Last Paper

Passion

            The first time I have ever felt passionate about education was been I was in the 2^nd grade. My teacher Sandra Virginia was the best teacher I have ever had. I would have to be dropped off early for school a lot because of my mother’s job and I would have nothing to do. My teacher was walking up to the school and asked why I was here so early and I explained why, so she opened up the class and let me in. She asked about my home life and how I was feeling. I just told her fine. Then she began to talk about herself and what made her become an educator. She said that she always liked kids and it was fun teaching them about all different sorts of things. Then she asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I had no idea maybe a veterinarian or a doctor, maybe a lawyer because I liked what they wore. Then she asked me what I’m good at I told her I think math she said maybe you can do something in that area. I said you can do things in math? She said yes. From then on out she would be early to class to and we would talk about so much stuff. She was more than a teacher to me she was my friend and we still keep in contact to this day. Ms. Virginia gave me options no set path to take she told me to travel and experience life. Go to school and learn and keep learning even after I am done. I think that lady had the best ideas in the world and I still follow her advice.

            We read the book “Into the Wild” about a young man named Chris McCandless who died the way he wanted. Chris had every door open to him; he was rich, white, and privileged. His parents wanted to give him a new car and wanted to pay for whatever school he wanted to go to next. Chris wanted something totally different. Chris wanted to be free, live off the land. He wanted to explore and hunt his own food, be his own man. He was very interesting person; he died all alone in Alaska from starvation. He made it all the way for Atlanta to Canada hitchhiking and using a tiny canoe to get over the Colorado River. He was a brave individual to do the things that he did. He figured out how to hunt and butcher the animals he killed. He learned what berries to eat but he didn’t figure out when to live Alaska. He loved books and read a lot. He didn’t want material things he really wanted nothing.

            This paper is about passion, failure, being lost, finding yourself, and being successful. This paper is about me. My examples come from all my research from the books we read in class to the movies and to the blogs. This class has taught me a lot about myself and how motivated I am to reach the next level. That the journey is never over until you say it is. I am going to be learning until the day I day because I love to learn and that is what I am passionate about. Through the book “Into the Wild” I learned that everyone’s passion is not the same but I think people should go for it because their dreams are worth it!

            Passion is something inside of you that you don’t want to give up on. Something that you know is difficult to achieve but want to go for it anyway. You have to make school and your education a passion. Learning and going to school isn’t for everybody but if you are going to school you have to treat learning and being in a classroom a priority, you have to work in school like you are working at your job. At the end of the semester those grades are your paycheck. “Passion is a desire to do , or accomplish, or feel love without barriers.” –Passion Project. After watching the passion project in class I started thinking about my own experiences 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 and I knew I didn’t want to work like this forever. I felt like I wasn’t achieving anything because I wasn’t working towards anything. Passion led me to education, to fulfill my dream to be an accountant. I can make great money by doing something that comes so naturally to me well sign me up because that is what I want to do!

`           To start passion in someone I think we need to start with children. We as adults have to spark that passion in children to know that learning is fun. Teachers and parents should be the main focus in that. If the instructor isn’t passionate why should the student be passionate? Teachers should be encouraging, engaging, and ask questions to students as well as answering questions. Teacher should be passionate about education and improve every year to help their students. Jeff Bliss is a high school drop out and wanted to go back to school and he did that. He was in his classroom and he was complaining that the teacher was handing out another packet. The teacher told him to quit “bitchin” and he got upset and the teacher told him to leave. Before he left the classroom Bliss said, “In order for you to see change in the classroom, you need to make us excited and touch our freakin’ hearts.” Jeff was passionate enough to say something and stand up to his teacher in front of the other students. Bliss also went on to say, “You got to take this job serious, this is the future of our nation.” His rant is awesome, well said, well expressed, and not at all disrespectful to the teacher. His mother is a teacher and she even had chills when she was listening to her son speak. This Youtube video became so popular because I think every student relates to this a teacher just handing out packets and telling us to answer the questions on the back. I wished I could have stood up in my class when that was going on but I had no idea that learning can be so much different and so much fun.  

There are different types of students that are at Chabot College and most likely at different places too. I was definitely some of these students at different stages of my life. Since I was undecided and I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going I just went with the flow with my education. In the movie Lasers I will show 3 out of the 6 categories that I was in. Wanders: Students who want a degree in something, unsure of what they want to be  and do in life. They think that JC is a place to spend only 2 yrs in a get out. I was definitely a wanderer. When I first started out in college I had no idea what I wanted to do so I would take some GE classes and stall because I just didn't know. I dropped out after one semester, it seemed like everyone around me knew what they wanted to go and I was stuck. Its not about being a good student because I mostly got B's and A's in my classes its about knowing yourself and knowing what you want to do. I was so confused that I felt like I had no choice but to leave because I didn't have a clear path.

 Seekers: Getting GE credits and major credits under control. Getting more information and going to see a counselor. I was like this a semester ago. I came back to school last year 2012. I finally figured out what I wanted to do. I learned about myself and what I can handle and I have more confidence to ask for help. I went to see a counselor and got my classes in order and how long it will take to transfer to a state school. The counselor was very helpful and I plan to see one in the fall to see my progress and since summer classes are still happening hopefully it will take less time to get out. :) Chabot is a great school. I love the teachers. Luckily for me I haven't had a bad one yet.

Lasers: Knowing what you want, where to go next and on a clear path. I think one more semester I will be on this path. I'll know when I'll be able to transfer and I already know where I want to go to school next. I saw a counselor about the process of transferring even though I do have a while before that happens but I want to be prepared and make sure I am on the right track.

Every student is never in one category. I caught myself in three. I think we need to take our time to explore what we want and to know ourselves. Some people take longer than others. It took me about 10 years to come back to school because I know myself and I know what I want. Some people they know instantly. I took myself out because I felt like I was wasting my time along with my teachers. I always had undecided when I choose a major. I don't think there was a club for the decided kids if there was I totally would have joined. I'm finally on the path where I always wanted to be and thats the point for me.

Failure is a big part of passion. If we are determined and when we have something in motion nothing can stop us. Struggles are there just to show you if you really want it are you going to go through with it or is that road block going to deter you from going over it? 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. 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?

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.

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.

In conclusion education is a passion of mine period. I have learned a lot throughout all my classes even the ones that I thought were boring I still tried to do my best and ask questions. I would ask my teacher (in the boring classes) what they liked about the subject, did they always want to be that? What makes it fascinating to them? So even though I don’t like it and find it boring maybe I can appricate it through them. I try to keep an open mind because I am here to learn and to get my degree. Also to learn a little bit about myself in the process as while,  I know I’m awkward and I’m reserved but I have tried to open up and not just talk to the teacher but to my fellow students and I have been improving that a lot. School is more than about getting a grade, it’s a place to get to know who you are and what you would like to do for the rest of your life.