Author Archives: crichey2

Major Project 4 Research Project

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 -Christopher Catbagan (Unsplash) Depressed Student

 

Chloe Richey  

April 16, 2022 

English Composition 1152  

Professor Weaver  

Academic Pressure affecting College Students Mental Health 

Introduction: 

The history of academic pressure started in the 17th century when grading systems were developed. As the schools started to develop more, requirements to be successful in life like having A’s started to pressure the students. Effects from academic pressure started to be visible in college scholars. Some adults started to pay close attention to their students and decided to make different options to reach out to the students like creating videos. Relating to Dr. Chew’s video, “I Blew the Exam, Now What?” (Dr. Chews) he distinguishes do’s and don’ts to help students whose mental health is in the state of giving up and not wanting to continue. The importance of understanding academics affecting higher ed students is that the grading system is the “quiet” cause of academic pressure, pressure from grades influences the daily life of college students, and the social support helps decrease academic stress from hurting scholars’ mental state of mind.  

Discussion:  

Grades themselves are not the main cause of the bad mental health of college students, grading systems are the main factor discouraging college students today. A grading system is the evaluation of a student’s performance on daily activities or exams. The first-ever college grading system was invented in 1785 by Yale University. During the 1780s, grades were not viewed as competition and a fair system for other students, but later in the years that all changed. When letter grades A-F were introduced in the 1940s, women, and men were competing to meet the “perfect” spot leading students to have academic pressure. According to J Randall, & Engelhard, “Taking the Stress out of Grading”, he states “Over half of our grading scale is an F, and if we assume a C grade signifies minimum attainment of course standards, then over two-thirds of our grading scale describes the insufficient performance, and only one-fifth of the scale describes academic success (A or B)” (Randall and Engelhard, 2). The indication of his article, there is so much weight on a letter grade of F and the view of a C being the bare minimum, it causes students to feel more challenged to not receive anything below A and B. This unbalance weight of the grading system would cause a higher chance of students failing more than passing.  

An example Randall and Engelhard used was “A single missed assignment caused a 22 percent decrease and a two-grade-level drop”, (Randall and Engelhard, 2). If a student started to have a grade of 95, which is an A and misses one assignment it would now cause them to have a C. This imbalance puts more pressure on students and makes it harder for that type of student to go back to an A. The message from this has students’ mental health is a part of anxiety and “seek security with learning as the casualty,” stated Mark Espinola’s article “History of College Grading System,” (Espinola, 1). Because of being cautious of the grading system, college students who continue to work in their major start to look for teachers who do not give a hard A. According to Espinola “History of College Grading System,” he states “Ideally, students searching through Rate My Professor would be looking for signals of good teaching, but many of the student comments focus on the course grading scale.” (Espinola, 1). This means that higher ed scholars focus more on the easiness of the grading scale in the next class they take. College scholars’ mental health starts to develop in way of finding an easier way out and develop persistent changes in mental health and life.  

College students’ mental health has its response to academics. One of them is ending their own life, which is suicide. In the article “Grades Are at the Center of the Student Mental Health Crisis” the author Joshua Eyler, states “Rates of anxiety, depression and even suicidal ideation have spiked dramatically, and academic stress tied to grades is a leading cause of this escalation” (Eyler, 1). He suggests that stress from grades is the cause of bad mental health effects like suicide and depression. Academic stress does not only influence students’ mental health but also forces universities and college staff to be more involved in their student life. Campus leaders from Worcester Polytechnic Institute guided students who were in need. Academic stress on students also impacted WPI to introduce programs that helped students to give their own teachers advice on revising their grading scale.  

Additionally, some frequent situations that have occurred with students who experience soaring academic stress that links to depression are “procrastination, falling behind in classes and withdrawing socially” as stated by Hayley Kraft “Mental Health and Academic Success in College” (Kraft, 1). Kraft indicates that academic stress can create different consequences for a college scholar. With the non-treatment of anxiety, college students could find it hard to focus on test-taking and remembering important things. This could lead to poor grades in school. Because of academic stress, college scholars’ crisis of mental health has increased drastically.  

College students need the availability of programs for coping with academic stress around them and people need to listen to them. With this, adults could help them feel that grades do not define who they are as a person. In the article “Coping with Academic Stress: Ambiguity and uncertainty tolerance in college students” Journal of American College Health, Urvi Paralkar and Douglas Knutson suggests that “One explanation for this positive relationship could be that when people experience negative emotions, they are more likely to seek out for social support to deal with the discomfort”, (Paralkar and Knutson, 1). Paralkar and Knutson indicate that college students who experience heavy academic stress would need help from social support. An example would be a student who failed a test would probably feel like giving up, but in their mind, they try to seek out help. Social support comes with having friends or family to talk to or even looking up videos to help you move on from it like Dr. Chew’s videos.  

Dr. Stephen L. Chew is a professor in psychology that creates videos that help scholars who are feeling the pressure from academic stress to assist students not to give up. One video he created was “How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 5 of 5, I Blew the Exam, Now What?”, and Dr. Chew goes on to deep details about students that failed an exam and steps to move on from there. He connects academic stress formally tests stress to college scholars on what not to do and what to do. This could be a type of social support that students may need or watch to help them feel that it’s ok to experience failure.  

In addition, in the article, “Resilience amid Academic Stress: The Moderating Impact of Social Support among Social Work Students”, Advance In Social Work (2008),  Hubbard, P., Muhlenkamp, A. F., & Brown, N and Martinelli suggest that “Student perceptions of social support have also been positively associated with health-promoting behaviors such as exercise, good nutrition, and avoidance of substance abuse”  (Hubbard and Brown, 109) indicating with social support from communities or even families have brought positive reactions to academic stress from college scholars. Some of those reactions are being able to handle stress, staying away from substance abuse, and having more self-esteem within the college scholars. Social support has a positive relationship with students’ mental health and that’s why the community should listen to help their mental health.  

Conclusions  

In conclusion, college scholars’ mental health is in a negative relationship with academic stress, mainly grades. Grades seem to have a toll on students that cause them to make them feel that anything less than an A is a failure or not good enough. The imbalanced grading system is the main reason for grades dictating students’ minds. The scholars have different ways of responding to the discouraging grades they receive leading to their deaths. There are ways we, the community, can stop letting this happen, which is having social support available. Some ways to be part of social support are help volunteering or being part of a fitness group College scholars’ mental health and academic stress need to be addressed and stopped. 

Citations  

Chew, Stephen L. “How to Get the Most out of Studying: Part 5 of 5 … – Youtube.” Youtube, Sanford University, 16 Aug. 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QVRiMkdRsU. 

Randall, J., & Engelhard, G. (2010). Examining the grading practices of teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(7), 1372–1380. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/taking-the-stress-out-of-grading 

Espinola, Mark. “History of the College Grading Scale.” GradeHub, 19 June 2018, https://gradehub.com/blog/college-grading-scale/. 

Eyler, Joshua. “Grades Are at the Center of the Student Mental Health Crisis: Inside Higher Ed.” Just Visiting, 7 Mar. 2022, http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/grades-are-center-student-mental-health-crisis. 

Kraft, Hayley. “Mental Health and Academic Success in College.” BetterYou, www.betteryou.ai/mental-health-and-academic-success-in-college/. 

Paralkar U, Knutson D. Coping with academic stress: Ambiguity and uncertainty tolerance in college students. J Am Coll Health. 2021 Sep 8:1-9. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2021.1965148. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34494940.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07448481.2021.1965148 

Hubbard, P., Muhlenkamp, A. F., & Brown, N. (1984). The relationship between social support and self-care practices. Nursing Research, 33, 266-270. https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/51/195 

Martinelli, A. M. (1999). An explanatory model of variables influencing health promotion behaviors in smoking and nonsmoking college students. Public Health Nursing, 16(4), 263-269. https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advanc

Final Hacks

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Group 1 

Chloe 

DJ

T

  1. Make a study guide and take notes on what you would understand for upcoming tests. 
  2. You can make a study guide for upcoming finals. 
  3. Eliminate all distractions 

           A.  Gather information from all chapters that you would be tested on. For math, you could write down all the formulas you may need to practice or when it comes to english you could write down vocabulary words. Also, you could highlight with a marker or underline with a pencil any important topics that you have a concern with. 

         B. You can prioritize notes from the chapters you suffered the most to chapters you suffered the least. With this format, it gives more time and understanding for the chapters. Also, even though you have more confidence in other chapters doesn’t mean you should not study for it. 

          C. Schedule times where you can go over the notes and study them. Find good times you could study for the tests, so like 4-5 hours before test day and 2-3 hours on test days. You would want to create a study guide for 24-48 hours. You should break down each hour to distinguish the times you would want to study. Also in between study breaks, you should take 5-15 minutes to relax your mind then continue on to the next subject. During your study breaks, you could go for a walk around your neighborhood or talk to a friend. 

          D. You should study in places that you feel comfortable. Gather any snacks like fruits, veggies, or nuts before going to your study environment to eliminate you from being distracted from hunger.  You could place the snacks right next to your study materials to make it easier for you to have access. If you have any electronic devices, you should turn off your phone or turn off any tvs that could distract you. Find a place, where it’s strictly off from friends or any family from being around you. 

          E.  You could create your own tests for the subjects. So, you could go through the notes that were taken and form each one into your own question. In addition, you could go to the web and search for you practice tests related to your studies. 

College Website Analysis

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Chloe Richey  

24 March 2022 

Professor Weaver  

English Comp 1102.  

 

Richey Major Project 3 

Summary: 

The University of Tennessee is in Knoxville, Tennessee, which is known as the Big Orange country. The University of Tennessee is a college that is filled with engaging different people from different backgrounds of students doing what they would like to major in. In addition, a college where is full of enthusiasm for having a fun college experience. UTK would also like a student who would have an amusement of a diversified community coming together and being involved in different activities.   

Analysis: 

The University of Tennessee uses the APATSARC strategy of structure and the Large Rhetorical strategy of Imagining Ideal Readers. The structure of the University of Tennessee website played a huge factor in distinguishing what type of student they are looking for. At the very top of the visiting page, you would see six subtopics split up including “About UTK, Academics, Admissions, Diversity, Outreach, Research” (University of Tennessee, Visiting Homepage). Diversity has its part of the webpage. This part of the structure can catch the eye of people of color by emphasizing how it’s important at UTK. When looking into the diversity subtopic of the website, you would witness different bullet points of plans and partnerships with diversity. The ending of the page presents various activities for people of color and sexuality. Some of them are visiting a black historical museum and producing quilts with the pride center. Because of that structure of having an event with people of different sexualities being up under of the diversity subtopic, indicates that diversity does not only involve race but also sexual orientation tying together as one.   

When first visiting the website, you would see a slideshow with a different race of people such as white, black, Hispanic, etc. During the slideshow, the people laugh and smile like they are getting along with one another. Suggesting that diversity does exist at the university, showing that all races can attend the school and get the same treatment. As you scroll down on the visiting page, the pictures would start moving and you would see the scenery of Tennessee downtown at sunset. At the bottom of the picture in white bold lettering, it states “We are Tennessee volunteers. We light the way for others” (University of Tennessee, Visiting Homepage). This indicates that just because a university has a motto of focusing on grades does not mean the University of Tennessee would go by that same motto. Because of the bold lettering of “volunteering” (University of Tennessee, Visiting Homepage), as an activity, it must be a big element that students must have. Scrolling down more of the visiting page, you would see more diverse pictures and students doing different activities such as kayaking, volunteering, and being part of the festival. Encouraging that students can do more than just focus on studies, but also have the enjoyment of being in college.   

The University of Tennessee uses a large rhetorical strategy of imagining ideal readers to reach students who would have a beneficial outcome at the college. The readers and viewers that the university is trying to target are students from divergent backgrounds. One of them is people of color of people who struggle with financial problems. There are stereotypes of people of color, mainly black people not being someone who just sells drugs or ends up in a jail cell. On the other hand, the University of Tennessee uses that opportunity to prove those stereotypes wrong by sharing the Kojak Wells story. According to the website of the University of Tennessee, it states “Kojak Wells, the first in his family, to graduate from college, went from the stock room to a Fortune 500 company” (the University of Tennessee, Invest in your future”). Kojak Wells is a young black man who has his own family and was struggling financially. So, he decided to attend the University of Tennessee, majoring in finance, and later graduated. Because of his story being on the university website, many young black men and women would acknowledge it as you can accomplish goals too just like Kojak, who is the same race as you.   

Furthermore, women could be a target of the list of ideal readers. Since we are in a time where the world is full of girl power and feminism, the University of Tennessee makes it clear about women can also be more than just people who are responsible for house chores and babies being born. On the University of Tennessee website, there are many pictures of women being in front with different occupations like nursing and majoring in mathematics. Especially, when it comes to so-called “men’s work” like shoveling or doing hard handy work. The university shows that women could be a part of so-called “men’s work” by illustrating a picture of a young woman shoveling with men next to her. Overall, showing that no matter what race, sexuality, nor gender all students are welcomed and unified to be in projects together. 

Response 

If there were no financial problems or traveling issues, would you attend the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee? The answer to that question is yes, I would attend the University of Tennessee. A life value that I commit to every day is an inspiration. Inspiration to me is someone or something influencing you to not think so little of yourself but bigger than you ever thought about yourself. As a person of color, inspiration plays a huge factor in it. They are many ugly and hateful voices that like to make POC (people of color) people think less of what they truly are. When I read the Kojak Wells story, inspiration influenced my way of thinking because a guy who is black like me was able to walk across that stage and prove so many people wrong. At the University of Tennessee, it is shown that students with the same skin color as me can become anything that wants to as long, they put their mind to it. Making a difference is another value that I reflect on every day. My mom is a nurse at Grady Hospital and every day she makes a difference by helping the patients and doctors. As a result, I consider it to be giving back to the community. For me now, I haven’t participated in volunteering in my life, and attending the University of Tennessee would bring me a good opportunity to be involved in a community with a diverse community. 

-Drew Beamer, Unsplash

Citation  

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Website. 23 March, 2022. www.utk.edu/. 

 

 

Academic Profile of Marian Escalona Perez

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Chloe Richey 

February 4, 2022

English Composition 1102

Academic Profile of Marian Escalona Perez 

This essay is about the interview summary of Marian Escalona Perez about her academic profile. Marian Escalona Perez who was born on October 27, 2000, in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. She was raised in another part of Venezuela named Valencia. At the age of 14, she left Venezuela and came straight to Georgia. During her high school years in Georgia, she was a good student who excelled in her academics because of the amount of more work she received in Venezuela helped her balance out work in Georgia. She was able to keep up with all homework and tests. Marian graduated high school in May 2018. After high school, she applied for three colleges but did not know what exactly a “great college” is and which one she could afford. So, Marian decided to go with Georgia State. Her very first major in college was English but she later then lost interest because of her creative writing class she wanted to take was about writing a lot of nonfiction papers, which she isn’t a fan of. During her first year of college, she applied for the RN institute and during that time her major was graphic design. After reading bad comments about the RN institute, she continued school at GSU (Georgia State University). Her major now is graphic design. One of the questions I asked is “Why did you choose graphic design?” Marian response was “I always liked drawing and artistic things like paint, draw, and arts and crafts. I like digital drawing and editing.” She is currently 21 years old and taking two classes at Georgia State University Perimeter College, which are Media, Society and Culture and English Composition 1102. She has been enrolled in Georgia State University for 4 years and plans to graduate next year in 2023. This leads to telling what words describe her academic self.  

The three words that describe Marian academic self is determined, procrastinator, and sharp. Marian explained to me no matter what happened or how she felt giving up, she kept going no matter what. Especially, how college is so expensive and because that made her have second thoughts about continuing at GSU. Because of having determination, helped Marina to keep going. Also, Marian feels that she gets easily distracted. An example she gave me was that if she gets a text message, she will answer but then after would continue to scroll on her social media like Instagram. Also, if she has a free day, Marian will claim that she would use that as a study day but later would procrastinate and wait at the last minute. The third word Marian reflected herself on was sharp, meaning that she is a quick learner. To Marian, it doesn’t take her long to catch on quickly to a new topic. Through knowing her academic self, another important part is knowing what type of learner she is.  

Many people have their own type of way they learn like Marian Escalona Perez. She is more of a visual learner and prefers to do hands-on activities. She can learn through videos, pictures, PowerPoints, etc. She has a better understanding of working out problems and interpreting them in an understandable way. This can relate to the Dr. Chews video “How to Get the Most Out of Studying” which is about having a clear understanding of what you are studying. To her, if she does not understand it nor put forth to understanding it then it would be ineffective to her.  

In closing of this interview, Marian is different from many students who like having different learning abilities and perspectives. She has different qualities like being determined, procrastinating, and how much of a quick learner she is. Marian is performing well in all her classes that she prefers doing face to face. In relation to me, Marian has caused me to see how all the journeys she has been through even during the pandemic helped me feel to keep going and never give up. At the end of the interview, Marian Escalona Perez exiting us with the question “Why not make colleges more accessible for students with financial needs?” 

Citations:  

Samford Communication. “How to Get the Most out of Studying: Part 1 of 5, ‘Beliefs That Make You Fail… or Succeed.’” YouTube, YouTube, 16 Aug. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH95h36NChI.

Perez Escalona, Marian. Academic Profile Interview. Conducted by Chloe Richey, 27 January 2022.