Going through the struggles of college life can be
a difficult thing to manage for some people. Fortunately I have become a strong
minded person in order to survive this part of my life. Ever since I entered
Chabot College I have been having financial difficulties. It seems to me that
with every new semester I had to lower my working hours in order to be able to
take the classes I need; with the cost of supplies and books to up. After eight
semesters of attending Chabot College I have only been given financial aid to
cover the cost of my books and supplies three times out of eight. Now I have
been disqualified simply because I have taken 90 units. Now I know that even if
you drop a class and take a “W” the units are still added up to your student
records. To me this is highly unfair. In order to get re-qualified I must speak
to a counselor and create and academic plan and file a petition. Instead of
having to deal with financial aid department I have decided to tough it out.
Just simply use my resources more; the Child Development department has books
they allow students to borrow a text book for the duration of the semester. But
student must show up fast because they have a limited amount of text books. College
life can be hard at times but if we are willing to push through imagine all the
other possibilities we can achieve.
Into the Wild is a book/film of an
upper middle class man who decides to leave everything behind. After his
parents intention of buying him a new can and paying for the rest of his
schooling he decides to donate all the money in his college fun. He destroyed anything
with his identification and decides to give himself a new one. Instead of taking
anything to help him survive he takes his books with him. His books were the only
thing he wanted to carry. The authors of the books inspired him to follow his passion
and go in to nature and create his journey Alaska.
College students are currently facing the shortage of
classes now being offered. Students currently face financial troubles on top of
the shortages of classes. But passion and privilege play a big part in these students’
lives. Students have a harder time finding their passion. Students also are having
troubles communicating with their teachers in fear of being rejected or feeling
stupid. After students find their passion they must approach it without fear, experimenting
with different subjects is a good way of finding it. Once a student follows their
passion they will find happiness and feel successful.
Currently students are having a hard time staying in
college. Although community colleges are meant to be low cost they are not
always great. Lately classes have been getting cut; resulting in conflicts for
students. Having fewer classes makes it harder to get into the classes as well
as being harder for a student to graduate or transfer within two years. For
current Chabot College students Chabot
College has a lot of potential deal breakers. First of all, Chabot offers two
year degree programs and transfers, but it takes a student three to six years
to actually achieve it. It takes the students longer because Chabot is cutting
so many classes that people need. Not everyone that needs the particular
classes can get in. According to California Community Colleges Chancellor’s
Office, “Colleges have been force to reduce course offering by roughly 15
percent resulting in hundreds of thousands of student being turned away.”
Chabot College has been cutting so many classes that it is unbelievable. For
example, English and Math are subjects that everyone needs to take, but there
are not enough classes offered for the amount of students attending Chabot. Now
Chabot is trying to kick out the
students. When I say “kick out” I mean they are trying to get the students that
have been attending Chabot for over 2 years out. Now they are starting to offer
classes that are required for certain AA degrees, but have not been available
for years. For example, students trying to get their AA in Photography are not
able to get their AA in 2 years; as they state. They have cut so many of the
classes that are require to graduate. Now, the school has decided they will
switch off on which class to offer next depending on who needs what in order to
graduate. (True story, it's actually happening. My Photo teacher asked what
class everyone needed next for their AA degree. Simply because the school wants
to offer any classes needed and remove the once that aren't needed at the
time.)
A
second deal breaker is the Financial Aid cut off. Different schools have a
different cutoff date; some don’t have one depending on their location. Schools
are becoming stricter on who attends their school and how long they have been
attending for. At Chabot once a student reaches 90 units the financial aid
department concludes that the student is doing nothing but taking random
classes and is just attending for the money. I was told, "In order to be
considered for financial aid again you must speak to a counselor and come up
with schedule of the classes you need in order to graduate. You must fill out a
petition and explain why it going to take you more units in order to complete
your AA" (Financial Aid worker). Well, that is just wrong. Currently I am
struggling with the financial aid department here at Chabot because to them
90.5 units are too many. This is ridiculous.
I know it took me a while to choose my major, but most of the classes I have
taken go toward my AA. I am trying to take classes that at required by San Jose
State in order to transfer. So why must a student that is taking classes she/he
need in order to achieve an AA and/or transfer be punished. I only have two
more semesters to go in which they consist of 15-18 units per semester. I do
qualify for the fee waiver which helps me out financially; but I still need to
pay for books and supplies. As a full time student and a part time worker money
is tight. This deal breaker could mean I either struggle really hard to achieve
that AA and the proper classes and units to transfer to San Jose State or I
could give up and work full time. But I am NOT a quitter. So I guess I must
deal with this and do the best I can to get my education. I will guard my
education with tooth and nail if needed.
Dealing with these deal breakers has been a
struggle but it is doable. People have to make sure they speak to their counselors
in order to help them create a plan so that they may graduate or transfer
faster/on time. I will continue doing my photography whether or not they
are offering the class. There are a lot of resources I could use in order to
continue with my passion of photography and education.
Can
the word passion ever
be truly defined? The word passion in the dictionary is defined as: intense,
driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction. But what does that really
mean. For me passion is something that we can all feel. It’s that indescribable
feeling you get when you do something you love. For example, my passions are
Children, Education, and Black & White Photography. When I attend the child
development and photography classes here at Chabot I lost myself. My passion
for children is incredibly strong, my willingness to help out children through
different stages of life. Helping them create more than path for them to choose
and follow. Helping them become someone people will respect. While my passion
for photography it's so big that I can spend 6hrs in the dark room or hand coloring
a photograph. Even though to most people 6hrs seems like a long time to me it
only feels like an hour to me. Passion is feeling inspired towards the thing
you love the most. Whether that is photography, children, cars, motorcycles,
anthropology, and etc. But then we have privilege, that plays a huge roll in passion.
Privilege in the dictionary is defined
as: to accord a higher value or superior position. Once again I say what the hell
that even means. Truly no one knows the definition they just understand what
the word means. But privilege plays an important role in passion. For what is
passion without privilege. Privilege allows passion to grow and expand. Having
the privilege of finding what you really love, what truly moves you to work
harder towards it. Even in a basic sentence we can tell the difference. For
example:
·
I like working
on cars.
·
I love working
on cars.
When people use the word
"like" they clearly state they see it more as a hobby or a time
killer. But when the person uses "love" it is clear it's something
they enjoy doing regardless of the time they spend on it. It becomes a joy to
do something you love, rather than a hassle to do something they like at times.
Sometimes
even if a person has the privilege to follow their passion they held back from
it. Children often times listen more to what their parents want them to do
rather than listening to themselves. Students need to take the time and reflect
on their selves in order to discover what their true passion is. In Into the Wild Chris wants to get
away from the material things and simply enjoy what he loves most, but in order
to complete the process he does one final thing; “To symbolize the complete
severance from his previous life, he even adopted a new name. No longer would
he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his
own destiny” (Krakauer). Chris shows his passion for nature and adventure. He was
willing to go into the wild regardless of being prepared or not. He was willing
to risk his like in order to feel free; to feel the freedom that his parents
did really give him. To become free from society; breaking away from their
material things that society sees as privileged. Although Chris came from what
most of society would call a “privileged” home, he was willing to leave it all
behind and live day by day. Living each day to the fullest without having to
worry what day it is or what time it is. He became inspired by other people, during
his adventure he inspired others; regardless of him knowing or not. He created
his own privilege. He clearly believed he could do anything. Anything was
possible as long as you believed in yourself. It was only one place where he
could feel like he is his own person, for Chris the wild was his peace. The
lack of communicating with people and only having his books to keep him company
was perfect for him. Through his adventure he shows his fearlessness towards
nature. He takes anything dangerous nature has to offer and turns it into a
challenge. In a way Chris can be seen as a hero. He was willing to hitch hike
his way to a new adventure. Chris had the ability to take any challenge
straight on. He showed his strong will power to overcome any challenge nature
had to offer regardless of the law. He had the capability of not having a thing
and still being humble; willing to give the little he had for others well
being. His story can be inspiring to anyone. You don’t necessarily have to be an
adventurer in order to get inspired by Chris. The simple act of him following
his dreams is an inspiration on his own. It tells a person that anything is
possible as long as you believe in yourself. Your determination towards what
you believe in. He was able to travel with little to no money; had the
adventure of a life time. If people become more determined to what they believe
in they can reach their ultimate goal. His life was cut short, but he lived to
the fullest in his ultimate
adventure in the wild. He truly followed his passion, regardless of what
anyone thought of him.
Passion
should always be followed in order to be happy. Student should not be afraid to
ask the teacher questions when they are
having difficulties understanding the concept. Students shouldn’t be afraid to
walk up to the from and speak to the teacher and the rest of the class. After
watching the Passion Project,
it made me realized that I was not alone; my struggles where also
other peoples struggles. During the course of the video I traveled in time, a
flash back took me back to what once was. I too use to fear asking the teacher
a question, as well as presenting or simply going up to the board. I
was fearful because of a bad experience with a teacher. This flashback
took me back to age 11. I voluntarily went up to the front of the class to
do a math problem for my 5th grade teacher. The problem she gave
me was to simplify a fraction. Fearfully I notified
the teacher that I didn't know how to solve the problem. Ms. McCowen
embarrassed me in front of the whole class; in addition she insulted
my 4th grade teacher for not teaching me correctly (according to
her). After that incident I never volunteered again. I became
fearful of speaking to the teacher and in front of an entire class. After being
humiliated in front of my 5th grade class by the teacher, I no longer wished to
deal with teachers or other students. I became a silent person; an unseen person to the educational world.
Fear
of speaking to a teacher should not be a part of people, but it is. Student
fear the teacher won’t care what they have to say or see the teacher’s
annoyance with the student. In order for a student to find their passion they
must be speak to teachers and experiment. Students shouldn’t be afraid to
experiment with different majors in order to find the one that gets their
attention. Community colleges are meant for people to become more aware of what
is out in the world. Many people become blinded from all the so called “well
paid jobs” that no one considers anything else (such as art, theater,
photography, Spanish, etc.) worth studying. Our lives are meant for us to
experiment with different situations. When we give ourselves a goal, different
roads are given to us to take. At times we may take the wrong road
but we are able to learn from our mistakes. Educational mistakes can be
good it gives us different experiences in life. It also helps clarify what
our passion really is. In the Passion Project I
appreciated how one of the students said "community college is
made for people to experiment." This was something I could really relate
to. After going back to school in Fall 2010, I had no idea why I was going
back. I had tried majoring in Business Administration in 2006, after two
semesters at Devry it was clear that Business Administration was not for me.
When I went back to school I decided to major in Criminal Justice and
took a random class with it; Intro to Black & White Photography. Needless
to say after a few weeks I notice Criminal Justice was not my thing, but I kept
the photography class. Then on the following semester I majored in
business (again); most likely because my mother insisted on me studying
something that would support me financially. But after finishing that semester
I realized why I stopped in the first place. My true passion is child education
and photography or anything artsy. So now I am following my true passion
without the interference of others opinions. If teachers would relax a
little more in class and became a little more social with their student’s,
maybe their students wouldn't be scared to talk to them. After 3
years I have meet some awesome teachers to help me find myself; teacher that
actually care about their students; while still following their passion and try
to inspire others. One teacher will no longer be teaching at Chabot but he is
still willing to help me advance in life/career. He has given me connection
with other teachers so that I too can explore the teaching world and decide
what I wish to teach. He also helps me find places where I can display my
photographs. Truly if one person can have such a relationship with a teacher
its makes them feel more comfortable, thus making it easier to speak to them.
Allowing the student to have a voice, having their opinions, thoughts, and
concerns heard.
If a person is willing to help out another person
without anything in return the world would be a better place. I have had
teachers in my life willing to help me out; I would love to do the same for
teenagers. As a 25 years old female student I know how hard it is to find
legitimate help. I know for a fact at that stage of life guidance is needed.
Not just allowing them to choose their path at random. High school students
must be given choices, when I say choices I don't mean between getting a job as
soon as possible and/or going to school. Educators should spend a little more
1-on-1 with their students. If teachers would simply ask, what do you want to
do with your life? or, what do you choose to be? There are more possible
questions. But by even having a simple answer educators can show them how they
can actually achieve it; can help them find an internship were they can have
more clarity of that career. Thus creating them to view the endless
possibilities they have to get educated. The simplest thing a person can
do in their life is help another person. According to Web MD, "When we act
on behalf of other people, research shows that they feel greater comfort, less stress" (Davis).
I believe helping a struggling student counts as an act of kindness. But at
times it seems teachers feel like it's such a hassle to help a
student or to answer a simple question. Whenever we have a question about
a certain subject why must it be so difficult for a teacher to change
their educational approach everyone learns differently. A hands-on
person will always have a difficult time in a class where the teacher relies on
the student to read and understand the material with nothing but hand
outs. We are guiders it's
time we all wake up from this selfish world, into a caring world.
I believe if all Oakland public schools were the same as in Cohorts the students would be
better off. They are helping students raise their GPA and have a higher
percentage of students going to colleges. They are helping grow a new generation
of well educated people. Rather than not caring if a student passes or fails,
whether or not that student goes to college or not. Being a graduate of an Oakland public school makes me
feel as if I got cheated out of an education. Most teachers look and act as if
they don’t care about the students. The Oakland public schools don’t really
know what is going on with their student. But if teachers encouraged their
students more, we could get the drop rated to go down and college applicants up
higher.
But because I graduated from an
Oakland Public School I have decided to make a change. I have been inspired to become a teacher and make a difference in my community.
It only takes one person to make a difference in a child’s life, and I want to
be that difference. A single person can do anything to make a difference.
An education isn't the only place where good intentions are needed.
If we make a change in society we can make a change in education. Anything
can be considered educational as long as a person is willing to teach and
another willing to learn.
If no one in class is learning
anything from a specific teacher there is something wrong. It either means the
teacher should consider changing his/her teaching technique or all/most of the
students are stupid. It’s obviously not the students, there is no such thing as
a stupid student. Everyone is different, thus every person’s ability to learn
is different. In the video the young man tells the teacher, “If you would just,
get up and teach ‘em instead of giving ‘em a freaking packet.” Packets.
She, the teacher, the instructor, it becomes obvious she is not really
interested in teaching those kids. If you look at the graph on the right
hand side you can see that statistically most people can only remember 10
percent of what they read. Clearly not all people/students learn from
reading. I am one of them. In the past I have had teachers that teach using
packets, but I never really learned anything. All it does is refreshed
anything I know but simply forgot, but most likely nothing new. It becomes more
and more obvious that the teacher isn’t really interested in teaching the
students anything when they teach off of packets. How can a person reach
success when the person that should be teaching them is not very successful
themselves.
A part of my definition of success is being able achieving a goal.
In order for a person to be successful they must go above and beyond of what
they believe they are capable of. If you think you can’t do something you must
break through the barrier you have created yourself, unless the barrier creates
itself. Currently for some college students don’t have enough money for school.
This barrier can be created in multiple ways for any of the students. This is
the type of barrier that creates itself; from the lack of jobs being offered to
not being able to work full time in order to get an education. But if they are
able to break through the barriers and achieve their goal, they become
successful in their own way. A great successful man once said, “I don’t know
the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody” (Bill
Cosby). There is no correct way of achieving success it’s your journey that
makes you succeed. The journey brings the knowledge you need to successfully
approach your goal or the ultimate goal in your life. Your goal can be as
simple as writing an essay. Sure you may stumble along the way, but in learning
how to start the essay or learning about the subject first for the essay it
allows a person to breeze right through the paper once the proper knowledge is
acquired. Once you grab that knowledge necessary to successfully finish the
paper you will feel that tingly sensation of accomplishment and satisfaction.
Many people believe that in order to be successful
you should be receiving loads of money. But a second part of my definition of
success is having a salary. Having a salary is a sigh of being successful in
life. A person doesn’t necessarily need to make hundreds of thousands of
dollars in order to be successful. A person can be successful financially as
long as they make enough to take care of their basic needs. George Hickenlooper
said, “I always say be humble but be firm humility and openness are the key to
success without compromising your beliefs.” Being stable financially helps
people remain humble. Money changes people, can create problems, and can create
selfish monsters. Having an excessive amount of money can make a person seem
more successful but in reality the person can be miserable. As people say money
can’t buy happiness. Although people see
them as successful they may not view themselves that way. If a person doesn’t
believe in boundaries they will try to get as much power as they can regardless
of how much they spend. Becoming focused on being financially successful, a
person can lose the sight of what they are actually succeeding out of life.
Life has many categories that a person must complete in order to consider
themselves successful.
Happiness is needed to feel that
success. A third part of success is happiness. If you are happy doing what
you’re doing once you accomplish the goal you set success becomes a part of
you. If you are not happy once you reach your goal you will be successful but
it will have a bitter sweet feeling. Albert Schweitzer said, “Success is not
the key to happiness. Happiness is key to success. If you love what you are
doing, you will be successful.” Truly if a person is happy they will feel
successful whether other people see it or not you shouldn’t care. Your
happiness and your success are yours alone to experience. Don’t allow anyone to
tell you otherwise. If you feel that there is room for improvement go for it.
Don’t change because others tell you so change because you want to change. Life
can be seen in everyone or everything it’s what you decide to do with it that
makes it your own.
In conclusion people should follow their
passion regardless of what people think. If something makes you happy follow
YOUR dreams, not what others dream for you. You are your own person. You
deserve to be happy and in the process make others happy. Life is nothing more
than a journey, a journey to find what we want not what others want for us.
Everyone deserves to have their own journey as well as to live them to the fullest.
