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FearAndAnxiety 31 - 10 Feb 2010 - Main.RorySkaggs
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| | When Eben talks about the fear and anxiety created by law school, grades, and dwindling firm jobs, does this resonate with you? How about fear that you won't find something that you are passionate about, that fulfills you, and that allows you to support yourself and your family?
I wished that Eben had spoken more to that fear and anxiety today in class, and more specifically, what to do about it. | | | The other factor, which I consider the most important source of anxiety, is the pressure to be successful imposed by society. Apparently, at some point the only choices that students face are to be successful (measured mainly, if not only, by grades) or a complete failure. But I do not believe that this is an exclusive characteristic of law schools. I know people in other careers facing the same situation. In my case, even in high school I felt a very strong pressure to have a good performance in order to be accepted in the university that I wanted. Therefore, I think there is a whole system which threats students with the idea that if they are not among the very best, they have no future at all.
-- FranciscoGuzman - 10 Feb 2010 | |
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@Francisco- unfortunately a lot of the things I would have said in response to your last paragraph were lost in my failed attempt to edit the WhyICareAboutGrades topic, but I'll try to sum them up here. I think it made more sense to care about grades in high school than it does now. Grades are probably most important to other institutions that gives grades, so while you work your way up the education ladder they probably have more significance than in the working world. Hence, given that law school is probably the end of the line for many of us in terms of formal education, I think they take on much less significance, but perhaps many of us have not learned how to let go of them yet.
I also agree that a great source of anxiety is the craving for success, though I worry that too many people structure that around what 'society' defines as successful, and not themselves. First of all, I don't know what society really defines as successful- are lawyers successful? Some make a lot of money, but most people hate them. What kind of success is that? I also worry that this drive for success blinds us to what we really want for ourselves. One example I think of was applying to college. How many college students in America really thought about whether they wanted to go to college or not? My guess is most of them went without even thinking about any other options- the next step was college, and it was unthinkable to not take it. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with going to college, but it just seems a little strange when we no longer even consider why we're going.
Lastly, I think the anxiety definitely comes from the fear of failure. We can't even conceive of the idea of failing (mostly because our lives have been set up thus far for preventing that possibility), and when faced with it many of us seem to think there is no way to overcome it. That is probably why the more work/life experience people have had, the less they are concerned with grades-- because they realize that life is full of small (or big) failures, all of which can be overcome if you work hard. And that includes grades. Ten years from now, nobody will care about our grades, but they will care about the person we are and how well we deal with adversity. The sooner we realize that failure is OK and is really just a speedbump along the way, the better off we all would be.
-- RorySkaggs - 10 Feb 2010 | | | |
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