Blog 1 Our obsession with elite colleges is making our kids feel worthless response

I found this article to be really interesting because I get to meet one on one with students who are often feeling a lot of pressure and stress from their academics at my internship at Carleton University. The article focuses mainly on the pressure of getting into a good university that high school students face but I can attest to the fact that this pressure does not disappear for students as soon as they reach university.
I think what can be really troubling is when students are pushed into going into university or doing degrees they aren't interested in because someone told them to or they thought going to school was what was expected of them. It's hard to be motivated to do well in engineering if the main reason you are in the program is because you were told that is what you needed to do in order to be successful. Then imagine that you are failing or not meeting expectations for your program because you don't want to be in it, but you were told that if you don't get this degree you will be a disappointment and a failure. Feelings of self-worth can quickly get tied up with percentages and letter grades. Too often students beat themselves up over not succeeding in a program someone else picked for them when they could be much happier and excelling in a field that they are passionate about.