Learning Revolution

     As Ken Robinson pointed out in the beginning of the video, "we make very poor use of our talents".  I agree with that statement because, we our limited in our abilities to express our talents in this school system.  Robinson explains that you cannot "reform" the system because it is already a "broken model".  A revolution in education should occur to help improve lives of future students.  One of the interesting parts of the talk was when Robinson brought up Abraham Lincoln's quote.  Lincoln partly says that "we must rise with the occasion."  I noted the word "with" instead of "to".  Everyone must do something in order for change to happen.  As the video goes on, Ken talks about how people must follow a linear plan in order to go on with their life.  I believe that a linear plan only restricts our creativity and things may get in our way as we try and follow that linear path.  Also the topic of conformity is another problem.  Robinson talks about how people are greatly conforming to fast food and how it destroys our physical bodies.  Passion is another key topic.  In my personal experience, if the subject bores me, I do not enjoy thinking about it or dealing with the subject.  I must have a strong passion for anything I do, or else I would not even bother doing it.  With that being said, the topic of revolutionizing education is very important because it will affect the world as a whole in the future.

The Function of Education

            Importance of Education

“The Function of Education” written by Jiddu Krishnamurti is an article on the basic principles and functions of an education.  Jiddu opens the article with two different possibilities of why we are attending school to get an education.  He questions if education is only to “pass examinations and get a job” or to “understand the whole process of life?”  I believe that we receive an education mainly to make a living for ourselves.  Then after we receive that education, we can apply it to daily life situations such as knowing how to properly count and to make sure we communicate correctly and efficiently. 

The importance of education is stressed throughout my family.  My parents believe that you can only get a job with a bachelor’s or higher.  Being raised in a family of 5 as the oldest and also being the 1^st generation born here in America, my parents had different moral values while coming to America.  They were very disciplined, and their way of thinking was very old-fashion and right to the point.  I truly believe that without and education, your understanding of life would be very limited.  As Jiddu quotes, ”but if you are frightened you will never be intelligent.”   By him saying that, he means that we as students must not be restricted, and we must take upon ourselves to think outside the box and to “free our minds.” 

Education can be passed on from teachers, parents, etc.  However to be educated by someone else and just receive information, rather not ponder about it is living in fear.  Jiddu quotes, “It is very easy to conform to what your society or your parents and teachers tell you.”  Anyone can just listen to what is being taught by another individual and choose what they want to keep and what to not hold on to.  However Jiddu explains “To live is to find out for yourself what is true, and you can do this only when there is freedom, when there is continuous revolution inwardly, within yourself.”  I find this statement to be very true because I have experienced it first hand.  Being independent can free you from society’s way of thinking and when you go out and experience and learn things first hand from experience that is true freedom. 

Jiddu goes on to explain that the world is a place of fear, a place of people always competing or going against each other.  He says, “We must create it, because we see that the world is caught up in endless wars.”  By creating a society that does not live in fear, we can change society and most importantly bring everyone together.  With unity comes strength and power, while distinction can lead to downfall or chaos.  Jiddu stresses the differences between conforming to society and being free from it.  Being free will lead to a different society.  As we become free we “create immediately an atmosphere of freedom so that you can live and find out for yourselves what is true…”  There is chaos going on throughout the world right now due to nations wanting to be better than each other and always competing for the top spot. 

With education, people either have two options.  The first option may be to use it just to conform to society’s rules and follow the agenda.  The second option, is to use education and free yourself from society’s ways by accepting the challenge to change and make society better.  One of my favorite quotes throughout the whole article was “Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning…”  With that being said,  we as people and a society should utilize all of our education that we have received and  use it to make the world a better place. 

About Me

Well I was born on February 10, 1995 in Oakland, CA where I grew up.My ethnicity is Cambodian and Chinese.

 
 

 I currently reside in San Leandro, CA and I am going to turn 20 in a few weeks.  I am the oldest of 5 siblings and I enjoy being the leader.  When I was young, I had a huge imagination.  I loved building things from legos such as spaceships and cars.  I was a regular kid who loved waking up on Saturdays to watch Spongebob and eat Pop Tarts.  When I was entering the 5th grade, I had a passion for playing basketball.  Ever since then I've played on teams up until High School.  I attended Skyline High School until the 10th grade.  During my Skyline days, I was struggling to balance school work with extra curricular activities.  I got into a fight there, and I regret doing some things I did when I attended there.  I have lost a couple of friends to gun violence in Oakland.  It was then my parents decided that a transferal of schools will help me stay away from violence and misbehavior.  So during 2011 I transferred to San Leandro High School.  This was my first time transferring schools and I had all sorts of thoughts running through my mind.  I thought it was going to be difficult because I had to start over and make new friends.  However it was the opposite, I made new friends and it was another beginning of a new chapter in my life.  During my junior year, I received my first job at Jamba Juice. I loved working there because I made a lot of friends and I got to experience dealing with all different types of people.  While working at Jamba, I would save money to help invest in a clothing business that my friend and I created during high school.  I came up with the name and he came up with the logo.  The name of the business was Dynamis, which stands for "power" in Greek.  We started to sell crewnecks and hoodies in 2012, and it was a success to see our fellow high school peers and friends wear our clothing.  We continued selling our clothing straight out of our car trunks and used the little money we had as working high school students.  That was one of the hugest accomplishments that I have experienced during my high school years.  When I graduated in 2013, I including 2 of my fellow business partners decided to part ways and put the company on hold.  It was difficult to transition into college while keeping the business running.  Just recently this year, we held a meeting between the group and we decided that we want to pick up where we left off.  However we are still not producing any clothing yet, but hopefully plan on doing so this year.  Currently I am in my 2nd year at Chabot, and I plan on transferring to a UC.  My goal this year is to improve my GPA and be able to support myself while my parents can support my younger siblings that are still in elementary and middle school.