Success

I think success is when you are truly happy with what you are doing. For me personally success will be finishing school and getting a bachelor degree in accounting. I love paper work and figuring out problems. Formulas is one of my passions because there has to be a right answer and there is only one answer. I like balancing things out. I'm good at that and I finally figured that out and it is a high paying job for to do that! So have a job that I love to me is success. A job that I want to go to and feel like I accomplished something, that's what I want. I want to be a commodity and indispensable in my career and make it to the top. I started a little late to the game but I'd like to think that I am more mature now than I was a few years ago.

Another factor of course is money. I want money not a lot but enough to live on. I want a house with my husband and my dog. Maybe I want a family, I'm not too sure yet. I want a nice car and go on vacation once a year, and travel I want to see the world. By doing all this I will feel like I succeeded in life and my goals. I don't care what other people think of me, that I'm going back to school now in my late 20's, I wanted to do something different, I want a degree with my name on it and it will happen.

Support; I never had support before my boyfriend provides me with that. He helps me to keep going and understands when I can't go see him sometimes because I have to study. He pushes me when I don't feel like going to school and reminds me why I'm doing this and that helps me not miss a day. He also tells me that I'm paying for school and why pay if I'm going to stay at home then that is like throwing money away and that is my main motivator right there. I refuse to miss a day of school because of that right there. I strive to do my best, to ask questions because I am here for a reason and I figured it out late but I finally figured it out and I will take that as an advantage and I am learning so much everyday that I am here at Chabot. 

Success is different for every one:

Into the Wild

Passion, privilege, and isolation relates to what we are doing and intersects with the book "Into the Wild." Chris McCandless is our main character in this book. He goes on an adventure from Atlanta to Stempede Trail, Alaska and dies of starvation. I have found 3 things that he has in common with what we are doing in class. The first one is passion. Chris is very passionate about leaving his family's home and not talking to his parents. He decides to take on the road with his car and travel. He has odd jobs now and then and soon his car dies on him. He either will stay with friends but it just fine roughing it out with others just like him. He soon got it in his head to go to Alaska and live on the land. This was his goal and nothing was going to stop him from getting there. He was only 24 when he passed away but I think he was happy because he did what he wanted to do. He died all alone with just his books. Even though people warned him that it is very tough to live up there and there is hardly any food he didn't care he wanted to do this.


Privilege; I think Chris is definitely privileged. He was a white male with an education with a rich family. He felt that he had no need for responsibility and did whatever he wanted and didn't care that his family missed him. He had the privilege of hitchhiking which isn't advisable to women because they could get kidnapped, raped, and/or could die. He also thought that everything could/would work out just fine. He took everything very lightly and I felt to a certain extent that he just didn't care. He didn't want to be close to people and kept them at an arms length. He didn't call his sister, who he was very close with and it seemed very selfish on his part not to. When someone did feel close to Chris they were the ones hurt at the end because he always left. He didn't want to get too attached to the people that helped him since he was going to be leaving them, I think if that was the case he shouldn't accept their help.

Isolation; Chris isolated himself from society and their rules. He decided to leave off the grid and wanted to live off the land. He wanted to be totally alone from human contact. He ultimately got what he wanted. The sad thing is that he died alone but he did get to live out his dream and live off the land for a few months.

What our parents want

This shows the different class of students. The jocks, burn outs, geeks, the bullies. What kids have to deal with and how some learn how to just except it. It shows that their parents don't understand and they only want their child to be the best at everything and if they are not then why is that. "You have to try harder? Why are you acting this way?" Is so common and what parents say to their children all the time. Lindsay started changing and became depressed because her grandma passed away. She started thinking about life and was confused. She didn't want to be perfect any more and wanted to make mistakes. She started to dress differently and had different friends that society has deemed as burn outs. In some shape or form we are trying to be accepted. Lindsay wanted to be accepted by the kids that she thought were cool and always wanted to hang out with.

One of my favorite characters on this show is the Lindsay's father, he tries to scare his children with death. "There was a girl in our school that had premarital sex and you know what she did graduation day? DIE! of a overdose of heroin!" Her parents are bad parents they do want the best for their kids. They have good intentions but a twisted away about going about it. They want their children to be smart and popular but not every child is going to be that way.

Andrade Response

Diversity. I never knew that word until I stepped into a continuation school in Piedmont. I didn't think anything of it because I'm used to seeing all types of people everyday. But because I look Mexican, Piedmont threw me into a diversity club which was mandatory for me to go to school there. The club had 90% of the people that were in the continuation school in it and a few from Piedmont high that were white people. There was still a line the kids from Piedmont high were on one side and the continuation school on the other. There would be questions that we had to answer and start a discussion. Half the time we weren't listening, they knew nothing about us so why are they trying the only time they would talk to us was when we were in the club so what was the point? So our group would come up with bullshit answers because we just didn't care. Our group didn't understand why diversity to them was such a big deal. Then our group started to realize we are the only different looking people here and they are not use to that. Then another question came up, why should we accommodate them? Why should we be here? To do what? To show teachers that we get along? To see that all the kids are tolerant? Or was it to make the school look better to say hey we have a diversity club? So to us that weren't white we just didn't care. It wasn't helping us it just wasn't another hour.

        The one good class that was mandatory to take was anger management.  To me that was a great class we got to talk about what was going on at home and what made us upset, happy, etc... We got to talk about emotions and got to speak freely to the counselor. He didn't treat us like teachers did he actually listened and asked questions. Sometimes he even did one on ones. He felt like he cared and gave us tips on how to control our anger. He related to us and told us personal things about him which made me open up more.

We were teenagers, we had no idea where we are going on in life. We did what we are told and went where we were supposed to go. I saw kids sleep through class, I saw kids skip school, I saw kids give up. Our home lives were a mess, some of my friends didn't have beds to sleep in, no food at home, and younger siblings to look after. A lot of time I didn't go to school because I was taking care of my brother and sister so my mom and dad could work to pay rent. I don't blame them for that I wanted my home i didn't want to get kicked out of where we were staying. I wanted to help and that was my downfall. Teachers thought I didn't care because I didn't go to class and I was trying to do my best. My counselor was the only one who stood up for me and explained my situation. But some kids were so far gone it was impossible to pick them back up. My counselor said, "You can only lead a horse to water but the horse has to choose to drink it."

Struggling for Education

    There are many struggles to face when you are going to school. There are thousands of reasons why to not go to school and one reason to stay in it. It's crazy that most of Chabot students don't talk to anyone, myself included, I am a get in get out kind of person. But I do have experiences that I can share with younger people to help them to learn from my mistakes. There are deal breakers for not going to school and each are different to each student. One of my deal breakers is if I lose my job. If I don't have a job then I have no money to pay of anything; rent, food, my car, school, books. I would be stuck. Luckily I do have a good job and I have a little sense of job security. If I didn't have this opportunity than I would be at my job for the rest of my life but they could always shut down and where would I go after that. I need a degree to have job security to show what I can do and what I went through. There is a line between poor and rich people, rich people wondering  why it's so hard that the poor is poor and why would they live like that. And poor people struggle and live paycheck to paycheck. 

      Another struggle is family. I am living with my parents and I try to help out financially but all my extra money goes to school. I wish I could do more and I could do more if I dropped out of school. Its difficult all around. My days are pretty tight. Monday-thursday school 8am-3pm the work from 530-1030pm I get two days off and those days are during the week because weekends are our busiest days. I work about 30-32 hours a week and I have a personal life; not much of a personal life but this is what I have chosen. I'm tired most of the time and I go to sleep late but in the long run when I am in my mid 30's I know that it will  be worth it.

People don't know how amazing we can be because we are constantly shot down. We are determined and when we have something in motion nothing can stop us, one foot in front of the other. Struggles are just there to show you if you really want it are you going to go through with it or is that roadblock is going to deter you from going over it. My obstalces showed me that I really want this and have helped me to go forward and had given me more strength from it. I have been through so much to get where I am here today and nothing can hold me back from get my education, my degree, my purpose, and my passion to learn.

Privilege and Passion

        Privilege plays a huge roll in passion. It's easier to follow what you want to do if you are financially stable, if you have parents that support you. When you don't have a lot of obstacles to jump through of course it's easier to follow your dreams and figure out what you want to do. If I had more money when I wanted to go back to school I could have finished by now.

I'm not rich, I'm not financially stable but I would like to be someday. My parents didn't save up a college fund for me I have to figure it out. When I hear kids going to school and not working I do feel envious but realize its not their fault and I've been working hard all my life why stop now? I know the struggle and I would like to give my children the option of going to school and to just concentrate on school. 

    

   To flip it around it could be hard being privileged because you are expected to do so much but you may not want that. The family maybe wants you to be a doctor or lawyer and you want to be a dancer or singer. If you are privileged you might have a lot of pressure for you to get good grades and to go to college even though you might not want to. This could also be unfulfilled and why would you be? Yes this person will be making a lot of funny but inside they aren't happy with their life because they are not passionate about their job. 

Instead of them trying to achieve their goals and dreams instead they listened to their family and to make them happy and since they are paying for their schooling they listen. We did get sucked in because we are too afraid to see what we want and we think that we can't get it either. It is a shame because our parents do tell us you can be anything you want and then when you turn 18 they say but you have to make money. "Isn't it somewhat twisted how we choose to harvest our children? Parents say, "Follow your dreams, do what you love, believe in the tooth fairy." Then when you turn 18 as if some kind of ritual they say, "Silly child, dreams are not realistic and no love is not practical.""  This is so unfair that you have to go through life thinking that the sky is the limit and then find out no its not or dreams are worth nothing and why try to follow them because its too hard to do. We are made to fail. The system is here to say you can't do this why try to better yourself? They want me at my job doing the same thing education isn't free they push the cost so way up why would you spend money on that when you can work and save that money for yourself? 

     Yes there is a relationship between privilege and passion. Only if you know what you want it is to your advantage. I think the people who are less privileged work harder for it and know what it takes in the real world. The experience of the unknown won't scare them because they have been through worse, and they won't take the school experience for granted. When you pay for your education I know I don't want to feel like I am throwing my money away. I will never skip class unless I am dreadfully ill. I treat my schooling like I treat my job, like I am getting paid because in the long run I will be getting paid for my education and students need to realize that, this is a future paycheck!

Passion Project

After watching the Passion Project in class I started think about my experience in the classroom.I had an opportunity to go to college but I only lasted one semester. I was confused and lost and undecided. I dropped out and started working two jobs to support myself. It was very difficult, I knew i didn't want to work like this forever, but I had no idea what I wanted to do. I felt like I wasn't achieving anything because I wasn't working toward any goals. When I was about 25 I decided to go back to school but how? I looked up community college, I had to figure in money into my new venture, and time that I needed to study but still maintain work. I thought about and made a decision to live back at home with my parents in order to make this work. So I didn't go back to school until I was 27. I had to tell my job to put me as part time so I could have time to go to school. So I'm at Chabot and last year I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to go. And last semester I made my decision that I want to  be an accountant. I love numbers and money and I'm doing very well in that department. I like formulas and solving problems. I learned a lot about myself more in one year at school than 10 years just working and being unhappy at work. I have a great job that pays my bills but I want more, I want to achieve more, and I want meaning to have a purpose at work. 
   

    This happens a lot in a classroom students don't want to speak up because they are afraid of getting the answer wrong or they simply to do know. We do see our teacher as the enemy because we think that all he wants to do is see us fail us against the teacher. I think us students need to be reassured that our teacher is there for us, to teach us, and to open our minds to a world that we aren't to sure of. A teacher should be encouraging and enthusiastic to teach and talk to students, he/she is supposed to guide us and help us get to the next phase of our lives. A student should be ready to learn and have questions to better understand material and be in the classroom to listen. Students should want to speak up and also be enthusiastic to learn. History by far is the most boring subject to me ever! I think its useless and I won't use this in my career but i need to care about it because I want a good grade because if I don't pass this subject I will have to take it again. So I make sure I take a 5 hour energy drink, I have water with me and I have questions that I had on the reading and hopefully that keeps me engaged with the material. But as a student I have to be willing to work at school as much as a teacher is to teach their subject. 

  To me it was always work, work, work, and pay bills. I want to be financially stable and not live paycheck to paycheck. "You must work to make money to buy luxuries that you must have then make more money to keep the luxuries that you must have." -Passion Project I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere in life. I was always in the same place having the same conversation, doing the same thing. It gets boring, it gets frustrating and I had to change that. And I did I had to think about what I want to do but I want to be. I'm going to be 30 oh so very soon and I don't want to be in the same place I was in my 20's. I want to grow and to become a person. 
      I'm the eldest in my family I have 4 younger brothers and a sister and I feel like its my duty to be something they can aspire to. To know that if I can do it they can do it. I want them to know that yes its hard but if you really want it nothing even paying bills can stop you and that I am willing to help them too. To get to this stage of my life was rough, I definitely went the hard way and the long way, but to me I think it was worth it. I am more focused and I don't take learning for granted. I try my best in school and go everyday because I am the one paying for this so I take school seriously. "It's something that drives you, excites you, makes you feel good."-Passion Project Even though I exhausted in the morning because I work from 530-1030 at night and I have to be at school at 8AM I do it because like I said before I want this with every being of my heart, body and soul and nothing not money, not sleep, not love for another person will stop me because this is my time and this is what I want.