Justification for Education

Education should be the number one priority in today’s American society. However, it seems as if the number one priority for the people of America is what new iPhone has come out or what the Kardashian family is up to next. The truth of the matter is, education has taken a backseat to such things as social media and networking. Year after year, state officials look to cut already dwindling education budgets. Each year thousands of school programs are cut because of this. Even at our local college, we see dozens of school days being removed because of what they call furlough days. But the fact is that as a student you cannot just sit on your hands and allow these things to happen. Budget cuts will continue to happen and as students we can no longer rely on our educational institutions as our main source of our learning. As students we must be able to take what we have learned already in our classes and apply it to our daily lives. Students must be able to learn more through their daily activities than they do in their classes at school. Life in itself is a class. It’s a multitude of lessons that you could learn from. The choice is yours, no matter what age you are. I do not believe that higher learning institutions are the only source of education. Instead, I believe that the learning that happens outside of the classroom is much more intuitive and has the ability to teach a person more than they could have ever imagined.

I am not against higher education. I do understand its importance. But more times than not, students see it as their only option into the world of opportunity. As a young boy I was told that I needed college in order to succeed in my life. I thought I wanted to join the Air Force and become a pilot. So I tried to get into the Air Force Academy. However, I realized that this wasn’t my dream. My dream was bigger than that. I still felt that I needed college in order to do whatever it is that I wanted to do.

All throughout elementary school I “suffered” from ADHD - or at least that’s what my teachers called it. I was too young to understand so I just went along with it. They said that without medication I would not make it to high school. So my parents and I continued my medication right up until I graduated from 8^th grade and got accepted to one of the best high schools in the area. Even still in high school I was told I would not be able to graduate without having medication. At this point in my life, I was heavily involved in extracurricular activities and had many mentors along the way to shape and mold my ideas and personal actions. So I decided to take my mentors advice and stop screwing around with medications, and just focus. The effects were amazing! I was able to not only graduate high school, but in addition, I also got accepted into my number one choice for college, San Jose State University.

It is widely understood that education will lead to a higher standard of living. A study done by Sandy Baum, a Skidmore economist, showed that college graduates earn, on average, about $20,000 a year more than those who finished their educations at high school. Now over a period of forty years, that number has increased to a staggering $800,000. The evidence is clear, a college degree will open more doors for your future, as George Washington Carver says,” Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom”. Education is not just preparation for life; it is life itself. However, some students will find that they have a difficult time either staying in school or find it impossible to afford higher education at all. Ask many students about their opinions on school, and they will say that they hate it most of the time. But for me I feel that the only reason I'm still in school is because I recognize it’s not just right now. School is not just this moment. It’s the rest of your life. If you think of your life as a twelve inch ruler, only about one inch of it will be your education. Work hard now and you will save yourself from having to work for the rest of your life. But there are some shortcomings to this. A four-year university or even a junior college could be a challenge to get into, let alone being affordable to attend. Then staying at that institution is a challenge on its own. Many students face difficulties that will make or break them in school. Some rise to the challenge and overcome and others let the challenges overwhelm them. 

 One of the biggest challenges that students face in school is money. Often, universities charge outrageous tuition fees for their students. You can double that if you expect to live on campus. Not to mention the cost of books and supplies. By the time you’re done with school you could have had a mansion with a Mercedes. So how can students cope with not having enough money for their education? If you feel that you are one of those students you should look into your options as far as community colleges go. They will be much cheaper and still get you the basis for your education (general education courses). In your time at a community college, get the best grades you possibly can. This will help you to not only get into the universities of your choice, but will also help you to obtain scholarships. Each year, millions of dollars are practically given away to students. Most times students do not even know they exist. So do some research, a quick Google search turned up a variety of opportunities for "free money". However, after having to pay a large sum of money or struggle to get a loan, students become discouraged about their education and find it difficult to maintain their positive views towards their educational goals. “I read somewhere... how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong... to measure yourself at least once.” (58)

Another big challenge to students to stay in school is a motivation for higher education. Some students get discouraged with school, because its what they have been doing for practically their whole lives. They think, "When will this end?” Simply put, school is what you make of it, and you will get out what you put in. Sure you attend your classes and do your homework, but if you aren’t applying it to anything in your life, you will surely forget it. Don’t just attend school because you think it will get you a better job, or for some other superficial reason. Attend school because it will be another step closer to doing what is really going to make you happy. For instance, I bounced around from school to school only to finally come up on something I wanted to do. I saw it when I was at SJSU. Students had no idea what they wanted to do in their lives; they just knew college would help them. But in all honesty, education is not something you get in just a classroom. Education is your life experiences, your failures, and your successes.
 

Attending SJSU was probably the biggest mistake of my life. I went there not knowing what I wanted to do hoping to figure it out as I went. Instead I just picked a major that I thought would make me happy. But after just one semester I ended up dropping out of there and just trying to find out what it is that I really wanted. I wanted to be myself. I wanted to explore my opportunities. So I figured I would try and create something on my own. I tried to start up a nightclub promotion company with a friend. And not long after it started, it lost steam and fell off. Even though this endeavor failed, miserably I was able to learn more about business in that short amount of time than I have ever learned in a classroom environment.  However, the push was still present that college was necessary to my overall success so I attended city college, and again I chose a major in which I did not have any interest in. I just thought it would make me some decent money. Another bad decision. I chose to study something that I had no interest in, any passion for, and no will to learn. That would quickly lead to my demise at City College of San Francisco. But having been to two different colleges now, I realized something special. It’s not about how much you learn in your classes, its what you learn during your time outside of those classes. How are you able to take what you learned and apply it to your daily life?

Having bounced around different colleges I found my self at Chabot College. I believe that this is where I belonged and I should have done this from the start. I was always passionate about cars but I never thought about actually perusing that as a career. Confucius once said, “Choose a job that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. So I decided after one semester at Chabot to stop my academic general education courses and try something that I loved to do. And it took off from there. I joined an exclusive automotive program on school and it has been the greatest thing to ever happen to me.

 PASSION PROJECT MOVIE

I took my passion for cars and was actually able to apply it to my life. Now I have a job in the automotive industry and I could not be happier. I don’t care if I wont get financially rich from it. I will be rich in knowledge and wisdom. However, it didn’t stop there. I do not believe in going out and finding a job. I believe in actually creating jobs. I know that you cannot rely on a college degree these days. It’s not about what you learned in class but how much you learned outside of the classroom, in the real world. So I take every opportunity I can to learn. I, once again, set off to start my own business this year. I will be taking what I have learned from my previous experience starting a business and apply it to what I’m doing now. These days, students cannot rely on their teachers or parents to help them through their lives. They must learn to help themselves. I’m 21 and I’ve started two businesses without a college degree. The first, when I was 18 years of age, was a nightclub promotion company. We had one event and it got shutdown before it even started. I failed, yes but I never let that discourage me. I was hungrier than ever before. I don’t believe in just going to school and sitting in class to get a grade. Besides, what is a grade? A grade is another person’s evaluation of you at that moment in time. When you try and go get a job that’s all you’ll have. Honestly, you have to try and learn as much as you can without the class. Educate yourself. If you want something, go get it. You don’t need a degree to start a business. And it’s not just starting a business. Some people are not into that, and that’s ok. However, you must be able to identify what you want in your own life. And then the next step is to figure out how you can get involved in something that means something to you.

 School is not the only education you will get in your life. Every day is an opportunity to learn something new. School is an aid to get you toward your objectives. Think of school as the materials you’ll need to succeed in life, but life itself is the experience in which you will be able to apply those materials. But it’s more than just going to school for the point of going. You must be able to locate your inner passion. With passion will come happiness? Passion is a driving force behind many of the world’s most successful people. Most people have difficulty finding their passions. But in fact, it is really easy. You must be able to look into your own life and decide what you want from it and how you are going to get it. A simple question you have to ask yourself is, “what would I do for the rest of my life without being monetarily compensated for?” In the novel, Into the Wild, a young college graduate struggles to find his passion and the deeper meaning of his life. Chris Mccandles, the main character comes from a very privileged family. However, having grown up in that sort of environment, he wants to escape and chase his wildest dreams. Chris donates his college fund to charity and burns the rest of his cash, along with cutting up all his identification cards and his credit cards. “He arranged all his paper currency in a pile on the sand—a pathetic little stack of ones and fives and twenties—and put a match to it. One hundred twenty-three dollars in legal tender was promptly reduced to ash and smoke”(37). Many people would have said that Chris is out of his mind or even that he is borderline suicidal. But his previous life was something that he felt was not his. His fathers push for education as well as his denial of another son, forced Chris to feel separated from his family. Chris's family is very privileged. His father a scientist for NASA and his mother a very driven individual. Both his parents started their own consulting business and now have everything they could have ever wanted. Chris upon graduation was offered a new car. So why would any one want to leave a situation like this? Chris feels that his family’s privilege is just the surface. He longs for the deeper meaning of life and adventures on his own. “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”(31). Chris wanted to find his passion. He had been to school and felt as if he has been living a fraudulent life and set out to create a new one in which he will discover his inner passions. In doing so he believes he will be happier than ever.

The world itself has so many things to offer people. People just need to recognize that it is inside each and every one of them to obtain what they want in life. Privileged or not, the opportunities are present. In the wise words of Christopher McCandles, “It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.”(Into the Wild 68).  What are you doing outside of school to help you? And you may realize that school is just a supplemental aid. Yes, school is time consuming and seems like a waste of time, but what activities outside of the classroom are you doing that are going to benefit you.  Because all you’ll get from being in class is the same as every one else. A grade and a piece of paper that says you are capable of reading and writing. But most students will graduate and that’s all they’ll be is just capable. How will you make yourself different from the rest? What are you doing now that will prepare you fro the rest of your life? Read some books, start a business, do what you love, self educate, be happy. Chase happiness, you’ll have that regardless of money. But chasing money will not necessarily mean you will be happy and successful. 

The word success has different meanings to different people. Some define success as making a ton of money and having nice things. Others simply just define success as how happy they are with their lives and what they have been able to accomplish. People everyday strive for success and push themselves to go beyond what they’ve already done. But also people take what the media and society calls successful and try to relate it to them. The truth is, that many people wont reach the level of some of the richest people in the world. But that is only because their idea of success is something that is conjured in the minds of others and not necessarily their own minds.

First I would define success not by how much money is in your bank account or by how many nice cars you have. But instead by your happiness with your own life. If having lots of money and nice possessions is your idea of happiness then so be it. But others are just fine with what they have and continue to live their lives happily without superficial things. Success is a mindset. Many people only want what others have so they can feel successful to other people. But success is deeper than that. Success is satisfaction with where you are in your life. If you are happy doing what you are doing then you are indeed successful by your own terms. Don’t let another person tell you that you are not successful because your standard of living is not the same as theirs. Like I said, if what you’re doing right now makes you happy, then you are indeed succesful.

Second, success to me is being able to recognize that what you have in your life is sufficient. People everyday ignore their blessings because they think that because they don’t have money, or a big house, or a fancy car, they are not successful. But people truly forget the blessings they have been given in their lives. A loving family, the intelligence to think for yourself, or even a job. You must be able to redefine what success is to your own person instead of what someone else thinks. When you can create your own idea of what success is to you, then you will be successful.

“It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it”(170)

Certain things in our society or communities will help or could even prevent achieving success. Growing up in a community that doesn’t have many opportunities, success is something only dreamed about. But at the same time, there are dozens of examples of people who are able to overcome their adversities and create something for themselves. I do not believe in any one thing that makes success impossible for anybody. Actually that’s not true. The only thing that I believe will prevent someone from being successful is the people themselves. You must visualize yourself as successful. You have to want it. When you want to be successful then you will be successful. Going back to the video I posted earlier in my bog, Eric Thomas states, "When you want to be successful as bad as you want to breath, then you will be successful". Success just won’t fall into your lap. True, some people will be born into a situation where success is realized almost immediately. But someone at some point had to work hard for that status. And that’s what it all comes down to. Work hard and you will be successful. But working hard is a topic that some people have trouble with. That is because it calls on us to sacrifice certain things in our lives for our future. A good quote from Charles Dubois says, “The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become”. In order to be successful you must be willing to do things other people will not do. That includes working at something so hard that you must give up sleeping, eating, and partying. Most students will tell you that they want to be successful. “They don’t really want it, they just kind of want it” (Eric Thomas). Eric Thomas makes an awesome point by saying, “if some of you gave up your cell phones, you would be successful”. All of that goes back to sacrifice. Sacrifice the little things now and enjoy them later in life when the hard work is done. 

People argue that the opportunities are different for different people. For instance some people growing up in East Oakland may not have the same opportunities as people who grow up in Blackhawk. I do not really believe in the fact that where a person grows up is the sole decider of a person’s destiny. I actually believe that it is how they handle that adversity and create from it. As Jeff Duncan Andrade states “One in three urban youth display the symptoms of moderate to severe PTSD. And urban youth are twice as likely as soldiers returning from Iraq to get PTSD”. These statistics are startling. People often times do not think about what is going on in the community’s right next to them. These young people are burdened daily with scenes of violence and crime. Andrade continues to say, “There are real, tangible solutions to this…The one factor that is showing real medical promise is hope”. Hope does not seem very tangible. Instead it seems almost made up. But it is true. Young people in under privileged communities around the world are fighting for their hope on a daily basis. These youths are roses growing in the concrete. They will have damaged pedals; of course, they are growing in the concrete. But you do not criticize a rose growing in the concrete because it has damaged pedals; you commend it because it had the will and tenacity to flourish in such a toxic environment. And the greatest thing that Andrade is doing with these young people is not only growing roses, but also preparing them to come back to the concrete and create “rose gardens”.

Education is not a choice. It is in our lives as much as we breathe. One must be able to look past the surface conditions that society puts on us and figure out what we want from ourselves. Everyday is an opportunity to learn something new. And some people realize that college and higher education institutions are not the only way. Success is something that every person strives for. However, there is no straight path that leads directly to success, and no two people walk the same path towards it. Instead, it is a windy road filled with failures and triumphant victories. You don’t need to be the most educated person in the world to be successful, you just need to work hard and have persistence to not give up.

Focusing the Lasers

Focusing The Lasers from Sean McFarland on Vimeo.

As the producers of this video said at the end, this movie is a look into the past for students. It shows their progress from before starting college to being driven towards a goal at the end of their time at community college. They categorize students based on their skills and mental motivation. The categories include, Visitors, Wanderers, Dreamers, Explorers, Seekers, and lastly Lasers.

I would categorize myself as a laser at this point in my college life. However I would agree with what they said at the end of the movie. There is not a single person that goes to college as a Laser. We all start out at some other point and transition into a Laser. Like I said, I would categorize myself as a Laser because I know what I want to do with my career. I am very driven towards it and have a plan as for how to achieve my goals.

However, I did not start out as a laser. In fact Chabot College was not my first attempt at college life. Right after high school i decided to do what a majority of my fellow classmates were doing and choose a four year university to attend. My choice was San Jose State University. Here i would classify myself as a visitor. I did not know what I wanted to do other than the fact that i wanted to be in college and maybe i would decide as i go. After a short time there, i realized that this school was not where i wanted to be. So i left after just one semester and attended City College of San Francisco. Same thing happened. I did not know what i wanted to study just that i wanted a degree in something. Low and behold, i ended up leaving City College and trying to find my way in the real world without college. That did not go well with my parents. They kept urging me to go back to school so i can have something to fall back on. I explored some options and actually decided to just follow my heart. I chose Chabot just because of its location and ease. It was located right next to my work and only a short drive from my house. I initially took a bunch of different classes to really figure out what i wanted to do. I chose business because of its ability to fit into any field of work. After one semester at Chabot, I realized they have an automotive program. So i went to talk with some of the teachers and see how it all works. I also found out about a prestigious program for BMW training. I immediately saw the value in this training and made an appointment with the teacher for an interview.

Long story short, I am more driven and mentally focused than i have ever been in my life. I found what I've wanted to do and it was all thanks to certain teachers and my family who have supported my decisions. I will be done with my training by the next semester and sent off into the working world. They were able to place me in a job before i even finished my training. Now I am a technician working for BMW and doing what i love.

I guess what I'm saying is that, it doesn't matter where you start, its where you finish. And i have had a rough start, but it smooths out and you just have to have perseverance and dedication to achieve all your wildest dreams.