Compassion

Without compassion, the world would literally be in chaos. There would be so sympathy for race, status, or gender. It would be every man for themselves. There would not be great people such as Martin Luther King, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Angela Davis, etc. There would be ruthless violence for money, status and positions. No one would care if their son, daughter, father, sister, brother, mother got murdered for power. There would be no love for the world and what it has to offer. Compassion is something that human beings need in order to survive. We are very social creatures, it would be very hard to continue a race when people don't care about each other and everything.

Bay Area Schools

I went to Arroyo High School and while the conditions were not as severe as schools mentioned in the book, there are factors that I believe set me at a disadvantage. I went to the school for three years and every single year, I had a different counselor. In the whole school year, we only had three to four counselors at a time to service nearly two thousand students. There was a point when I didn't even know who my counselor was. This makes it very hard for any student to develop a relationship with their counselors. Due to the fact that I never had a reliable counselor, I made wrong decisions in class choices at my first year of Chabot College. My counselor had told me that I should take Biology 10, but that was not a transferable course so I had wasted my time. In schools mentioned in the book, advisers quote, "it is not uncommon for the ratio between students and counselors to be 250 to one" (94). The students did not have reliable counselors which results in poor performance of the students.

Class sizes in Arroyo and schools mentioned in the book also affected a students' performance. At Arroyo, there was an average of thirty-two to thirty-six people in one class room. It was very crowded. Resources such as text books, computers and calculators had to be shared. Many students are forced to stand in the back of the class or share desks with another student. The average class size in the schools mentioned in the books are 30 and they are also very crowded. There are similar affects on all schools.

In my senior year of high school, I had a wonderful Spanish teacher. She worked well with all the students and slowed down to those who didn't catch up fast enough. She found a better paying job at another school. In the middle of the semester, she was replaced with one of the worst teachers I've ever had. He made us watch Apacalipto, telling us it's "good to learn about the history of Mayans to better understand Spanish". I don't know what he was thinking, as the Mayans had nothing to do with the language. Kozol states, "The salary scale [is] too low to keep exciting, youthful teachers in the system [...]" (63). Because our teachers were not paid enough, we lost a lot of good ones. I could not tell you how many times I watched a great teacher be replaced with a crappy teacher. It was like every time I came to school, I saw a different face, whether it be a teacher or a counselor or an administer. We could not keep any of our staff.

The College Bubble - Megan McArdle

http://proxy1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=79877672&scope=site&custID=chabot

"The article discusses higher education in the U.S. as of 2012, with a focus on the real value of a college diploma, the cost of tuition, and the average level of student debt. Topics include the author's views on the expense and quality of a college education in the U.S.; the effects of the 2008 global recession and the U.S. housing market collapse; and student borrowing rates. Other topics include economic conditions and employment for young people graduating as of 2012; the effect of inflation; and the percentage of college tuition which goes toward luxury amenities."

Bring on the Learning Revolution! - Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson gave a brilliant speech about education on TED. He makes a connection with fast food and education. I've never thought about it in that way before. Our education is very repetitive and standardized. Because of the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers are now teaching in the same way so that students can pass the standardized test at the end. I don't think this is fair because it doesn't test students on their talents outside of academics. No child is judged by how well they could play basketball or how well they could sing, but they are considered a bad student if they don't know the Pythagorean Theorem or the exact value of a mole. It's unfair to teach students in this way.

He also makes a point on the importance of having diversity in a community. If everyone knew how to do one thing and only that one thing, how are we ever going to grow as a society? Everyone would be doing the same thing and sooner or later, things like arts and music and sports will soon disappear into a sea of doctors and lawyers. We don't need that many lawyers, people!

Reeling in Research

In modern society, attending a four-year university after high school in hopes of increasing the chances of a better future has become a norm. Students are expected to go to college by their peers, parents and eventually themselves. Growing up, we are taught that without that piece of paper they give you after you’ve dotted all your Is and crossed all your Ts for four years, we can never be successful. The article, The College Bubble by Megan McArdle, an economic journalist, explains that college students start wondering if going to school is worth it and start forgetting why they are going at all. In The Passion Project by Skye Ontiveros, students talk about how their peers and parents make them go to college for reasons that have little to nothing to do with what they are passionate about. I believe that unless you are going to college for yourself and because you truly want to learn, then going to college is not worth the money.
Questioning the value of higher education is something that no one wants to even dare talk about. Disobeying the idea that college is the key to success is something that should be explored and rediscovered. We need to start questioning why we are truly going to college. If you ask students, most of them will say that they are in college for the money, to get a better job and build a better foundation for their future. But if the chance of getting a better job means giving up on what you are passionate about, is it really worth it? In McArdle’s article, she states,
It’s very easy to spend four years majoring in English literature and beer pong and
come out no more employable than you were before you went in. Conversely,
chemical engineers straight out of school can easily make triple or quadruple the
wages of an entry level high school graduate. (McArdle, 3)
Students are giving up what they really want to do to take up a major they think will get them a better job.  Personally, I see something wrong with that. How many dreams and passions are sacrificed merely because we have fallen for the false hope of earning large amounts of money?
Because of obedience, more and more students are falling into the traps of subsidized loans. College is a money generating entity and they must compete with others. Colleges attract students with non-academic luxuries such as high speed internet, nice classrooms and gyms. As McArdle states, “[...] 18 year olds often don’t look quite as hard as the education they’re getting” (McArdle, 4). Colleges are aware of this so they take advantage and “[...] raise the tuition for which the 18 year olds are obediently borrowing the money” (McArdle, 3). Instead of looking at the perks of the considered college, aspiring students should look at what the college has to offer in their academics. Just because the college has a tennis court and a bowling alley, it doesn’t mean it’s going to help you achieve your dreams.

If We All Listened to our Parents

"Why I hate School but Love Education" - Suli Breaks

I thought the class would enjoy this. So here is the original video and a transcript (-:

So you want to get a degree? Why? Let me tell you what society will tell you. "It will increase your chances of getting a job, provides you an oppurtunity to be successful, your life will be a lot less stressful. Education is the key." Now let me tell you what your parents will tell you. "Make me proud. Increases your chances of getting a job, provides you an oppurtunity to be successful, your life will be a lot less stressful. Education is the key."

Now let's look at the statistics. Steve Jobs, networth: 7 Billion. RIP. Richard Branson, networth: 4.2 Billion. Oprah Winfrey, networth: 2.7 Billion. Mark Zuckenberg. Henry Ford. Steven Speilberg. Bill Gates. Now here comes 'the coup, de grace'. Looking at these individuals, what's your conclusion? Neither of them in being successful ever graduated from a higher learning institution. Now some of you would protest like, you know money is only the medium by which one measures wordly success, some of you even have the nerve to say, "I don't do it for the money". So what are you studying for? To work for a charity, need more clarity?

Let's look at the statistics. Jesus, Muhammed "Praise be upon him", Socrates, Malcolm X, Mother Teresa,
Spielberg, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, Sean Carter, Michael Jeffrey, Jordan, Michael, Joseph Jackson. Were either of these people unsuccessful or uneducated?

All I’m saying is that if there was a family tree, hard work and education would be related, but school would probably be a distant cousin. If education is the key, then school is the lock. Because it really ever develops your mind to the point where it can perceive red as green and continue to go when someone else said stop, because as long as you follow the rules and pass the exams, you’re cool. But are you aware that examiners have a checklist? And if your answer is something outside of the box, the automatic response is a cross, and then they claim that school expands your horizons and your visions. Well, tell that to Malcolm X, who dropped out of school and is world renowned for what he learned in a prison.

Proverbs 17:16, It does a fool no good to spend money on education, why? Because he has no common sense, George Bush, need I say more? “Education is about inspiring ones mind not just filling their head”. And take this from me, because I’m a educated man myself, who only came to this realization after countless nights in the library with a can of Red Bull keeping me awake til dawn and another can in the morn, falling asleep in between piles of books which probably equates the same amount I’ve spent on my rent, memorize equations, facts and dates, write it down to the letter, half of which I’d never remember, and half of which I forget straight after the exam, and before the start of the next semester, asking anyone if they had notes for the last lecture? I often found myself running to class, just so I could find the spot on which I could rest my head and fall asleep without making a scene, ironic because that’s the only time I ever spent in university of chasing my dreams. 

And then after nights with a dead-mind; identifying myself in the queue of half awake student zombies waiting to hand in an assignment, maybe that’s why they call it a dead line. And then after three years of mental suppression and frustration, my proud mother didn’t even turn up to my graduation.

Now I’m not saying that school is evil, and there’s nothing to gain, but all I’m saying is, understand your morals and reassess your aims, because if you want a job working for someone else, then help yourself. But then that would be a contradiction, because you wouldn’t have really be helping yourself, you’ll be helping somebody else; there’s a saying, which says: “if you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help build theirs”. Redefine, how you view education. Understand its true meaning. Education is not just about regurgitating facts from a book on someone else’s opinion on a subject to pass an exam.

 Look at it, Picasso was educated in creating art; Shakespeare was educated in the art of word that was written. Colonel Harland Sanders was educated in the art of creating Kentucky Fried Chicken. I once saw David Beckham take a free kick, I watched as the side of his Adidas sponsored boot hit the playing level of ball at angle which caused it to travel towards the skies as though it was destined for the heavens. And then as he reached the peak of his momentum, as though it changed its mind, and switched directions, I watched as the goalkeeper froze, as though he recited to himself the laws of physics, and as though his brain was negotiating with his eyes that was indeed witnessing the spectacle of the level swung that was sweeping towards it, and then reacted. But only a fraction of a millisecond too late, and before the net of the goal embrace the fee for sponsored ballers, as there was the prodigal son returning home and the country that I live in erupted into cheers. I look to the play, and thought, damn. Looking at David Beckham is more than one way in this world to be an educated man.