Submission: Pressure to be perfect distracts from personal, academic success

I sat in my medical anthropology class, taking in the words of my professor Helen MacDonald: “When I was in college, we just partied hard and studied hard. Today, your bodies are treated like a ‘beauty project’ where they’re expected to be fit and look good. You’re expected to have the perfect body in the right clothing. On top of this, you are expected to be out there saving the world. I don’t know how you cope with all these pressures to be perfect.”

As I reflected upon my time at UCLA, I noticed the peers that I admire the most are the ones who seem to do just that – the ones who meet the standards of “perfection” pervading top-tier institutions. At UCLA, I have felt the need to meet these expectations to gain respect from others. Expectations include having a social life while still maintaining good grades, volunteering, exercising regularly, and looking put together. Additional pressures also include doing research that results in awards and publications, obtaining notable summer opportunities and actually getting sleep. Overall, I must be well-rounded, well-mannered and well-spoken, and improve myself if I fall short of these expectations.

These social values are increasingly prevalent in Western culture to the point where those who fit the description are praised and others are devalued.

If a student fails a course, blame is shifted upon the student rather than the homes or communities that they come from. Students may fail because they face food insecurity, suffer from mental illness and/or lacked mentors and a strong support system from their families or communities. Instead, failures are often perceived as personal shortcomings: He or she did not study hard enough, did not attend office hours, and overall failed to grasp the main ideas of the course. The student is treated as if the failure was his or her own, devoid of the context of community. This may cause students to internalize all the feelings of shame or worthlessness that may come with failure.

Although pressures to be perfect are exacerbated by social media, advertisements and the ever-increasing competition to get into college, they are also developed by cultural and institutional practices. In Western societies, the concept of the individual abounds: A person is an autonomous entity. With this conception of a person, there is greater responsibility upon the individual such that any failures – whether it is poor academic performance or even the onset of chronic disease such as obesity – become a reflection of the person’s shortcomings, rather than that of the system that he or she is functioning within.

This concept of the individual in Western societies promotes individual agency but hides the fact that the agency is constrained by political and institutional structures. Thus, the individual feels a large sense of responsibility for his or her success, despite the fact that a person’s potential could be limited by institutional forces such as poverty or racism.

In addition to the Western concept of the individual, rising costs of attending college are placing more pressure on students. Tuition has increased more than inflation, while state funding per student has generally decreased. As Los Angeles Times noted in 2015, “California’s public support of UC and CSU has declined for nearly 40 years, falling at UC from an inflation-adjusted $24,045 per student in 1980 to about $10,900 in 2014.”

As the state continues to cut budgets for higher education, students must work harder to pick up the extra cost. The growing responsibility for students to finance their own education may lead them to feel that they are alone on their path to success.

In the face of this enormous pressure, students should recognize that nobody succeeds alone. Behind every success is not only hard work, but also support from peers, friends, family and mentors. Everyone is struggling, regardless of how put together they seem. We all have our highs and lows. Don’t be afraid to reach out to friends, family and faculty for advice or help. Even if you are not currently at a low, building relationships with others is one of the most important things you can do to prepare yourself for today’s globalized economy.

As for institutions of higher education, increased investment in mental health services and counseling could alleviate the pressure on college students. Yet in the long run, systematic and cultural shifts must be made.

State and national governments need to increase investments in higher education. Universities should cut on administrative expenses, instead hiring professors and counselors to provide students with more individualized time and mentorship. Universities should also provide tenure to professors who are outstanding teachers rather than basing the process off of research and publications, to encourage professors to set aside time for quality teaching and mentoring.

Maybe then, students will feel like their path to success isn’t solitary. But until that happens, the pressure to succeed is on. And for our generation, it seems to no longer take a village.