Pressure in a School Enviroment Essay Sample

Dorothy Koomson said " I'd spent so long trying to fit in, trying to be someone I wasn't, that I had no idea who I was anymore." What Dorothy is saying is that it's hard to fit in and that can lead you to lose who you truly are and what you want to be. Fitting in can be a difficult process, especially in a new environment. This is especially shown in the two stories “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russel and Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brene Brown. These 2 stories have some interesting similarities and differences that can help you learn about the pressures in a school enviroment. 

In the stories, “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” and Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone tell a story about trying to fit in to a new setting or in this case, in a new school. In the first story, “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” illustrates what it was like for the kids of werewolves sent to boarding schools to be rehabilitated by catholic nuns. Our main character, Claudette, struggles to keep herself and who she is while still fitting in with the others.  On the other hand, in Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone our main character, Brene Brown moved to a new school in Texas, and she wanted to try out for the drill team. She thought that this wouldbe a fast track her fit into the crowd easier and be accepted faster. Ultimately, she didn't make the drill team. She needs to find a new way to fit in.

Although these stories are different, they have some surprising similarities when it comes to their school settings. The school setting applies more pressure for the kids to fit in. This affects the choices that they make throughout the story such as when Claudette told Mirabella to "Lick her own wounds" which showed that Claudette was disgusted by Mirabella, just like the other girls, because she could not be like them. School settings can add pressure to fit in and be like the others because nobody wants to be a nobody, but it's also hard to find a balance between you, and the crowd. This can bring new challenges with the ones that the characters are already facing. 

There are some similarities between these 2 stories in the school setting, but there are also a few differences. For instance, in Braving the wilderness, Brene Brown does not seem to be pressured as much by her peers, but rather herself. This is the opposite from St. Lucy's were the pressure is coming from her peers and also the nuns to conform to the normality of the story. In Braving the wilderness, Brene was not only out casted by the drill team, but by her own family, she had failed . This is shown when she said "My parents, especially my father, valued being cool and fitting in above all else. I was not cool. I didn’t fit in." which shows that she was an outcast in her family as well. But in St. Lucy's Claudette felt like she did fit in with her peers, but there was so much pressure to fit in, that she had to be saved. Mirabella, the outcast, had to remind her of who she really was. This illustrated that she should fit in, but still follow your heart.  

In recapitulation, you should fit in, but you should still stay true to you. The 2 stories “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Karen Russel and Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brene Brown have some intruiging similarities and differences. How would you have reacted to such immense pressure?