Surrounded by the large number of resources available to you as an NC State student, you must at least think you know a thing or two about a couple of topics. These topics may not directly relate to your field of study, but you must feel a certain way about them, and whatever your feelings may be — upset with market oil price fluctuations caused by conflict in the Middle East or passionate for finding the best burger in the Raleigh area — you must love sharing your thoughts and hearing people agree with you to some extent.
There is a need for reassurance that comes from a profound need for validation in a big university and an even bigger world, and that is completely fine. If seeking the approval of others gives you a sense of security and makes you feel better about yourself, that should be perfectly understandable and acceptable, as long as you are not hurting anyone else. What cannot be accepted anymore, however, is the idea that a college student is required to have some form of opinion on everything at all times.
The notion itself of needing to form a strong, eloquent opinion regarding issues that a student is not even directly affected by is unrealistic, and adds to the stress of college life and creates a bias that should be avoided for the sake of pursuing a nonpartisan education. Many researchers around the world have looked into the effects of placing high expectations on students. For example, in China, students report some of the highest levels of stress due to a culture of high achievement.
For students in the university level, expectations such as being constantly well-informed and outspoken about most, if not all, topics of conversation can raise anxiety levels and result in substandard academic performance.
Even worse, this concept allows those of us with a higher access to resources and information to speak over those who are directly affected by the events we enjoy debating and discussing in our free time. If we continue allowing the high expectations placed on us as college students to occupy our mind and the way we react to the problems within our inner circles, we will be participants in a long and shameful tradition of allowing the socioeconomic status of individuals to determine whether they deserve to be heard.
In my experience writing for the Technician’s news section, and shorter experience editing for it, I’ve learned that the most important quality to look for in a source of information is the closest thing to complete objectivity. This objectivity is lost when the source connects themselves to the topic.
Whether personally or professionally, the words a writer uses when informing a reader come from a deeply rooted appreciation for information and the ability to help others form their opinions and make decisions that serve a greater good.
Writers and teachers, as sources of information, are very powerful in that way, and the emphasis we place on students to advocate for one side or the other can lead to the exploitation of this power. I am in no way trying to discourage dialogue or tell you that you are not entitled to your opinions; it is just that you should not have to feel obligated to have them.
Confusion or neutrality can provide an opportunity for us to reach out to people who are directly affected by hot topics of discussion, such as conflict in the Middle East, and access a bigger pool of sources of information before settling down on a way to solve everything that is wrong with this world.
