Recycling the Gift: The Passion Project II Response

            I strongly agree with the video and how it addresses of how society has drifted away many people from the real meaning of “education”. Many children as they grow older throughout their educated lives have this whole belief system to go to college right after high school, earn an outstanding degree, and work for the rest of their life. Sure it’s common knowledge to play such a role in life, but there is more to life than just being a chess piece in a board game, having your every move being controlled, this tends to happen to most students. As people live through this orderly life of competitive learning, people tend to drift away from the fun of learning.

            Emily Mather and Carmen Johnston explains, “Emily Mather: It’s so competitive you kind of lose the enjoyment of just learning” “Carmen Johnston: That setting up-again-a culture of competition rather than a culture of appreciation. That I think would help build community on this campus-on any campus” Just like how Johnston says, society needs to drift away from being a culture of competition and lean toward being a society with a culture of appreciation.

            What blocks most people from appreciating their cultural life is education itself. For most parents they want their kids to earn the best education, some want their kids to end up in good jobs, others want their kids to live successfully. Although, they all sound similar in a way, parents wanting their kids to live there supposed life, freely and successfully. Is it considered free? Are a majority of students leading successful lives out of their own personal happiness, their free will? Or is it someone else’s happiness?

            Unfortunately, what most parents don’t realize is that this whole “educational system” is what keeps kids away from their own culture, their own beliefs. But most parents can’t educate their kids, so they rely on schools to educate them. And to add on, many teachers who teach at these educational facilities, most of them, don’t even teach properly. Just as Alex Neikirk tells as it is “I hate the way the teaching method works: you have a standardized test; everybody gets tested on the same material. I am the professor so I know all the material and you’re the student that I try to transfer it to you and if you don’t understand it then that sucks and I’m failing you”. They teach like robots. Read the assignment, do the homework, if you do poorly in school you end up a failure. There is no fun into the whole works of learning. This needs to change.

Most students throughout high school and college wonder if what their learning will help in their supposed career life in the future. I understand that from kindergarten to high school that is where kids find out what they want in life, they learn general education and gain insight of the real world. Yet, most students end up in repeat when they enter community college. Some students don’t know what they want to be in life right away. Other people don’t realize what they are capable of and end up in a regretful life. Life is life, but many people don’t know that it’s never too late to change it even just the smallest change can make a difference.

“Assumptions about competition plaque our thoughts. We think we must isolate our growth, but the systems of life never create anything in isolation. Instead, they foster cooperation and dynamic linkages. Yet the institution of school rarely supports complex linkages and is entrenched with the idea that separation, isolation, and individual competition is better” stated by the narrator. The educational system brainwashes people into having this whole idea that if you have a degree you’re considered successful which in turn creates competitiveness in colleges. People feel the pressure and the stress to be at the top and to earn the best education. But not everyone can get the education they dream of and for others who are lucky to have an education, it ends up being wasted. Society needs to teach people to appreciate what they have, not to compete for the best just to show off.

President Obama gives the example of what the belief system is and what every person in society is expected of accomplishing. “From the time our kids start grade school, we need to equip them with the skills they need to compete in the high-tech economy-in science and technology and engineering and math, where we are most likely to fall behind. We got to redesign our high schools, so that a diploma puts kids on a path to a good job”. Obama gives the perfect example of how society is being forced and brain washed into becoming complete robots. “…to compete in the high-tech economy”, “..so that diploma puts kids on a path to a good job”, is having a title everything? In today’s society it is difficult to even land a job, even with a college degree. Work hard to nothing.  President Obama is only hoping to win the hearts of America. Forcing this idea that to be successful means having a diploma, but what about the minority? What about those who have the potential, but can’t afford school? Or to those who aren’t book smart, and they can’t apply for scholarships but they are capable of learning.

Society needs to set its ways to be more reflective of what it has become, what it has turned into. Just as Eric Heltzel says, “I mean I think culturally we’re very reflexive and not reflective. We don’t really think about the repercussions it would have on other people or the immediate environment or anything”. This is what society and the educational system has turned humans into. I completely agree with Heltzel, people can live there way around things or in the least come into terms of what they have, accept most of reality. Society doesn’t need to completely perfect.

People should learn at their own pace and don’t let some educational system make them into products of society. It’s great to learn, but it’s even greater to learn naturally.

Ken Robinson: Bring on the Learning Revolution!

What struck me the most in the video “Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the Learning Revolution” from TED talks were concepts about people making poor use of their talents, the way some educational resources dislocates people’s natural talents and how most people take things for granted.

            I won’t say the name, but I know someone who has a raw artistic talent. This person can sketch cars of any kind, any motor vehicle including motorcycles. He never took an art class; he’s just simply naturally and artistically talented. And yet, to this present day, the person I speak about is a normal businessman working an office job nine to five, Monday to Friday every weekday of his life. He doesn’t even use his talent as a hobby or to further polish his artistic skills.  What surprised me the most was that he was content with his life. This made me think “What a waste of talent”. If only I were as artistically talented as he was I would definitely take that advantage.  But it was his choice, the path he chose to live. Even so, there is a majority of people who make poor use of their talents. Many people receive a decent education and yet their natural talent is never put to use or their talent just distances away from the individual. 

            Many educational resources take away people’s talents and dislocate them to a different path to live their life. I believe that if you know you have a talent, use it. Take the advantage to show the world what you as an individual can do. I understand for other people that they know what they want in life, but for others they don’t even realize their talent until they reach old age or never discover it at all.  If a person knows they are talented, show that talent and take it to use in their future life.

            A majority of people, especially the younger generation, takes things for granted.  Ken Robinson uses the example of people over the age of twenty-five wear a wristwatch, a single functional device. He then goes on saying that if a person were to ask a class of teenagers, all of them would not be wearing one since time is considered to be everywhere. People of their own generation are use to their own ways. Most people can easily adapt to the new technological era, but as the saying goes “Old ways never die".

            The world needs to follow the agricultural model, instead of being fixated on just finishing school and live life meaninglessly. What I meant as I mention agricultural model, just as Robinson explains, people need to live an organic process of life, to flourish their living skills. There is endless learning and every person should take advantage or discover their talents, polish every skill they have and be mindful of their surroundings in the world.

This Is Water by David Foster Wallace

         In my English class we watched a short video called “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace on the video website Youtube. The video was about how people live their everyday lives and not be mindful or aware of their surroundings.

         After the video finished the class started free writing about our personal thoughts about the video. Here are my thoughts.

         Just as the video explains, people grow up to be educated and end up in jobs where most of the time involves a daily routine of getting up in the morning, getting ready for work, working, going home, grocery shop for dinner, sleep and the day repeats. This happens to a majority of people around the world, but not to everyone. I am guilty of being one of the majorities of people. When I use to work as a full time employee I would go through the same routine every day, excluding the weekends. I would wake up early in the morning, get ready for work, drive to work, drive back home after work feeling tired, go out for dinner or buy groceries for needed food, go to sleep and my day repeats. In between certain events like, driving home, waiting in a long line to buy my groceries, and/or being stuck in traffic I always selfishly thought that everyone was slow and blamed every person surrounding me. Why can’t people drive faster? Why are they so bad at driving? What’s with this traffic? Why is this grocery line so slow? Why is this line long? Why me? When it was really me who was thinking unfairly and blaming others on something that I should take upon myself. So many negative thoughts run through my head and I end up with feeling stressed. 

I then began to think that feeling stressed would get me nowhere. I need to be more mindful and aware of my surroundings, no one can feel how I feel, but me. Which is why I strongly agree with the video “This is Water” and wrote down some themes related to the video.

         Some themes that I wrote relating to the video included the following: empathy, attitude, choice, reality, stress, perception, insensitive, awareness and selfishness.  Out of all the themes I listed I believe that awareness and selfishness are most important. People need to be aware of their surroundings and be mindful toward other people.  Having selfish thoughts will not solve a problem. Although, I understand to a certain extent that people need to let out steam, but keeping in frustrated feelings is not the way to go. All I hope for is that, just as the video explains, for people to be aware that not everyone runs the same lives. People need to learn to simply cool off, take away their selfish thoughts, and just live their life. There is no point in involving other people in your life by being negative around them. Don’t put the blame on others just because you are living a life full of stress; it is not that other person’s fault. Who’s ever life it is, his life, her life, my life, it is our own lives and no one else’s.

About Me

Hello! My name is Keshia Mercado. As of this moment I am a full time student attending Chabot college in Hayward. After graduating from high school I worked a part time job as a full time student. Then I changed jobs to become a full time employee while being a part time student. I couldn't balance the working student life and ultimately decided to just stick with being a full time student, so that I can finish school and pursue my career dream.

My dream is to become a nurse, to treat and heal the sick. As a nursing major I believe that I should focus and strive for my dream goals. As I had mentioned before I personally couldn't focus properly with my studies while working as a full time administrative clerk. I want to finish school and to do that I chose to become a full time student. 

For the past couple of years I was working as a full time administrative clerk at a company called Lifeguard Home Health. I worked under medical records doing tasks such as: filing, faxing, archiving, answering the phone in a timely manner, communicating with the hospital and speaking with physician office's, etc. The company I worked with provides home health services to patients in the comfort of their own home or any living facility they reside in. I worked along, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, medical social workers, and home health aides as well as my fellow office administrative coworkers. The working environment was that of a family. I enjoyed working there, Lifeguard was my stepping stone into deciding that I want to officially become a registered nurse in the future. Thanks to working at Lifeguard Home Health, it gave me a brighter path into achieving my lifelong goals and dream.

I am hoping to transfer to my first choice of state university and earn a bachelor's in nursing. I will work my very best in the coming year, so I can get closer and closer into reaching my dream. In the past I was not able to overcome challenges, but now I believe that what ever challenge I come across I can be sure to withstand.