Jeancarlos Farfan
English 7
What
is education?
Education
is a very important part in many people's life that helps them strive to be successful.
In order to become a doctor or lawyer you have to go to college to educate
yourself more about the topic that is that you want to learn. You have to stay
in school and get your degrees in order to follow your education path that
turns into your career. Some people might call their career goals their passion
and that is what they are really about. They probably knew what they wanted to
be as a young child and focused their attention on that. They value what they
know and are showing it because that is their passion. You have to be
passionate about your work or whatever it is that you are doing because if you
don't then it will just feel like you're in a set schedule like a robot.
One way I value education is that it can help me find a career
path that I will reach. When I set a goal I have to reach it no matter how long
it takes I have to reach my goal. Just like Christopher McCandless Had his goal
to get to Saco Hot Spring he had to delay his trip. In the book into the wild
it says "McCandless stayed with Westerberg for 3 days, riding out with his
crew each morning as the worker piloted their lumbering machines across the
ocean of ripe blond grain."(Krakauer, 17) He stayed with Westerberg because
he offers him a place to stay when it was raining and at the end he offers him
a job. You never know when an opportunity might come up in this crazy life. Education
has giving me that goal to succeed in school and to get my degrees in order to
become a successful graphics designer. I value education because it has giving
me that passion of become a graphic designer. Since my junior year in high
school when I took my graphics design class at ROP I knew that’s what I wanted
to study and make my career. I was finding myself with education when I was
exploring different classes. In the book The New Earth it says "Whatever you
learn though psychoanalysis or self-observation is about you."(Tolle, 193)
and is true because I got advice from my auntie once and she said "Sit down
in front of a mirror and look at yourself? Do you see a clear reflection or a
shatter one? If is not clear then make it clear by getting rid of the broken
pieces." And I did do that exercised and it helped me a lot. It made me
see what I needed to do in life and I set my career goal.
Another way I value education is because it can help the
world. When we learn more about the world and the things that live here on
planet earth, we start exploring how everything works. With the information
that humans get from learning all these different subjects, they pass it on to
the youth so they can get educated about their passion. Education is important because
it teaches us students about the world. Students need to have a good environment
around them so they can learn and take risks. Not risk as into get in trouble,
but risk as to explore the world. They need to know that the world is not all
friendly when they get out of high school and get into college. The real world
is hard, but we need to teach students to take risk so they can get a better achievement
and a bigger price. In the book The 50th
Law it says "AS Fifty had learned, talent and good intentions are
never enough in this world; you need to be fearless and strategic."(50
Cent & Green) You have to be smart and sometimes the only way to learn is
by failing. Students need to know that if they fail in education that the world
is not going to end. If a student fails a class they just need to keep pushing
for a better grade and find strategies to help them succeed. A lot of students
give up when they fail and it shouldn’t come down like that. Sometimes you are
working for something that you don’t even know and when you get it, it gives
you a good feeling. In the book into the
wild it says "They crossed one of the most treacherous stretches of ocean
in the world without knowing what, if anything, they'd find on the other
side."(Krakauer, 97) They were talking about the monks and how they were
exploring for places they can be in peace. Education is something like that
where we explore things and places to learn from it to better our lives.
Another reason why I value education so much is because of
the feeling it gives you once you have made a career out of what you learned
from high school and college. When you become someone in this world you feel
important and wanted. They are happy with the career choice they made because they
have worked so hard at it and at the end of the day he or she feels satisfied. In
the book New Earth it says "The peace that comes with surrendered actions
turns into a sense of aliveness when you actually enjoy what you are
doing."(Tolle, 297) and to me what that quotes says that once you are enjoying
what you are doing then you are alive. I know once I get my degrees and become
a graphics designer I will be happy with the accomplishment that I have
achieved. It will give me a great feeling and I'm not saying that I am not
happy at the moment because I am, but I am saying that once I reach my goals I know
I will be able to live my life the way I want to live it. Making my family
proud of me will be a great achievement as well because they know I'm trying
hard for them as well. That feeling of success and power can make you feel
unstoppable and that is what I am striving for, and I know with the help of
education I can have that feeling very soon.
One of the challenges I feel that keeps me not focus in
education is the lack of help from teachers. I had teachers that wouldn’t help
me or would just say figure it out is in the book when I asked for help. It
gets harder for a student to stay focus in class and try to learn the subject
when the teacher won't bother to help them. Just like in the film The Passion Project Ray said
"Students have to feel like they're at home so if they wanna be
comfortable they gotta get comfortable with the teacher."(Passion Project) I have personally
dropped from some classes because the teacher didn’t seem to care about several
students. I didn’t feel wanted in the classroom and I can't be in an environment
where I am not wanted. Just like the Jeff from the YouTube video we saw in
class sometimes a teacher just doesn't understand a point of view from a
student and then the teacher has a different attitude towards the student. I
did not come to Chabot college to act out to my teachers so I don't know why
some of the teachers I have had didn’t want to help me when I needed help. I
know I was not tripping because I had other classmates feel the same way. It
might be that the teachers have lost their passion to teach and connect with
students.
A second challenge that I have is keeping track of time because
I don't organize myself. When I'm a full time student I tend to do my homework
late at night and not even finish them because I am either playing sports, at
the gym, or at work. Just like I said on my post of deal breakers that I played
sports over education, it is true to this day. Priorities have been an issue
when I try to time on my activities. I seem to put education last and as I have
grown older I have change my perspective, but I still need to get better at it.
In the book The Power of giving it
says "Mismanage your time and you won't reach your potential." (Jamal
& McKinnon Pg77) and I totally agree with that because If I had put
education first I probably would be in a better situation then I am now. I am
not saying that playing sports have not made me happy because they have, but it
can only do so much for me and education can help me find a career path.
A third challenge that I have with education is how much
money we pay just to get educated. College tuition keeps going higher and higher
because when I first started Chabot College the cost per unit was not close to
what we are paying now. We students have to pay for books that we only use for
one semester and when we sell it back we hardly get anything back. I do not
have financial aid at the moment so everything comes out of my families
pockets. I can't imagine how much I would have to pay if I went to a four year
college. I save up money for school, but other private matters come around and I
am force to use that money. I lost all my classes this fall because I couldn’t pay
it on time because me and my family had financial problems. I have friends that
do not go to school because they can't afford it and it seems like every year
or two the tuitions goes higher. When students are not in school they are out
on the streets probably getting into trouble. In the book The 50th Law it says "He could go to school and take it seriously,
but the kids who did that didn’t seem to get very far-a life of low- Paying
jobs." (50 Cent & Robert Green 28) and I agree with them because that
the mentality of some students when they think that education won't help them succeed.
People want money and when college gets expensive they turn into the streets to
make that money instead of getting an education to follow a career path. Another
quote from the book The 50th Law says
"He could turn into crime and make his money fast, but the ones who went
for that either died young or spent much of their youth in prison."(50
Cent & Robert Green, 28) and I agree with that as well because with
students not going to school or working they are out in the streets.
One strategy that I use is to stay passionate about
education. If I stay passionate about become a graphics designer then I am
focusing on school. I know what I want in my life for the most part and in this
world in order to keep going you need your passion to keep you striving. I know
a lot of friends that have dropped out of school because they are not motivated
to do anything, but I don’t see myself being that way at all. In the film The passion Project tiffany says
"It's something that drives you, that excites you, makes you feel
good." (Passion Project) When you feel good then you are happy. We all
want to be happy in this world, and without passion we humans are not happy.
Christopher Johnson McCandless passion was to be in nature and that’s why he
went to test his theories throughout the western United States before entering
the wilds of Alaska unprepared and starving to death. His passion might have
killed him, but he might have died happy. In the book it says "I HAVE HAD
A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL."(Krakauer,
199) By the way he ended his journal it seem like he did have a good life and that’s
all what matters. If I stay motivated about my passion then I know that nothing
can stop me from reaching my goals.
A second strategy that I use is to reach my goals to have
a successful life. I know if I keep focus in school that my goals will be
reached one day. I want to be a successful man with a good life and my career
path will help me become that person. Just like in the short film Focusing The Lasers, I would describe
myself to be a laser type of student
because I knew the path that I wanted to take when arriving here at Chabot. I
knew what kind of degree I wanted to achieve after I finished high school and
every day I am coming closer to my goals. I took a class my junior year which
was Graphics design that got me really interested in the subject and from then
on I knew that I wanted to get into that field of study. I want to transfer out
after i am done at Chabot and I only need a few classes left. I felt great
coming in to Chabot with the mindset that I had. I have taken longer than
expected due to sports injuries and surgeries that have kept me out for
semesters, but I am closer every day. With finishing this class I finally will
be able to get my Associates degree in Arts. It will feel better when I finish
the last 4 classes that I have left in order to transfer out of Chabot College.
I know if I kept focus on my goals that one day I will accomplish them.
A third Strategy
that I have learned to use in education is asking for help when I need it. Before
when I didn’t understand something I would just leave it like that and not care
anymore. Now I ask questions and try to be more active in class so I can interact
with other students and the teacher. In Sean McFarland class I have had a great
experience learning ways to expand my essays and how to one thing can connect
with another non-related thing. It's crazy that everything in our world
connects, and that started out in a discussion that we had in class without the
teacher involved. We got into so many different topics, but somehow they all
could connect with one another. In other classes I have started to be the same
way and asking for help use to make me feel stupid, but now I ask when I need
help because that’s the only way I will learn is with support of others. Teachers
and other students are giving me their knowledge when I don’t understand. In the
book The Power of Giving it says "By sharing knowledge, you become more valuable
to your social networks and to the people you meet." (Jamal &
McKinnon, 59) The more we humans share with one another the more connection we
make. In education if you have connections it can help you land a great job or
help you build an empire yourself.
If we all
would be in the same page about how education should work then we would all be
happy, but that is not going to happen. Teachers don't really care about what
the students think for the most in my experience, and if they would allow us to
critique them they would probably not like what they hear. Some teachers don’t know
how to interact with certain students and after a while they give up on that
student. Some teachers do not want to hear the side of the students and why
they are not doing well in their class, and sometimes they don’t realize that
the students just can't get the information down. Knowledge is everything and
if students can't eat the information then they cannot pass that class. If we
critique teachers about education some might open up their eyes and change
their ways of teaching in order to help the students learn better. Some
teachers stay after class or before class to help students learn the topic
better. We need better communication in the classroom from both the students
and the teachers. Just like Jeff from the YouTube video we saw he said "There
are kids in here that don’t learn like that, they need to learn face to
face."(Jeff from DuncanVille High School, YouTube.com) And he is right
some student can't learn just from doing packets, but they need to interact
with the teacher in order for them to sponge the knowledge.
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