Nicholas Holguin
Professor Jones
English 1A
11 October 2017
A Poet on Acid
Many people believe that their image and prestige is the number one thing they should be worried about. That if they don’t perfect in school and go to a prestigious school that their life won’t amount to anything. Well let me tell you that this is a naive and mislead view of the world and completely untrue because those that have actually made it in this world either stumble into it on accident or because they actually decided to work towards improving themselves before improving their transcripts. Let me tell you the story of Andre Holguin, a 23 year old young man who was bullied as a kid, had a hard time fitting in, and did horrible in highschool yet somehow has
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Holguin said, “There was a list of people we could choose from that my teacher had handed out. At first I wanted to do Robin Hood but my teacher said that there was no historical evidence that he was even an historical person so I settled for Martin Luther King, I have nothing against Martin Luther King but I just thought Robin Hood was more cool, plus Martin Luther King has been so overdone in so many essays. When I brought it back to my teacher Mrs. Andrews commented on it saying ‘I was a poet on acid’”. To Holguin the comment was straightforward, as were many of her comments he says, but it had, “slapped my ego and woke me up that I had to start taking high school seriously” especially since graduation was around the corner and Holguin wanted to go to college himself.
After Holgun had decided to go to college and take high school seriously he started to look towards the future to which he wanted to become a professor of his favorite subjects which were philosophy and theology, but first another goal was ahead of him which he would have to overcome before that. Graduation. In order to do so he would have to make up all the classes in which he previously had failed in. So how did he turn his act around you ask? As any sensible student should do when they’re struggling with school. Go see you counselor! Which he did, and man did that make much of a difference for Holguin’s high school career. “Another person who helped me was my counselor Mrs. Ybanez,” Holguin said,
In discussions of Charles Murray, he expresses his opinion on the thoughts and feelings that are being transferred to students before college, claiming them to be misleading. Murray brings to light the problem that exists in the constant pushing of guidance counselors, teachers, and even politicians to aspire for a college degree no matter what, “treating every failure to go to college as an injustice” (Murray 48). Yet, by doing so, parents and students are often blindsided by the overwhelming cost of college that many cannot afford, or the sheer amount of education students would put themselves through for no reason at all. Murray observes that “one aspect of this phenomenon has been labeled misaligned ambitions, meaning that adolescents have career ambitions that are inconsistent with their educational plans” (Murray 48). Convincing students that college is the only guiding light to a better life forces students to see college as such, an intellectual heaven where they can become anything, such as a doctor or an attorney “without understanding the educational hurdles they must surmount to achieve their goal” (Murray 48-49). They then attend a four-year university with the depiction of college as a “place where B.A.s are handed out” fresh in their minds, thoughtless as to if that particular college they are attending even has the educational requirements needed to complete their career goals (Murray 49). Unfortunately, as Murray reminds us, this is the system that is in place. For “a brutal fact
While reading Ken Bain’s book “What the Best College Students Do” of the five different types of students he describes, I feel like I fall under the label of one having mediocre grades but achieving success. I make good grades, however I do not necessarily believe my grades always reflect my hard work, determination and effort put in, similar to his theory on false hope in standardized testing. Throughout my school career, I have consistently made A and B grades. I can remember only one C grade, which was a quarter grade, and very disappointing, but a lesson learned. At the same time though, and as Bain helped me realize through his text, grades are not everything and making a C is not something that is going to kill me; there is simply more to school than a letter grade. In fact he points out through most of the 1800s schools only used two grades, pass or fail. As seen nowadays, schools have since adopted the letter grade system.
A lot people work very hard and struggle through life trying to be the very best at every single thing they do; this is a good trait to have but, sadly not everyone has this type of work ethic or motivation. Some people just try to get by and go through the motions, often not getting the education they they are rightfully entitled to. This is the type of mentality that Mike Rose discusses in his narrative “I Just Wanna Be Average.” Throughout the narrative, Rose shares personal experiences of mistakenly being set on the wrong track of his educational career due to a mix up with test results. Rose gets placed into the vocational education track, which is where the person he was mixed up with, with the exact same last name was supposed
In the story “I Just Wanna Be Average” the author Mike Rose argues that society very often neglects and doesn’t see the full value and potential of students.
Another problem with American society is how hard it is for poor individuals to find success because “the rich are richer and the poor are poorer,” (Goode 88). The top 1% in America hold most of the money, leaving very little for those who are considered poor. This then becomes a never-ending cycle because middle and upper class kids attend very good schools and receive educations that will allow them to find success in life, and those kids who are in working and lower classes, go to over-crowded schools with very little resources. This makes it very difficult for these kids to take their educations further and go to college. I personally struggled with the transition from high school to college due to the education I received. I went to a Denver Public School which has a reputation of being “trashy” or “ghetto”. Luckily, as a whole Colorado has a good education system, but I know I wasn’t challenged enough in high
For my entire life of schooling, both my parents and I would agree that I constantly complained about the educational systems in which I was enrolled. But when I actually take the time to think about everything I have been through, I realize that I have indeed had an excellent education. My schooling was full of opportunities and experiences, all of which contributed to the person I am today; adequate education has been an indispensable facet of my being. Sadly, not everyone has had this same privilege. And now as a college student, I am becoming even more aware of this sad fact. Looking around me in such a diverse city as Chicago, I find myself being more and more grateful. When I read Jonathan Kozol's Fremont High School, this these
In the novel, “A Hope in the Unseen” written by Ron Suskind explains the journey of Cedric Jennings from the Inner City to the Ivy League. Throughout his journey Cedric Jennings has had to navigate many challenges first at Ballou High School, then MIT in the summer, and finally at Brown University. During his High school career at Ballou he received many backlash from his peers because of his devotion to his studies. In Ballou High School, “the school’s dropout/transfer rate at nearly 50 percent, it’s understandable that kids at Ballou act as though they’re just passing through”(Suskind 3) but not Cedric. He had a determination like no other to succeed academically where he would often stay after to finish his homework and work on SAT practice
Everybody loves a good success story. When the underdog, usually a lower class high school age student, defies the odds and comes out on top, beating his circumstances to get where nobody thinks he should go, everyone goes crazy for it. So crazy that Hollywood gets in on the act, with movie productions such as The Blind Side, Life of A King, and Slum Dog Millionaire. Sadly, these stories are not commonplace, in fact, they are very few and far between. More often than not, students from lower class families struggle to get by, as a result putting school to the back burner. Less than 75% of students in lower income households graduate high school, and even fewer go onto college (http://nces.ed.gov). From this group, excuses began to come out, the main reason underlies them all; they have become a product of their circumstance. The position they were in restrained them, forcing only one path, a
Daniel Golden throughout his book argues that the nation's most exclusive colleges (primarily the Ivy Leagues) Require some sort of hook to be admitted for most students leaving many students who deserve to get in behind because they are not the children of rich parents, a celebrity’s child or celebrity themselves, a legacy of a long running family, an athlete in patrican sports, or it can come down to being a race that is not popular among exclusive schools. Golden presents all of these arguments in an accurate manner with statistics and quotes from a wide variety of people and with that offers a strong argument and while very competent is not without its faults. No one person's opinion can be withouts its success and faults in the eyes
The author felt very strongly about the need to get rid of exclusive preference for legacies or other special qualities in students that did not relate to academic achievement. Golden felt strongly about this matter when was writing for The Wall Street Journal. He had done a lot of research and discovered how dishonest Ivy League schools were being in their acceptance process. He interviewed many people, and sympathized with the intelligent students who did not get into their college of choice because they weren’t financially or socially satisfactory for the school. Many of the rich he tried to contact refused an interview, which Golden proves as their embarrassment to how they were admitted. He has many suggestions to help improve how Ivy League schools can better their acceptance process.
When the committee chooses the applicants that they want, they choose kids with very unique qualities. They have to stand out from others and be well rounded; basically be perfect in the university eyes. Those kids would be described as stereotypical ultra-high achieving elite college students or in James Atlas words “Super People”. William Deresiewicz shared his own personal experience about being in the Ivy Leagues in his article. “These enviable youngsters appear to be the winners in the race we have made of childhood”, said Deresiewicz. He watched many of his students on campus and realized that the reality is different. The elite education system has students who are smart and driven but also students who are insecure and clueless to their purpose in this world. They are great at what they do but they don’t really know why they are doing it. Many students hide behind this façade and hide their fears, anxiety or depression. It’s very unhealthy, but they will do whatever they have to do to succeed. The students are terrified of failing, it’s very scary and they can’t take that risk because it could jeopardize their future. Some students leave the Ivy League schools because they felt as if the environment was stifling their soul. They want to experience getting a real education and live life to the
Starting in high school, students are not given equal opportunities to excel because of family background. Furthermore, the admissions process itself has its flaws—legacies, minorities, and athletes are being chosen over exceptionally gifted valedictorians. Even after college, the problems do not end; possible joblessness and student debt are unavoidable. On top of these major problems, educators and parents continue to convince kids everywhere that college is the only option to become successful, and choosing another path is heavily looked down upon. The newest generation’s life is centered around the climax of college while at the same time, more and more students are unable to attend universities because of cost or rejection, but this is a paradox. The more high schoolers work hard, the more high schoolers will get turned down to their dream schools, and the more the college admissions process effectively become a lottery, leading to “many highly talented, brilliant, creative people thinking they’re not” (Robinson). The widespread college problem has no easy fix, nor does it have a single solution. Rather than working to fix the unfixable, adults must stop putting such emphasis on the college pathway, and instead stress that there are other options. The future of the job world is unknown; there is no way to know if an expensive college education is the right choice. College, with all of its flaws, is just one option in preparing for the future; it is not necessarily the best. Therefore, the single word, “college,” should stop dividing the academic from the non-academic or the successful from the unsuccessful, and instead be considered a single path in an array of worthy
Growing up in the inner city of Los Angeles taught me many things; make sure you’re inside before the street lights come on, never wear all red or blue, and make sure you get a good education so that one day you can leave the inner city behind. I was fortunate enough to have both a mother and a father who stressed the importance of excelling academically because attending an inner city, LA county, public school did not instill a love of academics in myself or my peers. Our teachers had checked out, the curriculum was not inspiring or relatable, and everyday there was yet another fight happening during recess. As time went on I witnessed my classmates and I take completely different paths. The strong support system I had at home proved effective. As I went on to go to college, many of my peers dropped out, the dismal state of our public school system had clearly failed them. During my undergraduate studies, the stories of my old classmates did not leave my mind.
“It’s not my fault, but it is my future.” This statement was a common theme throughout Jullien Gordon’s talk, ‘The Other 4.0’. I attended Jullien Gordon’s presentation last Thursday, and with full confidence I can say that it was one of the most inspiring, as well as informative, speeches I have ever heard. He talked to us about, how having a 4.0 GPA is wonderful and certainly honorable, but in the real world no one is going to care about how perfect your GPA was in Undergraduate and Graduate school. Professionals hiring you for jobs are going to care about your accomplishments outside of the classroom as well. While I was sitting listening to Gordon speak, I couldn’t help but notice that it was ironic that I was attending this presentation
From the likes of Pythagoras to Johann Sebastian Bach and Albert Einstein to Danny Carey; generations of mathematicians and musicians have proven that music and mathematics have a common symmetry. Consequently, most of the research I have conducted on the subject suggests that music composers and mathematicians are both one in the same. Consider folks such as, Eugenia Cheng a mathematician who is also concert pianist; Milton Babbitt a mathematician, musician and philosopher; Iannis Xenakis who is credited for writing the preverbal book on formalized music and of course Albert Einstein a physicist and pianist. Then contemplate a more modern musical mathematic engineer, Danny Carey, rouge mathematician now drummer in the renowned band Tool.