Last Essay (sorry for the late post)

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.

Critique Education?

Everyone's opinion counts in this world that we live in because we all have a voice. We all have different views on certain subjects and we might not see them the same way. If a student is being asked to critique education then the student should be able to answer and critique. Their personal views on education might be different, and when the students critique education others might be persuaded into their views as they open their eyes from a different perspective. Is just like the video we saw on youtube.com when the student Jeff started talking back to his teacher about how her teaching ways are not the right ways. He is standing up to what he beileves and see around his class. Sometimes teachers get used to doing the same routine over and over again that they start to act like robots. They have forgotten how to interact with the students in order for them to sponge up the knowledge in a way that they can understand. If a student critiques a teacher it can definitely help and open the teachers eyes, but you have to be careful on  how you say it.

Critique yourself?
I think we should be able to critique yourself because the more we know about yourself the more we know on what we want in life. We will know the things we like and the things we don't. If a person doesn't know what they are about how can they ever know what they want in life or find their true passion. We find things about ourselves everyday and we learn to became a better person.

Focusing Lasers

After i finished watching Focusing The Lasers, i decided that i consider 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 mind set that i had. I have taken longer than expected due t injuries and surgeries that have kept me out for semesters, but i am closer everyday.

In High school the only motive i had to get good grades was soccer. They required students to have a 2.0 GPA to play for the team and the first year that i tried out i got a 3.5, and i was very proud of myself. I always know what i want to do in life and same with my school work. I have a good vision of what path i am taking i can certainly say that i am happy with the ways things are turning out. I don't think i would change any categories because this one suits me quite well.

How do i define success

How do i define success you ask? Well one way i define success is with reaching your goals. When someone puts a goal in front of them they must overcome it. It does not matter how high the goal is as long as you reach it. Once a person set a goal and achieve it, it will boost their self confidence up which is a key factor in being successful in life. Every body has different goals, but the feeling of successfully beating your goal is the same, which is an awesome feeling. Say your goal is to learn how to play the guitar just like in the book Zen Guitar it says "The point of training is to strive for perfection. Just as a golfer seeks to strike the ball prefectly with each swing of the club, so should the guitar player intend to play each note perfectly."(Sudo, 52) The only way of reaching your goal if you want to be a better player in any sport or activity is to practice. You as a person have beaten the goal and has made you successful.


Another way i define success is if you are happy with your life then you have a successful life. What i mean by that is we as human don't need fancy clothes, big houses, or expensive cars to be successful. Success isn’t dependent on the things we accumulate, but rather on the actions we take and what we accomplish. In other words, what we accomplish is indicative of whether or not we are successful. If you are living a good life with the life that you have now then you are living a successful life. What we accomplish in life is what makes us successful.

What makes me succeed in life is my family. Most of my family is back in Peru, and it is harder out there to make money then it is here. My mom has been helping my sisters and other families member since we came here in 1998, and now its my turn to do the same. They all want me to be successful in life and it is for them that i am striving to become someone in this world. I want to be able to help them when they need help because i know how hard it is for them out there. I am trying to succeed for the family that has been having my back since i left them all those years ago.

Another thing that helps me succeed in life is my own personal goals that i will achieve by the time i go to the next world. I am going to school because i want to be a graphic designer, and I've known that since high school. Ever sense i took the graphics design class my junior year i knew that's what i wanted to study because it took my interest really fast. I also have another passion which is football(soccer) and as i am getting older my injuries have set me back a few years so i am going to start coaching. If i cant fully play again i want to coach and test my knowledge with tactics and training. Knowing that my passion lays with theses two things i know at the end they will make me succeed in life. I don't call it work because they are a part of me. I am trying to change myself every day to became the person i want to become.

Jeff the brave student

I can relate this guy right here. In high school i also had teachers that did not know how to interact with students so we could understand the class better. The teacher didn't really seem to have a respond back when the student was pointing out the obvious. You simply can not learn from only doing packets from my experience. When students only do packets they start to lose focus in the class because they think is boring. We want students to be able to connect with teachers so they can help each other so the teacher can find a way to connect the knowledge into the students brain.

I have seen that teachers don't like it when the students corrects them because they are suppose to be the brighter one. I had one teacher at Chabot that i corrected and she simply responded with "Well my degree speaks for itself" i was only saying what the textbook had and she got defensive. When teacher don't learn from the students then they might start a conflict. I'm pretty sure that the relationship between Jeff and the teacher was not the same after this day. If we can just learn from each other and make class interesting then more students would be involve.

Deal Breakers

For me some of the deal breakers in high school and community college was doing the homework on time. I would always wait to the last minute to do the homework, but i would finish them for the most part. Still to this day i do the homework in the last minute but not as often. My excuse in high school was that i was playing sports, and i would be too tired to do the homework. My senior year when the second semesters grade came out i didn't have a GPA of 2.0 which meant i couldn't finish out the last for games of the seasons plus play-offs, but one of my teachers change my grade because she knew how important was to bring the title back to our school. That doesn't happen very often, and college i had surgeries that kept me out for a long time. When i was in class i was always satisfied with a C, but i changed and I'm trying to raise my GPA up.

Another deal breaker is that some teachers also don't help the students. They expect us students to already know the subject. I had teachers where if you ask a question the teacher would say is in your book and would not answer. I understand that we have to read, but when you don't understand how to answer we need teachers to help us. We need to be able to rely on our teachers to teach us the subject properly. Like in the film The Passion Project it says"Really a lot of teachers think that the content is enough. Like is not enough. Because i don't understand it"(Karina,7) and when we need guidance we need our teachers to help us so we can understand what is going on in class and not get behind. A lot of students drop out when they get behind in class as i have as well. But I've learn from the past and learn to stick with the choices i made. I also try to get information about the teacher before i sign up so i have an idea of how the teacher is like.

Giving back to mother Earth

As I got older I always lived Iin apartments. I was never able to grow anything and see how plants or fruits grow. Now that I live in a house I planted a tomato plant, strawberries, and roses. Its great to be able to water and see how they sprouted. I have pictures of my tomato plant in different stages. Now it has about 6 tomatoes that have popped out. I have a big back yard and have a lot of space to plant more things. I am going to plant a tree and some more fruits so I can stop buying fruits from the store. I'm trying to give earth more oxygen as I'm planting a tree. I am also going to build a wishing pond with my step dad so we can also chillax in the back yard. The roses make the front yard look pretty nice. There are others that are starting to open. It feels great to give back to mother earth.