Three Reasons, Three Paragraphs

            No matter what one tries to do within their life, there is ultimately a goal to each system within it. For example in education it is said to be a method to help one become productive in society. Yet there in lies the error within our system of education, the goal which we are taught it is for, which gives no room for the identity of the students who make up its existence as a matter of fact. When a child first start school as elementary students, they learn to read and write so we can communicate, in junior high we develop more subjects to learn in order to understand more of the world, and by the time we are freshmen’s in high school, the student is programmed and conditioned to follow the leads of others to become productive in society.

If the teacher only sees the students as little tools that need to be regulated within the next step of the system then each students identity will not be nurtured and just used for someone else’s gain, such as the teachers paycheck.

If the student doesn’t realize that there is something more to their education than they will not question how they obtain it. An adolescent student is only aware that he needs to learn these things to be productive in society. So as long as the society or everyone else thinks that the method of teaching is ok, then they do not question, because they are already being productive, by not questioning so. When a student is looked at as a tool it means that they are just like the other tools in the tool box within the perception of the teacher.

         The educational system does not stimulate a student’s urge to become an individual, but rather groups the child within a cluster of other people, resulting in the student’s belief of dependency within the group. If everyone is supposed to act the same, so that they can all be productive, then who else should they want to be like then those who are succeeding in the task? Imagine a box full of wrenches, and though they are all different sizes, they are all still the same metal used for the same purpose. They are all used to turn a nut. And every one of them is needed in society, but only when the mechanic needs them. Only are they used, when the mechanic sees it is fit. So if students are the wrenches, the tools, and society the thing being fixed and mended, that leaves the mechanic as none other than whoever the students let them be.

Connections to “The Passion Project”

While watching “The Passion Project”, I was caught by the conflicts of conformity and individualism within education and the passions that a student follows or does not defines them as such. But what brings us to conformity and individualism is how respected one individual is. I see the connection between how one chooses their passions and the amount of respect they are treated with within the classroom in which they are learning, within their education as a whole. I took a look at Johannes Giesinger’s article “Respect in Education” and found that “The Passion Project” shares the idea of respect in the classroom is just as important as any other aspect if not even more so. Within the passion project I hear the thoughts of cooperation and reflectance between characters in the classroom helps our person learn much easier and happier at that, as well as leading us to a strengthened autonomy. And within Giesinger’s article we see similar thoughts of respect. “To respect children means, according to the child-centered view, not to indoctrinate and coerce them, not to order them around, but to allow them to learn by experience and choose by themselves.” (Giesinger 1.) Just as Ontiveros speaks of respect and cooperation in “The Passion Project”, this quote suggests the effectiveness of respect and understanding within the classroom, however more so between teacher and student rather student and student relationships. When I focus in on the word “coerce” from the excerpt, I take that a teacher cannot go about persuading a student toward a path that is not suited toward their passion. For this will not allow the student to grow and or develop. The teacher is not respecting the student’s individuality and self fulfilling aspirations. Therefore the student will not have the ability to fully extend themselves to who they can be because they only settle for a stunted education which leads toward a path that does not suit their inner being. And when a teacher decides to respect their student then they get a taste of who the student is and how they can assess their learning, unique to that student, instead of grouping the child together with all the other students through insecurities and fear of what society may think. “Social esteem is grounded in the individual capacities and achievements of persons-persons are esteemed for their individual traits.” (Giesinger 7) Society is ever changing due to the individual. So if the individual student is aided and supported in their personal traits then they will give a benefit to the “social esteem” and will only keep us stagnant if it is ignored and clumped together as a package. But to understand and assess each child’s individual traits and passions requires respect. Without respect then the worlds students will be unable to fulfill their passions and be unfit the progress our society to a peaceful nature, little own a peaceful endeavor.