No Nonsense Attitude Equals Educational Success
No Nonsense Attitude Equals Educational Success
In the NY Times essay “The Very Long Road to Graduation” Ginia Bellafonte profiles the life and educational journey of a community college student named Vladimir de Jesus. Vladimir is currently attending LaGuardia Community College with great aspirations of bettering his life by attaining an associate’s degree and eventually earning his bachelors at Hunter College. Many Challenges in his life have hindered his progress, from the premature death of his mother to becoming a teenaged parent. Bellafonte has written her essay that at face value seems to indicate that de Jesus is a courageous and determined young man but I have to admit I’m skeptical. My skepticism stems from my no nonsense attitude and my own experiences with adversity with my educational journey which has not been easy for me either, my views of de Jesus are quite different. While I can see how losing a parent and becoming a teenaged parent while coming from an unstable household can delay the progress of a student’s education it shouldn’t be a deciding factor. A student who is truly courageous and determined to become all he can be would turn those bumps in the road into motivational tools. Students like de Jesus who let things drag on for six years are procrastinators who believe that they are motivated to make great changes in their life but fail to come through in the clutch. Mr. de Jesus is a perfect example of a self-imposed struggling artist who makes excuses in his life and lets challenges overcome his spirit. His statement in which he expresses his feelings about the remedial class here at LaGuardia called Math 96 is evidence of this: “This whole thing with math just hits your spirit in the wrong way, it demolishes your spirit. You become lazy” (4). Overcoming this type of adversity for someone who has a true desire to succeed wouldn’t be a problem and that person would find a way to make it work instead of wasting time
In the NY Times essay “The Very Long Road to Graduation” Ginia Bellafonte profiles the life and educational journey of a community college student named Vladimir de Jesus. Vladimir is currently attending LaGuardia Community College with great aspirations of bettering his life by attaining an associate’s degree and eventually earning his bachelors at Hunter College. Many Challenges in his life have hindered his progress, from the premature death of his mother to becoming a teenaged parent. Bellafonte has written her essay that at face value seems to indicate that de Jesus is a courageous and determined young man but I have to admit I’m skeptical. My skepticism stems from my no nonsense attitude and my own experiences with adversity with my educational journey which has not been easy for me either, my views of de Jesus are quite different. While I can see how losing a parent and becoming a teenaged parent while coming from an unstable household can delay the progress of a student’s education it shouldn’t be a deciding factor. A student who is truly courageous and determined to become all he can be would turn those bumps in the road into motivational tools. Students like de Jesus who let things drag on for six years are procrastinators who believe that they are motivated to make great changes in their life but fail to come through in the clutch. Mr. de Jesus is a perfect example of a self-imposed struggling artist who makes excuses in his life and lets challenges overcome his spirit. His statement in which he expresses his feelings about the remedial class here at LaGuardia called Math 96 is evidence of this: “This whole thing with math just hits your spirit in the wrong way, it demolishes your spirit. You become lazy” (4). Overcoming this type of adversity for someone who has a true desire to succeed wouldn’t be a problem and that person would find a way to make it work instead of wasting time