hould a student in the Passion class be asked to critique Education? Should a student in a passion class be asked to look into themselves?

For the first question, my response is that a student in passion class should critique education and not just students in the passion class but every student in general. The reason why it is important is to point out the flaws that the education system has and how we can improve this. It is also important because it is the education we as, a student, are receiving. Is the education good? Are we really learning to be professionals in life? Or just reading everything off of a book?  The better the education system is the better our future is, because even if we don’t want to accept the fact the education has a lot of flaws and we are greatly affected by it, it is the truth.

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't." -Anatole France

This quote is very true in this situation, because going to college is seem like everything has to do based on how good of a memory you have.  This shouldn’t be the case because memorizing a whole lecture or a book is not going to lead you to real success in life, because you aren’t really learning anything. In the end the only person hurt in this situation is the student. Because bad education has a negative impact on the student he/she should criticize the education system in order to change the way it has been structure thus changing your future. If this was the education you cared about and your future depends on it wouldn’t you criticize   it?

On the other hand the education system isn’t the only thing that should be "judge”, the student should also judge him/herself. This is a very critical thing to do because even if there is change that favors students in the education system, the change would be useless if the student doesn’t really put much interest in school. Some of the reasons might be that his/her parents are obligating them to go to school. Another possible reason is that they are unhappy with their major, that they don’t put the same interest as someone who is passionate about the carrier they want to go into.

 "One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested."— E. M. Forster

 This quote relates to the interest a person put not just on education, but life in general. When a person has no interest in something they do not put any interest in getting something better for them, in contrast a person who is very passionate about something is willing to critique themselves to become better and by consequence change the education system. These people are willing to accept their own flaws/mistakes in order to come up with a solution that will make them a better person. Because of this i believe that criticizing the education system is very important, however you must also criticize yourself (evaluate) yourself in order for these two related topics to have balance.

focusing on lasers

After watching this video and seeing all the different categories a college student can fit in, i would say that the best category for me is in the lasers category. There are six types of students that college individuals can fit into, visitors, wanderers, explorers, seeker, dreamers, and lasers. There are no obstacles in moving to a "higher" category if that is ones wish. The first category is the visitors. These kinds of individual are coming to a Chabot college for another purpose other than academic. "Going to college offered me the chance to play football for four more years" Ronald Reagan. Some people, as this quote clearly shows, go to college to do something else besides getting a degree. This could be for sports or just to learn a new hobby. In my mind, visitors are not really "students”, because they don’t plan to go to a university or be a real "student" if they don’t change their minds. The only reason they come to college is just to learn something new that might help them with their daily lives.

the next 3 types of college students can be classified as a real "student" because they  , on  most cases take academic courses that with or without knowledge is leading them towards a path for a higher education , the time it takes varies depends on the students. "I always wanted to be some kind of writer or newspaper reporter. But after college... I did other things" Jackie Kennedy. A wanderer is someone who might go to college obligated by his/her parents or just someone who has no idea who they want to be later in life. These are the people that must focus in life in order to get what they want, unlike the explorers, who have no idea what they want but are exploring different possibilities that could fit their needs. Another type of student is a seeker. These types of   individuals are more settled in college than the last two types of students because these know how college life is and they have things under some control.

Finally, the last two types of students are dreamers and lasers. The dreamers are the type of people that know what they want to do in life and college, but they have no idea how life in college is. They might also be lost and need to find a way to start their path to the career/dream they want. The category i fall into are the lasers, i fall in this category because for me education is something very important. I value education a lot, because i come from a low-income family and the first to go to college on my family’s side. "Don't ever dare to take your college as a matter of course - because, like democracy and freedom, many people you'll never know have broken their hearts to get it for you”  Alice Duer Miller   the reason i classify myself as a laser is because i have a clear idea of what i want to be and where i want to go in life. I have a good idea of the courses i need to take in order to achieve this and the difficulties i can face however, i also know that i have to work and overcome many obstacles but with determination everything is possible, you just have to want it.

succes?

Success has many different definitions for people, depending on the situation they are in. for me, success is being able to overcome you fears, obstacles and accomplishing your goals. "To be or not to be: that is the question" - William Shakespeare. My interpretation of this is that you are either strong enough to face the challenges that life puts on you or weak that you let life treat you like a puppet and control your life. When you let others control the way your life goes, you are often miserable and have this mentality that you are unable to be "alone" in the world, you have the need of having someone to help you. There are many things that put your success at jeopardy for example, family, money, and friends (personal life). Either these can help you have more success in life or stop you form have the life you want and are aiming at.

Family can make your success mean nothing to you because you might feel you have not really worked for the success in life that you wanted, but was just given to you by parents or someone in your family. "...I’m going to be careful not to accept any gifts from them in the future because they will think they have bought my respect" (into the wild . 21)  this is proving that success is measure by the things YOU! Can accomplish not what someone else just gives you to show that they "care.” when this just give you the tools to be succesfull they are secretely telling you that they (your parents/family) dont believe in your capability of being succesfull and having whay you whant on your own. "at long last he was unencumbered , emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers , a world of abstraction and security ...a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the throb of existence"(into the wild. 22) in order to overcome this obstacle that family forms in your path to success you must choose to become independent . Becoming independent does not mean leaving your family forever and not seeing them or loving them. Becoming independent from them is letting them know that you can accomplish anything you set on your mind on your own and that you do not need their economic support to accomplish your goals. By being able to stand by yourself in the world, you are proving not just everyone, but yourself that you can be successful.

Money is a major obstacle that people, especially minorities face. This is a challenge where many struggle and give up because they close their mind thinking they will never overcome this obstacle. "You are going to let the fear of poverty govern your life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live “George Bernard Shaw. letting the fear of being without money feed on you will stop you from becoming a successful person in life it will transform you into a "slave" because you will never go beyond what your current life can offer you. Letting poverty defeat your hunger of a better life will make you become a conformist and everything bad life gives you, you will accept with the mentality that you do not deserve something better. "Her son, the teenage tolstoyan, believed that wealth was shameful, corrupting... which is ironic because Chris was a natural born capitalist..."(115). This shows that for many people, money does not define success. Chris, the main character from into the wild, by Jon krakauer, goes against this because he does not feel complete; successful in his mind he is miserable. However, he did not just stand there and did nothing about it; he decided to pursue his happiness, which would give him the successful life he wants/needs.

Finally, friends cam also influenced into doing things that can make your journey either easier or harder. You should never let friends influence you into doing something that you do not want because in the end you will be stuck with the result you actions produce not them. "There was no talking the guy out of it" (into the wild .6). This is a perfect example that you should be strong about the ideas and goals you have and always go with what you believe in order to be successful. "Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it" Bruce Lee . This proves that you should never let someone else define success for you, you must find the definition of success that best fits the needs you have in life. Letting someone else tell you what success is, is like becoming them and not yourself. When doing this your life suddenly becomes someone else’s and not your, you lose your need for success and settle with what others want.

guy in red shoes -response-

My response to this video is that the person in the video had a good point on the way the education system is. He pointed out that the teacher is paid to "actually teach" the student, not just use book/worksheets to do that. When a teacher does not actually engage in class activities and does not show interest for what he is actually teaching it makes students uninterested in the subject. He also showed passion for education in wanting something better from it. Because he saw that the way he was receiving his education wasn’t going to get him anywhere , but t distance him form it.

 "He who opens a school door, closes a prison" Victor Hugo.

this is a perfect example that is related to this video because , if education was better many kids would be off the streets wanting to get an education , by doing this crime would go down , because kids would be more interested  in learning than doing other things that hurt themselves and society. Even though we have the tool to change the way education is structure, we have not done so mainly because teachers do not have interest in what they teach. Although it is not true for some teacher, the vast majority shows no interest in engaging and having a healthy relationship with their student, they only lecture and give papers related to the lecture without having any kind of activity that makes the students engage in a conversations related to the things they are learning in school.

into the wild

The book into the wild by Jon Krakauer intersects with many topics that we are going through in class. Passion is something that the character shows trough out the story for his beliefs. Education is something that the character has and privilege. Privilege is shown because he comes from a family that is economically stable and by getting a good education. This book shows great example of all these things and even more." There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. "Nelson Mandela. This is a perfect example of what the main character of the book, Chris mcCandless, felt his life/world was for him. He felt that the world his parents wanted to create for him was not his; he did not feel welcomed/confortable in the world that was being designated to him. He shows passion when he decides to go against what his father wants and pursue what he thought he wanted in life. He wanted to find his true meaning for being alive.

 Education is something that Chris has. His parents were able to pay his college and give him a good education. We can imply that he came from the privilege class. Even though Chris had everything, he could ask for and good thing were also offer to him by his parents he was unhappy of the life he lived, he wanted to go in the search for something he though as better. The courage he showed by leaving his parents and forgetting of all the physical privileges he had, showed great passion form his behalf to follow his dreams at any cost, even his life. “Too much of anything could destroy you, Simon thought. Too much darkness could kill, but too much light could blind.” Cassandra Clare, City of Lost Souls. This gives us a better understanding of the consequences of having too much of something. Chris had too much passion for what he believes that he took his actions to an extreme that cause his own death. He was aware of the consequences because he was educated and seems to understand where his actions would lead him. With this, we can conclude that having passion is good however; we must also know the limits of our actions if it is hurting us or someone else. There are many more topics the book goes into however; education, passion, and privilege are three main ones. 

andrade response

 

This video explains how our kind puts barriers to our young generation in order to stay behind and not show any progress. They segregate themselves from the "bad" set of people in order to not become like the, instead of helping the young children become better people and get the education they deserve. Most people have become blind with the problem and they have done nothing to help the education system become better. Something that has to be done is to confront the problem instead of segregating communities or people and abandoning them to suffer without finding the "light" for a better tomorrow.

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Do not wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” Barack Obama

 This is perfect for this situation because in order to make the education system better and consequently making communities more productive, we must stand up and do something about the problem not just hide from it or exclude ourselves from it because in the end it will affect us. Only a small number of people actually do something to better the inequality education has created among communities. This is due mainly on the distribution of help each community gets, for example, the poorer communities get the same amount of help as the richer communities, this might seem fair, but unreality the poorer communities need more help than the rich, because they are farther behind form having a good education system. These poorer communities are like children because if children are ignored and excluded from the rest they tend to grow to become bad people, people nobody wants to be close to. This is what we have made our poor communities become, something nobody want to go to or even see. We leave these communities to suffer in silence without any hope form becoming better.

1. Why isn’t there more people wanting to help these communities become better?

2. Are people really becoming conformist with the lives they have?

3. Why isn’t there self-initiative to change the way your community lives?