Difficulties Faced by Second and Third Generation Students (Essay Sample)

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Difficulties Faced by Second and Third Generation Students
Introduction
To begin with, the major aim or purpose of education is to provide more knowledge and skills to the learner and equip him or her with the required understanding for his or her better tomorrow. In order for one to fully understand what he or she is taught in school, he or she must first understand the reason as to why he has to school and what he wants to achieve after pursuing the formal education. However, this is not the case in the present days as most of the students just go to school because their parents have paid their school fees. Comparing to the previous days where students used to pay their school fees and no one would ask them how they performed at the end of the day. These people highly valued education and ensured that they obtained everything the teacher taught in class and even put it into practice (Williams, Pg. 89). This paper therefore discusses the problems faced by second or third generation students.
Problems Faced
Lack of Self Decision Making
The greatest problem faced by the second and third generation students is lack of the opportunity to make self decisions. An individual will always have a clear understanding of him or herself and so self decisions are always important. As the saying that goes let people advise you but you should not allow them decide for you. Allowing someone making decisions for you may mostly be misleading. It is even surprising that one can go by the decisions made by others. A normal human being must a passion and so a need to make self decisions so as to archive whatever he or she wants to achieve (White, Pg. 102).
This is therefore a major problem facing the second and third generation students. Given that their parents went through the education system and so have a clear understanding of what it contains, they tend to guide their children in almost everything specifically in terms of education. For instance, it is the parents who mostly decide for their children concerning the school in which they should attend. The child has to go to this school despite whether he or she wants or not. It therefore becomes hard for these students to prosper in their education system. In fact, some may not know the reason as to why they go to school and so ending up pursuing education without any objective rather than passing the exams for the sake of their parents (Rogers & Margaret, Pg. 69). At the end, education does not become helpful to these students hence a failure in their lives.
Going by their Parents’ Dreams
After high school, the students is supposed to have gained a clear understanding of himself, his passion or interests so as to pursue a course that may enable him gain more understanding in his or her career. However, if the student was just going to school to please the parent, he or she may have passed the exam but with nothing in his or her mind concerning how he or she wants the future to become. As a result, the same trend mostly continues where the parent goes on choosing for the child what he or she should to pursue. In most cases, the parent will direct the student to pursue a course of his interest and not the interest of the child (Haugen, David & Susan, Pg. 58).
As a result, the child ends up fulfilling the dreams of his or her parents instead of fulfilling his or her own dream in life. As compared to the first generation students, they made all their decisions on themselves right from the lower primary school up to the college level. These students therefore had a clear understanding of what they wanted to achieve since the beginning and so worked hard to fulfill their dreams. It can therefore be stated that the second and third generation students live the lives of their parents and so a problem they face (Harrington, Pg. 94).
Too Much Pressure
It is the parents who took them to school and not just schools but the best schools. They therefore expect them to accomplish their expectations (expectations of the parents). On the other hand, teachers also experience much pressure from the parents as they are deemed to ensure that these students attain what their parents wants them to. The teacher will therefore focus on ensuring that the student passes the exam and get enrolled to the best universities and in good courses (Evans, Pg. 76).
Above all, the student is the one who experiences too much pressure and so working towards meeting the expectations of others that is parents and teachers. The parent wants him or her to attain the best grade so that he or she can be enrolled to the best courses or be recognized as among the most successful people in the society. On the other hand, the teacher wants the student to attain the best grades so as it is his work and so please or meet the expectation of his boss (the parents). As a result, the second and third generation students are under too much pressure to an extent that they just work to please these people, parents and teachers and not for themselves (Buriel, Pg. 129).
Irresponsible
Previously, one was expected to be in a position to take care of his or herself even after high school or upper primary school in some regions. Education used to make children mature at their early ages and so become reliable. This is not the case with the current generation. Students depend on their parents from their primary school up to college levels. It is more serious that even after college; some of these students go back to their parents and wait for them to find jobs for them. This is when the problem of irresponsibility comes in. Keeping in mind that this student was just going to school, pass exams so as to please the parents, he will not have gained any skills at the end of the education system. Such students do not even have the capacity to find jobs for themselves. Even when they are connected, they fail in the interviews (Allen, Pg. 169). They therefore discover at the very end that they messed with their lives at some point and so another problem faced by the second and third generation students.
Do not Receive Quality Education as Compared to the First Generation Students
Presently, most of the teachers belong to the second generation students and even the third to some of them. Taking an example of a second generation teacher teaching a third generation students, this teacher went through the same system where all the decisions were made by the parents. The teacher was never sent home for school fees or did he or she struggle on what to eat after school. The teacher concentrated on passing the examinations so as to please his or her parents due to excessive control over them. As a result, such a teacher will not provide quality education to these students in the third generation. This is where you may find a teacher reading the textbook for students and instructing them to write down the dictated notes without any constructive explanation. Coming the examination time, the teacher will be forced to provide the students with some leakage so as to help them pass and meet the parents’ expectations (Williams, Pg. 183). This is therefore among the difficulties faced by students today.
Intense Pressure to Succeed
Growing up as children of parents or guardians who have attained a college or university degree can be a challenging experience for the learners. Just like their parents, the kids are expected to perform better or even be like them. Something that is not very easy for the learners, due to these they are forced to work extra hard not to disappoint their parents. For instance, growing up as kids of parents who moved and settled in America can also be a demanding experience. Since parent frequently put intense strain on their kids to do well in the U.S., as the country may seem a land of prospect as compared to their county (White, Pg. 128).
Guilt
Many of the time the second generation student face lots of responsibility once they are not able to perform well while at school. The society expects a lot from them, the learners are supposed to work extra hard as a way of appreciating their parents sacrifices. During that time when the learners are not successful in school many of them blame themselves for their failures. Because of the guilt that they fill for not performing up to the expectations of their families many of them even commit suicide. Also, some of them decide to run away from school because of the shame. Some cases of depression among those students who do not do well in school are also there because of the blame of letting their parents down (Rogers, Pg. 174).
Comparison of the Findings to Those of the Authors of the Unit
The authors of the unit talk about the model minority and the American dream. According to this model, it is provided that any one has the capacity to archi9ve whatever he or she wants to archive irrespective of the background in which he or she is coming from. The authors therefore tend to differ from my thinking concerning the difficulties faced by second or third generation students. First, it is provided that student’s performance in school depends on his or her determination. As provided by the American dream, everyone has the capacity to accomplish whatever he or she wants to accomplish as long as he or she remains focused in accomplishing the set goals or strategies. There is therefore nothing like second and third generation students affected by the parents and so their performance in life. Someone who wants to become successful in life will do so irrespective of where he or she comes from (Haugen, David & Susan, Pg. 99).
In fact, the second and third generation students should perform better than the first generation students. This is because; these students have the capacity to obtain everything they want in pursuing education. They ...