Robert Samuels
"From homeless child to star student"
Washington Post
April 1, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/from_homeless_child_to_star_student/2011/04/01/AF7IiFKC_story.html?wprss=rss_educationTopic: Educational Success
In a depressing sea of whining and complaining from all sides, it was a nice breath of fresh air to read a story of success and achievement.
Key Points: “Life is analogous to a wrestling match,’’ reflected Michael, a three-sport athlete, trombonist, student government president and straight-A student at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring. “Everything you do is based on preparation. What the outcome will be is based on hard work. . . . A lot of your success is determined by heart.’’
Success is not something the government can mandate or guarantee artificially. You don’t need a government program in order to work hard and succeed. My worry is that we have too many entitlement programs which actually encourage people to just “stay on the dole” and never reach beyond what they think is possible. I like this story; it’s an example of what makes our country great.
.
Relevance: Successful educational programs have to acknowledge the responsibility of students to seek a quality education and work hard rather than expect their education to just happen automatically. Students play a key role, if not the most important role in education. Attitude.
I agree with your statement that "Success is not something the government can mandate or guarantee artificially." But, Good Lord, do they try--especially in schools overseas.
ReplyDeleteI always go back to one of my housemates from college, a Welsh kid completing his graduate studies. He was so excited to come to school in the United States because he could study things that he had never been allowed to when he did his undergrad in London.
He went crazy (in a good way) started taking 100 and 200 level philosophy courses, psychology, political science, and he loved every bit of it.
In the UK, according to Josh, you don't really change your major, you don't really get a choice of which high schools you are tracked into, and the wide ranging and balanced liberal arts education that we are so proud of in the United States is rather frowned upon.
Living with him gave me a new appreciation for how our education system works--especially higher ed. I changed my major four times in my first year of college and didn't settle on history until I had wallowed in marine biology and ecology for two years. I ended up with a degree in two subjects that I am incredibly passionate about, and it was all because I had the privilege of choice.
After reading this article, I was wondering what "success"is. What kind of achievement people get can be called "successful"? It depends on different situations. The student memtioned in this article is successful. He did not have evrything as other peer students. He is from the poor. His parents divorced. Life could be very hard for him. But he tried hard to be successful. Taking the words from Thomas Edison "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration". Although somebody was born smart, if he/she does not work hard, he/she would fall behind.
ReplyDeleteI really admire people who work hard and get what they want. To me, that goal is simple enough for a person to work for. Somebody might say that we need to count some other factors for success, such as back ground, time, where, and how other people think of your success. I don't agree. Success is not for others, but for yourself. I am kind of agree that everybody is successful in certain areas on certain points. People do something for reasons, why would we say they are unsuccessful?
OK. It seems I am going too far. Back to this article, the students and his mom are both successful. They all tried hard to get a better life. And this has nothing to do with the education system. I really like what the student said "A lot of your success is determined by heart."