Recycling the Gift: Passion Project II. RESPONSE

Having watched the passion project 2 it has made me more aware as to how education has disrupted children's thoughts of expression and opinion by subjecting them to memorization and dictations. The academic system should be assisting their students with their talents and passions in order for them to build confidence and stability. Most students are unfortunately diseased by fear of disappointment and embarrassment by the adults in their lives as well as their fellow peers. I remember back in my Kindergarten days where I had the carefree school lifestyle where there was no fear in asking questions in class. This is vastly different now, where as a lecture is taking place and I have a question on the topic I feel the discouragement of raising my hand and asking the teacher due to the possible fear of embarrassment I think I would get from my classmates. So instead, I either as a fellow classmate or ask the teacher after class. Many students have the same fear that I have in the classroom, they assume that just because they do not understand a concept that everyone else would ridicule them for asking a simple question, however, there is always another student that has the same question to ask but instead they expect another student to ask their question so they won’t have to. This fear was and still is instilled into students because of how the education system praises the students who are able to self-study and understand the lessons at hand. From a young age grade school children are taught that the faster you learn the material the faster we can move on to something new, this then pushes students to memorize the material instead of understanding how to actually answer the question in their own way. Like math for example, when the teacher teaches how to solve an equation; students will only copy the instructor’s steps to reach the answer instead of understanding how the answer was produced. This conception that the only objective is to get the answer is what holds students back when they are given a complicated word problem where they have to articulate the process to the answer. If the academic system continues to undermine their student’s capabilities and continue to disregard their discomforts and fears, when it is time for them to enter the world they will be unequipped to deal with the real life situations by themselves. The movie really made me fear about my future when they spoke of an individual not finding their passion in life with a boring weekly job that does not stimulate and interest them for the rest of their lives. I am so fearful of having an occupation at some company in a cubicle staring at a computer screen for the rest of my working years with no interest or appeal for me to perform my best in my work. This kind of lifestyle is such a disappointment to my life after years and years of my life dedicated to the education system if I cannot utilize my studies for something i feel passionate or interested in. This kind of fear is instilled into student but is suppressed more by the fear of having an occupation that would not financially provide for them and their families. Their decisions in their future is constantly being influenced by other people, people that they do not want to disappoint or hurt because of their choices to take a different path. However, only a few have the courage to pursue their passion and take the route of their choice. And for that few even if they do not succeed the way they want to, they can still say that they at least have no regret to not giving their passion a try.