learning. With all of the distinctive
kinds of pressure out there be it peer pressure, family pressure, or real world pressure all seem to hold
people back as well as propel them forward for which they can be at their full potential. The student in
Klaus’ story learned to adjust his methods and way of learning and communicating which ensured him
with becoming a good doctor. In this students case he decided to go above and beyond that way that
not only does his language agree with the other doctors but he was able to pick up on a learning tool
that every person in his field has had to do also.
While pursuing one’s education, pressure is one of the easiest things a student could give into.
By working past these and achieving your goals you not only have shown that you are able to reach your
full potential, but that you have the power to advance past the hardships that you’ll face throughout
your learning experience. By not letting these distractions get the best of you, you are able to really
understand the entirety of what you are taking in. Working hard to achieve the best grades possible is a
way to aim high in order for you to be able to complete your academic learning.
Work Cited
Gerald Graff “Disliking Books at an Early Age” pg. 111 Composing Knowledge by Rolf Norgaard
Alexander Calandra “Angels on a Pin: The Barometer Story” pg. 158 Composing Knowledge by Rolf
Norgaard
Mike Rose “Entering the Conversation” pg. 96 Composing Knowledge by Rolf Norgaard
Perri Klaus “Learning the Language” pg. 48 Composing Knowledge by Rolf Norgaard