Laser Movie Sucks

This movie fails to address the main problem with students coming into Community College. The students coming into Community Colleges have been failed at all levels of education prior to college. The bad habits most students have now were created and developed in schools before college. The passion, will , and foresight we lack (as the movie states) are with these kids long before College. It's like standing idle and watching someone bleed to death for 10 hours and on the 11th hour yell to everyone help. The Cognitive dissonance suffered from the movie makers is unreal confusing expectations with reality. In that College isn't the main problem but just one of few. I believe one shouldn't proclaim there is a problem without offering a solution. The problem is kids aren't ready for college. Students need to get on track in Jr high and High School. They need to put these classes in Jr. High so that you can catch kids earlier.  That's were the focus should be. The dropout rates at UC's are extremely low compared to CC's. There are many reasons for this one is that many students aren't pampered at home and have to deal with trauma daily. Another is kids don't know themselves so they cant begin to know the college system without losing all aspirations and conforming to what society wants from them. All while trying to wrangle their future success by please family or pleasing themselves.

Please DO NOT Conform

The Culture we live in pushes people strongly to conform American values. If one doesn’t conform then they’re in trouble. We are told that we need an education by the power structure and we are told we must work. The America school system sets people up and encourages them to be workers. It doesn’t influence them to be themselves. It acts by saying everyone has to fit into this vacuum. The power structure is made to keep people in their place and does not allow for dreamers. If a child wants to dream the school system will tell them to go someplace else. They believe it’s no time for that. In Passion Project Romeo Says “Society is not doing its job because it has high expectations for people to follow what other people are doing”. By society I believe he means the people, but the people are only acting out the wants of the American school system. It’s like get down or lay down. If one tries to dream then America will be right around the corner to ostracize you. In the end that’s how it’s done. They created a culture to conform or leave and whether it’s good or bad depends on ones own views.  The sad thing is that people subconsciously know that it’s better to follow ones dreams than to conform to a life of unanimity.  But in life we find a lot of people don’t go with their gut. In a speech on education President Barack Obama said “You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life”. This might sound nice to one who follows blindly and doesn’t acknowledge the governments hand in how he supposed to live. Essentially he tells people we can only choose our future and be successful by getting an education. By saying that’s the best way for a middle-class life just shows me that he and a lot of other people want us to be workers and not in the upper-class. While Obama encourages the masses of people in America to be workers, he supports colleges Like Cal Berkeley that have sister campuses in China that tell their students to be entrepreneurs, dreamers, and the thinkers. While we’re here being ushered into being the workers. He pushes values on the masses that only a few want. In the end the Power Structure wants the companies to be modern day centaurs, a Chinese head and American body. What a beautiful piece. I see many parallels from this and the days of the American Chattel slavery. African ‘’American” people were forced to do work while the white man prospered and was able to do what he wanted. I put quotes around American because they weren’t treated as Americans at that time and the hypocrites to call them American were and still are out of their minds.

The Usual Suspects, Whats the Real Definition Of Success?

            Success takes on many definitions for many different people and what ever road your on in life Success has a different meaning. I believe success is a feeling that cant be measured. Like love, one truly cant put words together to define it, but you know when your part of it that it's something really special. Success is something personal for an individual not whats viewed as good from the society.  In my own life I'll have to say success for me is that my family is happy and being able to do what they choose. I have a huge family and learned through time that no achieved goal can be celebrated if your not happy with the end result granted from it. I want my nieces and nephews to be leaders, not followers. Leaders get to do what they want, they set the standards, their the bestower of moral values and that's what is most important for me. They'll be able to do what they want not what their told or ushered into by society or their family. In Into The Wild it shows a contrast between Chris and his sister Carine.

"I was always getting on Mom and Dad's case because they worked all the time and were never around, Now look at me: I'm doing the same thing"(P.129).

Carine said this because she followed the path of her family by accepting and adopting the family value's. While her brother was away doing what he wanted to do, setting his own standards, living how he wanted to live. If his life ended "early" so what, who's to say that he even had a premature life, compared to who's value on what time one should die. Luckily Chris was lead by his own values therefore he was always right and who cares if he died. He at least died doing what he loved and what he wanted to do, most people cant say that. They both were successful in what they did and it shows that success has many meanings to different people.

            I can say today that I'm successful person. Although society will tell me I am not. We as a society judge others with a common goal and definition of success. Society views a married man with two kids in a middle class neighborhood with a managerial job that he's held for 12 years as successful. If that is success, I dont want no part of it. If exploiting, dehumanizing, and believing in trickle down economics while being CEO of a Fortune 500 company is success, I dont want no part of it. We find in time that society sets the standards of success not the individual. The only true way to be successful is for the individual to make the decision that the life their living is right. Chris in Into The Wild was tremendously successful. He didn't let societies definition of success define him, he defined his own life. Chris said to Ron Franz

"people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind"(P.56).  

             The thought process of conformity is that people should all do the same thing. This logic doesn't take in to account there are many people with many personalities. Some people even have multiple personalities. The blueprint of conformity can't cope with millions of people. Someone out of the masses have to stand up and say I'm not conforming and we find those people are viewed as outcasts, just the way people viewed him. Chris didn't feel part of this society and he put himself in exile by going to Alaska. Although he probably was pushed that way, he felt at ease knowing society was wrong. His attitude were unmatched at home and he didn't want to follow the norm, so conformity he wasn't going to be apart of. I believe if he felt a certain way he is smart to act on it and that's what he was telling Ron.

            What prevents me from success in my community, is my community. The fact is if I do something out of the ordinary I will be ostracized. It seems as if one has to almost choose between the view of success from the family and the view of success from society. Usually when it's deep ingrained beliefs the family is following society and most times it is set by laws. For example, in Saudi Arabia women aren't even allowed to drive cars it's written law therefore it's punishable. So how can a mother with pressure of breaking conformity support her daughter. The community is holding her back. If a young girl can't think outside the box, how can she be different? We as people feel there is a emotion of having to fulfill your family dreams and what they expect out of you, while trying to balance out personal dreams. It's very hard to do. Most times family dreams prevail and people collapse because they feel it's so hard to be successful and go against the grain. In a dysfunctional family most people conform because it's easier to do wrong and it's a struggle to do right when everyone else is in a state of dysfunction one will settle for almost anything that's normal. In Bread Givers, Sara was the only child who made it out of dysfunction. Noticing how her other sisters fell into their lives Sara wanted to be different she said

"I've got to live my own life. It's enough that mother and the others lived for you. Thank God, I'm living in America! You made the lives of the other children! I'm going to make my own life!"(P.138). 

            Sara being the youngest saw how her sisters were forced to be indentured servants for the family. She decided that will not be her fate and took action into her own hands. Just how Chris had the will of not to conform, Sara did as well. Family will prevent people from doing what they want to do individually. If being different is viewed as being weird in this society, I want to be a weird Mother Fuc*#!. I Want to be the neighborhood weirdo and the worlds kook. We should encourage differences because we're crushing passion by not letting kids be successful and in being successful one are able to do what they want by following their passion. Therefore crushing ones dreams by trying to make everyone in the family conform to what society wants them to do not what they want to do individually.
          

Students Be like "I Need Help"

Say word....This dude is cool. He saw a problem and addressed it. From being in school he understands that handing out packets is not going to keep kids in school. In essence he thinks that to keep kids in school is to get to their hearts. He understands packet teaching doesn't work and this is a key problem with students staying in school today. I like him because he shows a problem and gives a solution, unlike most people who state problems and have no answers for what to be done. He gives a step by step way for students to stay in school. It seems like this isn't the first time he spoke out in class just by the simple fact that the camera was out and they probably know he gets bizzy with the teacher