Chris Jordan

Chris Jordan is an amazing artist. He is extremely creative with how he puts together his artwork. How he puts his images together is very intriguing. In my opinion I believe that if he were to be a teacher he would be an amazing teacher if he were to teach his students through artwork. The information that he provides us with through how his work is created is astonishing.  The facts that are captured under the photos are quite interesting. Who would have guessed that from a far distance his artwork is created with cigarettes, bottle caps and words. He is an extremely talented man.

With how he presents his work is very empowering. What I exactly mean by that is that he makes learning about facts interesting. His explaining and providing information to his viewers are incredible. When it comes to learning about fact many people become board and not interested. How he teachers through artwork keeps his viewers interested and it also keeps us wanting to continue to view his other artwork and by doing that we are learning additional facts without even being aware of it.

This book really opens up my eyes to what the world have become and how our technology and resources are somewhat ruining us. As the book states on page 25, “ Over 20 million people have died in wars since World War II”. What is sad about these deaths is that they were caused because the war that they were involved in were fighting to obtain control over resources regarding forestland, cropland, oil, coal and minerals. There are ancient diseases that are re-emerging and has killed 20 million people worldwide. Back in 1997 there was no vaccine for H4N1, which is a type of flu virus, and now we have vaccines for people to help prevent them from getting infected. We have come a long way with our technology.

It is quite disgusting how humans take advantage of others. Regarding slavery, people decided that the slaves were no longer valuable because there were machines that were made that will get the work done instead of the slaves. It is great that the slaves were set free, but just viewing how people treat different ethnicities is disgusting. With all of the actions that we are doing and using up all of our resources like there is no tomorrow is killing our planet and ourselves. People do not look at the long-term effects of what our actions may cause. 

What should the college and students do??

Given what Josh and other students are saying here…

1. What should college do about that?
• Make a change and address the issues.
• Provide additional resources for transportation.
• Make it easier to take classes that are in our major.


2. What should students do?
• Make their voice’s be heard.
• Put more effort into studying and do not procrastinate.
• Work as a team.

Passion Project

Passion Project

What defines passion to you? Passion is something that makes you happy,

something that makes you want to get up in the morning and just do it like it is

second nature to you. Passion is what makes you have that drive to pursue what you

love. When you love to do something you will never feel like you are being forced to

do anything or wish that you were somewhere else. If you are doing something that

you are passionate about you will be excited to get up and do it every chance you

get. Only thing that is relevant to you is if you are happy. Of course money is a factor

but that is not what drives you or what makes you happy about what you are doing.

Some people’s passion is to be able to help people or travel the world. Whatever it

is, passion is what makes you as a whole. You take pride in what you do. Not only

does it make you happy but also you will fully enjoy doing it. You could be making

all the money in the world but hate your “job”. Another factor in knowing that you

found your passion is that you would rarely what you do as a job or work because

your passion is what you love to do like a hobby. Using the work job or work sounds

like that is what you are forced to do to be able to pay bills and survive.

As we become adults and have responsibilities to take care of we tend to get

caught up in the work life and start to loss what we are passionate about if we

haven’t already done so. Most of us are taught that money makes the world go

round, which I do believe is true to a certain extent. Money does make things easier

and less stressful, but sometimes what you are doing to make that money is

something that you absolutely hate doing. So is it worth it? People are not always

able to give up their job to find their passion because for the most part they have

people relying on them to bring that money in to help pay for bills. You passion may

not always be a field that you make any money in, so you have to ask yourself. Do I

want to make money and do something that I dislike or do I want to do something

that I have a great passion for but make no money? Either way you are kind of in a

lose lose situation. Yes you will be making money but you will most likely not care

for your job. You will be financial stable and not have to worry about how you are

going to pay for the bills because you are in the need or money. Instead of worrying

about how you’re going to pay for your expenses wouldn’t you want to worry about

where you’re going to plan your next vacation? Money does make life a bit less

stressful financially. On the other hand you could do and have your passion but you

have no to hardly any money but you will be doing something you absolutely love

doing. Now you are doing something you love to do and have no problem doing but

where are you going to get the money you need to pay for bills, to support your self,

your family? Sometimes you have to ask yourself, what is more worth it? Would you

rather work and make good money and not have to stress about financial or would

you want to do your passion and maybe having financial difficulties?

Why is our generation known as the silent one? Are we not speaking our

mind? Are we not letting the world what we want, what makes us happy? We need

to let our voices be heard. We cannot sit back and hope that someone “nice” will

come and listen to us. If we want to be heard we have to make ourselves be heard. If

we are so passionate about having the world hear us why do they not hear us?

Maybe we are speaking out but it just may be to the wrong crowd. We need to

become more involved with what is going on with the community. Find the right

hear to have our voices be heard. We cannot be known as the silent ones, we need to

be remembered as the generation who made a change, who set everything different,

who set expectations different and to have higher standards. Some say that passion

is just a childhood fairytale. Why is that? Is it because it is difficult to obtain and

people believe that it is more unlikely to actually happen? Then again why are we

letting society tell us what is obtainable and what is not. That should be our decision

and nobody else’s. Sure some may have it easier than others but we all have the

same opportunities. We can all make our dreams come true.

Students should be the main participants who critique education. We are the

ones who pay for our education so we should definitely have a say in what we are

investing in. just about everyone who has a passion is required to have a degree to

achieve his or her passion. Nothing in life comes easy. Some obstacles might be less

challenging than others but there will always be a challenge. One of the biggest

challenges are you. You have to get in your head that anything and everything is

possible and not to let anyone tell you differently. When you go to school you will

have some awesome professors and others that are not but it is up to you to make

the best out of the situation. You cannot play the blaming game on why you did not

understand or why you didn’t pass a class. Yes the professor may have not been the

best at teaching but you have to always be the best at learning. Again everything is

challenging and some are more than others but everything is obtainable when you

set your mind to it.

With anything that you do in life you should always be ready to critique it.

You critique it to see what can be improved. Never settle for less and never get

comfortable of the position that your in. you can always be doing better so in

general be ready to critique. When it comes to critiquing something that you are

passionate about you should have no second guess as to question if you should be

critiquing it. Of course you should, especially if you are investing your money into

your education. With the government continuing to make budget cuts and classes

are becoming more and more difficult to get into you make sure that you are getting

100% of what you are paying for. Follow your heart to see what makes you happy

and enjoy life and you have then found your passion.

Tuning the Voice

Passion is an intense emotion filled with enthusiasm and or a desire for anything.

Does the word passion and college coincide with one another? In “Tuning the voice”

students show the exact opposite of passion for school. Their actions show no interest,

zoned out, tired and utterly complete boredom. Students are surfing the web, playing

video games on their computer, listening to music, texting, eating and drinking trying to

distract their selves from falling asleep and when all that fails they fall asleep in class.

Why is this? Maybe because they signed up for a discussion class but the professor

turned the class into a lecture hall. Students would like to be able to interact with one

another instead of the professor directly reading from the text. For example, in the

documentary the students feel as if the professor is solving a math equation more so for

their selves instead of trying to explain the math problem and have the students solve it

together.


Does college motivate students to have a passion for school? Students are feeling

defeated by school. Not having enough classes available and book prices that are

completely outrageous. It’s not that people do not want to complete school but it is all of

the complications of getting in school and trying to continue and be successful in school.

Students feel as if they are being set up for failure from the very beginning. Students are

trying to add into classes that are overfilled. People are standing in the doorway, sitting

on the floor and standing in the back of the class hoping that they will get be able to add

into the class. There should be enough classes for students to pick from especially if we

are paying to attend school. Money plays a big part in society. People choose to attend

community college because it is suppose to be less of a financial burden on us. The

required textbooks are sometimes more expensive then to attend the class. For the most

part the professor doesn’t even use the textbook for assignments. Therefore, we feel that

we are throwing our money away on purchasing books that we are not even using.


Students continue to go to school to push for what they want to accomplish. Some

want to become a doctor to be able to give back to people and help the ones in need.

Others feel that they are forced to continue school. If people had a class that was

interesting to them they would look forward to going to class rather than when they are at

class they are wishing that they were anywhere other than school. Students love it when

the professor actually takes the students interest into consideration and have discussions

with the class instead of only lecturing.


We all are different from our ethnic, economic and social background. At school

you can see all of the different ethnicities buy looking at one another, but in order to

really see what people deal with you have to visit their community where they live. Many

students deal with the hardship of trying to balance their family life with work and

school. Some students have to work more than one job to survive, and others do not have

to work at all. People deal with violence in their community daily. You see people

dealing drugs, hanging out on corners, gangs and death. All of this happens in student’s

lives but they do not let this stop them from trying to pursue their education. There is one

goal that we all have in common and that is to finish school.


Everyone’s daily life is very common. Just about bout all of us deal with the

struggle of work, school and transportation. We all do not get the proper hours of sleep.

The lack of sleep come from going to work, going to school and then doing homework.

Many students rely on financial aid to help pay for transportation, food, rents, and living

expenses. A good portion of the time financial aid comes in late towards the end of the

semester and or the financial aid does not cover all of the expenses. People will skip

meals because of money. Students have to choose if they rather finish their homework for

class of get some sleep. The lack of sleep put a great toll on your body. The lack of sleep

will cause you immune system to weaken which leads to becoming sick which then leads

to making the daily life more difficult to push through. Sometime we become extremely

stressed out with everything and we feel overwhelmed that sometimes people then give

up and drop out of classes and then eventually drop out of school completely. Students

feel as if each of their professors assign them workloads as if they are their only class that

they have to worry about.


If students work together as a team the group projects would be more appealing.

Many students hates it when the professor assigns a group project because we always feel

like we would be able to do it good by ourselves and we wouldn’t have to worry about

anyone not contributing to the project. Instead of everyone working together when it

comes to a group project, each person does a portion of a section and then puts it all

together at the end. If everyone had the time to join an extra curricular activity I believe

that it would really teach people how to work as a team and can use that skill in daily life.

When budget cuts are being made they go straight for the extra activities such as sports or

clubs. These extra activities are what help students push to continue doing well in

school and helps as a stress reliever. In order for everyone to succeed, we all need to

build and work together to help motivate one another.

Passion

PASSION

Why do some students have a lack of passion?
• Does not have any motivation.
• Have not been taught to follow what makes you happy and not only money.
• Some students feel that they are forced to be in school.
How does it feel to be without passion?
• Hopeless
• Confused
• Worthless
• Unknown
How might a person go about finding their passion?
• Explore to see what you enjoy.
• Influence others.
• To know the purpose of your actions.
What should a person do once they find their passion?
• Pursue it.
• Engage fully into their passion.
• Never give up on what makes you happy.

My Dream School

                                             

The dream school

When would you ever think of school as paradise? Then again what is paradise?

Paradise is a place of the “higher up”, a place that is relaxing and magical. Why not

make school a place of paradise for people to look forward to. Walking into a “school”

where it is always nice and warm, has a beautiful landscape with palm trees hanging

giving you shade to sit under and read. Hearing birds chirp flying from tree to tree.  As

Samira states in The Passion Project, “Community college is technically one of the

avenues where you are able to explore. With this being said Community college should

be the least stress school to attend sense this it the route we should be able to

experiment to see what makes us happy. We all enjoy being at a place where it is

relaxing and stress free. Instead of students dreading of the thought to go to school, we

can make school as an outlet to get away from everything else. When students look

forward to going to school they will make more of effort to always be at class and never

miss a day. They will also want to spend more time at school such as taking the time to

study and interact with others. With this everyone will have a better outcome with

grades and pursuing their passion and careers that they dream to achieve. Being in an

atmosphere that is relaxing, joyful, enjoyable, and warming is a perfect place to be

when you are trying to accomplish what you love to do.


Imagine being at a school where there is open space to clear your mind, glass

walls so you do not feel confined within the walls and everything that you can possibly

need to be right there on campus. There will be all types of food on campus and it will

be for free. There will be free on campus housing and the option of off house family

housing if you have a family and it will also be free. Coming to this paradise dream

school you will have no need to have to work. If you want to work that is an option up to

you but there it will not be necessary. Everything regarding school will be open 24 hours

to accommodate everyone. There will be transportation available if you want to visit

your family, friends or to just go on an adventure. The on campus housing will be

extremely elegant and the design will be of a tall skyscraper, holding of 50 stories. There

will be an on campus gym with a pool and Jacuzzi and a spa to continue to relax. For

people who like to get pampered there will be nail salons available as well as hair salons

and barbers. School should be a place where people love to be so why not have

everything you love on campus for you. There will be a petting zoo on campus as well.

Some people find joy and peace with being with animals so why not have every option

possible to accommodate everyone on campus. The more that you are less stressed and

more focused on what you love to do and you know the steps to accomplish your

dreams the more successful you will be. You will be able to absorb and retain more

when you are less stressed because you can have your mind focused on one thing

instead of your mind constantly wondering around regarding other stuff. With the

luxury of not having to work you will be able to fully focus on school instead of worrying

about working so much to be able to pay for bills. The whole goal of this school is to be

stress free, money plays a major part of stress for people.

When we were all younger in grade school we would be excited to go on field

trips. The most exciting thing about it is that we would be able to get out of the

classroom and be able to go somewhere else that to be at school. We would go to see a

play or to a museum. Everything is still educational but it is not held within a classroom.

Why not make school like a field trip everyday when you’re at school. The best and most

effective way students learn is when they are having fun. When getting reading for

exams the class can have a game of jeopardy. The main concept is to make school fun.

One of my personal school subjects that are the least interesting to me would have to

be history. I am not sure if it’s the actual concept about history or its how the course is

being taught. Field trips would definitely be a requirement for the history classes. Who

wouldn’t want to actually go to the Great Wall of China and learn about it there rather

than reading a book. Going to Big Ben or the Eiffel tower would be of what some

students dream about doing. History is always more interesting to be educated about

when you are there and reliving what went on in the past. With having all of these extra

activities with the class make them even more appealing to students to have to desire

to learn.


When students complete school I want them to feel like they got everything

possible out of school. My main concern is that when people feel like they wasted their

time with going to school. As Ray states, “If a teacher can be motivational we can feel

successful even after failing”. With this being said, if the teacher is passionate about

teaching and love to help their students they will be able to make their students be able

to take every good and bad situation into a learning experience. When you “fail” at

something it does not necessarily intend that you are a failure or was not successful at

attempting it, but it simply indicates that you are suppose to redo it or try to attempt it

at a different angle because you are missing something that you are suppose to be

getting out of it. When students attend my dream school I want them to feel as if all the

time they invested was well worth it. The dream school is a place where your dreams

become your reality. I want this school to be a school that everyone would love to

attend and once they get there that they would never want to leave. Everyone at the

school will be looked at as an equal. There will not be a division of classes between the

“gifted” students and the regular students. Everyone is in the same school and put in

the work to get where they are now therefore not one person is better than the other.

Schools tend to divide themselves by nationality, intelligence, community and goals.

Teachers and students should have more of an influence on the schools instead of

the school board. How our school system is set up has everyone separated. It can be

from major or from the “smart” classes and the not so gifted. What the teachers and

students can do differently is to become a whole instead of classifying everyone into

different groups. Schools can get more involved with the communities and just by that

and will bring everyone together.


Since students are the ones who are investing their time and money into their

education they should definitely play a major role in the school. As Jeff Bliss states “ If

you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a fricken packet”. There

are plenty of teachers that do exactly what Jeff Bliss teacher did, which is only handing

out packets instead of getting up and interacting with the students. This is exactly why

students will be the number one critic when it comes to school. When there are school

district meetings there should be students involved instead of only the teachers. If

teachers are so concerned about how they can be better and capture their student’s

attention they should ask the students directly instead of playing the guessing game and

then wonder why the issues are not being resolved. Students will have to ability to vote

for the option of a teacher to return the next academic year. Attending school is the

beginning of our future and we need people who care about our well-being and want to

best for us in life so we definitely need teachers who will invest themselves into us to

make sure we have a brighter future and for us to obtain our goals to be able to proceed

with our passion in life.


School should always have some sort of structure to be able to function

properly.  There will be an optional entry placement exam available to students to take.

What this exam will do is basically let you know what you like to do so you can take

classes that are enjoyable to you. The entry exam is not required but it will help the

students who feel lost as if they have no clue in what they want to do. In life we are

questioned at a young age, “what do you want to be when you grow up”. As Karina

states in the Passion Project, “Karina: My parents are like, “You should do this because

this is gonna they’re gonna give you this you’re gonna get that.” But that also makes me

fearful like okay so if I don’t do that will I like fucking die or something or will I like not

succeed in life? That makes me really scared like to fall into this path that has been

unexplored. Students are being pressured into a field or major that they have no

interest in because they are having all of this pressure from not only society, but their

own family. The question can sometimes confuse people and make choices harder on

them. People are pushed to be a doctor or lawyer because in society people look at

them as a higher social status. Many people will not hear, “ you should be a

photographer or a florist”. Why is that?  As Emily states in the Passion Project, “We still

have that mindset where we need money to survive. Oh, I have money I can buy a

plasma T.V. I can buy a uh a king size bed,  a water bed.” Because now a days people are

taught that you need money in this world to survive, and the more money you make the

happier you will be. This is partly true, money makes life a little easier but money does

not bring happiness to everyone. As Ray states in the Passion Project, “ Because we’re

kind of brainwashed to like want this because we think it leads to freedom ‘cause

eventually when we have money we have freedom. But then what ends up happening is

we never make enough money to have this freedom so what ends up happening is we

work a typical 40 hours a week. The same life everyday and it’s consistent too

consistent. Just kinda confines us you know to not have freedom.” Money does confuse

us and we do tend to believe the more money we have the more freedom because we

are able to do more when we have money. Now days if you do not have money you

really can’t do anything.


I do not want my student to feel like Samira did when she got out of school and

into the real world, as Samira states in the Passion Project, “When I finally got out into

the world I was like, “Holy crap is this what it’s like?” I want the students to be ready for

the world and to be able to take everything on with the tools to be able to take on the

challenging situations because there will be plenty. I want the students who attend my

school to walk away from this dream school with independence, self-esteem, strength,

fearless, ambitious, and to never give up. When the students leave the school I want

them to feel that they received the education and experience more than they expected

to receive. Some people’s passion involves no money in return of their actions and they

do not mind because they are doing something that they love to do. As Ray says in the

Passion Project, “In order to love life you have to find your passion; you have to find

what truly makes you happy and when you find what truly makes you happy you gotta

chase after it; you gotta take those risks.” What Ray says is completely true. In life we

tend not to take risks and venture out because we are comfortable of where we are

which leads us to not taking risks on what may make us happy. The main goal of having

students to attend this school is to be able to experience everything and find what truly

makes them happy in life for themselves and not for anyone else.