Life's Successful Passion

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.