Connie Le
Eng 1A
S. McFarland
The Passion of it All
Being the
first is not always the best. Family wise being the first child you are like a
lab rat, being a test trial. I, Connie Le, is the first generation in my family
to attend college in other words first for everything. Ranging from high
school, prom, permit, licenses, college, and really planning out my future.
Main reason I am the first generation is because my mom is an immigrant from
Vietnam, so English and this American culture is somewhat new to her. Having to
explain myself constantly about my next move and my whereabouts was the
hardest. Especially prom, she never understood why there was a need for high
school students to go dancing because that makes it similar to going to the
club. Whatever I did there was a major road block of the big “failure sign”.
Whenever I failed or did not meet my mother’s standards I was punished harshly
and later that road that led me to my failure was not a choice for my younger
sisters. Like I said it is a life trial full of choices and if the choice fails
then it won’t be repeated for another. Elders know best? I guess mother knows
best because she ingrained it into my head that “education is and should be the
first thing on my mind” and actually living the real world you won’t make it
without knowledge. For this location of knowledge to achieve is in school,
giving us education. Out of all the college students a national average of
thirty percent of the students are attending as the first generation in their
family. In succeeding in the path chosen for yourself it all depends on “how
badly do you want it?” scenario, in that case for everyone it is different.
You can do
whatever you put your mind to and just like Christopher McCandless a young man
who set out to Alaska because he wanted to is a clear example. For his bravery
Jon Krakauer made a book full of Chris’s journal and other people he meet on his
trip. This book is full on inspiration to go out and do what you want. With
many downfalls Chris still gets back up and get back to it with can-do
attitude. Looking out of books YouTube is the place where everything is
captured to go viral, its reality. In one video “Guy in red shoe” the student
speaks for others that are afraid to say something. His one single action spoke
for generations of unfair teachings. If he was so fed up with the situation
that led him to speak against the teacher then what are the other students? In Focusing the Laser, another YouTube
video, it discusses how there are different type of students and what they are
really all about. So many questions pop up when the guy in the red shoe speaks
up. So many how’s and why’s but never a definite answer. To my favorite video, The Passion Project, it really just
inspires. Life is like a bunch of branches and passion being the fire; if you
have the passion for the life you are living it will keep on burning. Without
the passion you have a bunch of useless sticks. All these resources bring light
to a less interesting topic. Even if said who really hears it?
To write a
paper about what you read is quite boring. Bringing fire to this paper will not
only be the personal experience but as a whole student community and as a
civilian. Nothing is better when the truth from reality is laid out flat in
plain sight to be read and to be heard. Nothing is better than hearing it from
the source and even though I might not be the guy with the red shoes we share a
common interest. What it really shows is that within the difficulties that life
supplies you, if you have passion and if you really want it. It will happen.
All it takes is the desire and determination. This life is “it is what it is”
and if we let it to continue this way then there will be no change.
A special
interest lies in everyone and it ranges from all different types. Some likes to
smoke pot all day and some peoples interest is sports. You never know until you
get to know a person. In other words that special interest is a person’s
passion. When you are doing your passion it does not seem like a waste of time
yet it fills you with inner joy. To live outdoors a person wants goes maybe
something like this, “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I
wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I
felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet
life.” And that person is Leo Tolstoy written in his book Family Happiness. I feel like his passion is extreme. Maybe it is
because we don’t share the same interest in quiet life. I feel like the problem
here is that he spoke on his own behalf and not that it makes it wrong but with
an opinion there will always be a counter-opinion to what it believed. Then
again it varies from people to people and this is a clear example that everyone
has a different passion. For Leo that is what he wants for his life while for
me personally, it is completely opposite. What really matters is that it gives
them enjoyment, without joy and laughter, and then what is life? The world
would go grey if there was no passion filled in the humans walking the earth.
Sometimes a
person’s passion is so huge that many paths will be taken in order to live the
grandest enjoyment of the passion. Like a passion of Alaska with no identity,
it led a man to go cross country living nearly like a homeless. He came from
riches and glory so why give everything up to live like a hobo….Passion! It
drives people shapes people lives and if they don’t live by their passion then
they look like a lifeless ghost walking around. Those types of people are
called people pleasers. This man is the opposite of a people pleaser, he does
what he wants and that is to “live of the land for a few months…go to Alaska
and embark on an ‘ultimate adventure’” in that is what Chris McCandless did in
Alaska. I felt like the path Chris took to get his ultimate passion fulfillment
was beyond what anyone with a straight mind would do. Some may even call him
borderline crazy. Yet, if it’s your passion what is the length you will go for
it? Some people like Chris choose passion over family, passion goals over the
American dream. What is the typical normal is not the same for everyone. That
is just how passion works; it is just different for everyone. A life you have to live and experience on
your own, living out your passion while living your life just makes it oh so
much better.
My passion
in a sense is a better future for myself. The extents I will go for this better
future have taken me on a path of the military lifestyle. This of one that a
few can live and for me being one of the few people that can with stand this
specific lifestyle makes it worth the while. On the days that I am down I look
towards my passion and all the stepping stones I have been on to fulfill my
passion and it makes everything all happy again. Few wise words from Harriet
Tubman, “every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have
within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars
to change the world.” Just like how passion is if you really want it you would
go for it no matter what. It really depends on how badly you want something. I
gave up many things in order to get what I want in life as of the moment. It
might have hurt my schooling in the meantime but I know in the future when all
the pieces come together. It will be the greatest thing I accomplished over a
simple passion burning inside me to create the best for myself.
No matter the
location of living education is always offered for free, public schooling. It
might not be the best school with the highest rating but it gives you the
essential knowledge to carry on life. The teacher is the role model for each
class, how the teacher acts is how the students will behave. In the case of
“guy with the red shoes” the teacher from my view was very lackluster. Seems
like a teacher that was just present in the class but not teaching anything.
Then the question comes to mind if the location of schooling from best to worst
gets a certain type of teacher. If so the location of the school must be in the
worst possible area. From an unknown source “a teacher that is not teaching his
passion will not succeed in what he is teaching.” To me this quote says it all
I feel like when a teacher is not so happy in their profession or even the
subject they are teaching the students will not be interested. The problem is
we have so many teachers that are uninterested in their jobs. Then the teachers
blame it on the students not wanting to learn. “Preach your job” ears will
always hear. The solution is these teachers should all get fired, why are we
paying them money to just sit there? It is pointless money being wasted on
these pointless teachers that does nothing. From my own mouth “if the students
aren’t learning, the teachers shouldn’t be earning.”
Maybe the
way he went about it was the wrong way but it get the message across. Some
people listen to what they want to hear and when it is something negative they
really do not hear it. What the guy said to the teacher was nothing negative
but bringing the truth to attention. How the teacher reacted was a negative.
“Get out” as the teacher told the student was not a solution to the problem. I
felt like the way he was confronted could have been handled better maybe out of
the classmate’s eyes like a one on one meeting. The way the teacher should have
responded was just tell the guy he will talk to him after class and take care
of it afterwards. It was just two hard headed people dealing with each other.
However I don’t know if anything got solve but I do feel like the public is now
more aware of how lackluster the public education system be.
Like in the
Andrade video, he explains that the child’s home life is why they don’t succeed
in school. The main reason is because of “deaths” the life is too stressful.
The student is engage more on the street life than in their school maybe
because their street life leaks into their schools. The motivation for the high
paying job takes too long so they rather take short cuts and just sell on the
streets or at times even commit crimes stealing from people who make a living.
They hear the message but not understand the actual situation “when I am done
and they clap I have not done my job”. I feel like the people that care about
these students that aren’t succeeding is the people that live out of their
community. The problem here is that what can people from the outside do if the
people from the inside don’t want it? If you want it then you can succeed and
if you don’t then there is nothing we can do. Like the saying goes “you can’t
change someone that doesn’t want to be change” the community works the same
way. Too little of the people that actually can change the community puts in no
effort because they don’t see anything wrong. The big question now is how do we
get these big community players to care so there can be change?
Student’s
life can also vary from being the easiest to being a student can be the most
difficult thing. In my case being a student is almost like living a double
life. I have my personal life that I am trying to shape into a better future
and my school life. The importance of school to me is great but the way it is being
teach is not the greatest. In a recent class I had a teacher that reach word
for word by the book. Whenever a student would ask how to do the problem he
would just state “the steps are in the book”. So what the hell is the solution
here? He has been teaching for so long at Chabot College and yet he continues
to teach? I brought it to the attention of couple high ranked people at the
institution yet my emails get passed by since it was a concern of one student. Like
in my situation Chris McCandless, “he ended up going to Emory, even though he
thought it was pointless, a waste of time and money.” I feel like going to
Chabot now is a waste of my money. Truly some of the professors that had to
teach me did not motivate me to be a student. What they taught me is if they
show up then I show up and just sit in class like how they are. Yet what they
don’t understand is that maybe if the discussion topic was more of a discussion
than rather a lecture more people would talk and get involved.
Knowing what
I want just has me at Chabot wandering. I am getting what I need to get done
but it really it just a temporary thing. Chabot is a stepping stone to which I
am oh so grateful for. The community has couple of decent colleges around that
can fill our brains up with knowledge. I just believe that these local colleges
are like a high school part two. Same faces, same drama, same cliques, same
everything. The professors make it no better and how the education system is run
is just horrible. Since half of the professors are not really interested in
this job that they have just really depresses me. Yet, my voice does not count
my voice is too small to voice off. Yet bringing together a group to voice the
same common problem seems impossible. It’s all talking yet not one actually
takes the action to make things happen. To what we can only wish the best for
the future generations because certainly as far as this generation got was
bringing to the public's attention.
