Being a Schreyer scholar, and being in an honors class, I’m sure many of us have experienced times in college that are extremely stressful. We are under pressure to get all A’s because we can’t eradicate our dreams of med school, or we are under pressure to please our parents, or under pressure to not fail this one class that we are convinced is trying to make us fail, in order not to lose our scholarships. My academic performance literally does not compare to how well I did in high school. I don’t know what happened, but something is not right for me in college. I’m really sad to see myself in this place, and put myself under even more pressure by the fact that I want to please my parents. No, they do not expect me to be a perfect child, but I come from a line of success, and I would hate to disappoint.
My family is filled with geniuses…and its really kind of scary visiting India. My dad’s dad was a professor, so other than the United States where education is so expensive, professors don’t get paid much at all in India.

Brief pause to discuss education — As a side note to that, I think that a majority of our tuition should be going to our professors. I know universities are endowed too, and have income from besides the students’ tuition to pay their employees. Educators are not valued enough, and maybe thats why some so grudgingly treat their students like numbers at a university as big as penn state. These are the people shaping the thoughts of future citizens and by default future leaders of America. The social contract theory states that there is a distinct relationship between the thoughts of the public body and the resulting ricochet of ideas the government produces. Our professors are shaping the future democracy of the free world that is America. They are too often viewed as people who produce people to boost industry, and workers for industrial and corporate America.

Okay back to my original post. My point is that my grandfather was not paid a lot for his genius. I mean, let’s be real. He was born before India was even the republic of India. I’m sure poverty, making a government etc are larger concerns for them than education reform. And my grandpa understood this. He is so insanely intelligent that he understands his place in this world and accepts it with full responsibility that he still has an intellectual contribution to make. And while my description may appear a little idealistic, he approaches it more existentially (like he has no purpose in the world, but he accepts that his being is doing is what he believes). He never felt that his intelligence was put to real use, so as of right now, he is a very simple 80 year old man who writes books for fun, and lives in an Ashram. He has given up every ambition and just basks in his own intelligence. Anyway, my dad was quite the opposite. He knew the steps it took to be successful. He knew that he would have to pass grade school with flying colors, get into the best college of engineering in pune, and then get his masters from the best engineering school in India. Let me explain. IIT, the indian institute of technology, is an extremely well known and difficult to get into engineering school in India. My cousin from that side of the family goes there now, and out of his friend group, everyone went to IIT except for the “less smart” friend…Who went to MIT, in the states. Either way, my dad did all these things and achieved his dream: getting a working American visa. Now he did everything in his power to give me the opportunities that he may not have necessarily had due to his dad’s somewhat bleak approach on the interweb of opportunities, fate, hard work, and intelligence.

So I’ll say this again. I come from a long line of success, and honor. I would hate to ever disappoint my dad in any way. I hope that I can redeem myself here, but coming from an immigrant family also involves a lot of pressure. I cherish the values of honor and culture that I can draw from my heritage, and while I’m eternally grateful for what my parents have done for me, I have no idea how to please myself with such high standards to live up to.

This is my immigrant perspective for this week. I have a feeling that a few other schreyer scholars may put themselves under similar pressure. While it may not have the same roots, I feel you. Hopefully, there is a way to overcome our troubles fellow try hards.