Pressure to Attend University Leading to Mental Health Issues, Says Study

Overwhelming pressure to attend university as opposed to undertaking vocational career paths may lead to mental health issues for Australian students, according to a recently published research paper. Six pedagogical academics at the University of Newcastle conducted a study in which they initially interviewed 692 high school students in New South Wales between 2012-2017 regarding their post-school aspirations. They then picked 22 of these same students to reinterview in 2021 when they had completed formal schooling to follow up on the pathways they eventually pursued. The researchers found that the most common trend realised among participants was the glorification of university as the only post-school pathway worth pursuing....