I remember specifically the moment I decided to become a Philosophy major. It was at the College of San Mateo where I was trying to complete the requirements for transfer to a UC system as a Computer Science major. I knew that higher education was important but I couldn’t understand my disinterest in the field of study I was in. After completing another aimless semester, I decided to take classes other than my intended major. The introduction to philosophy class taught by Professor David Danielson is one that opened my passion towards argument, logic, and learning. It was there and then, after I finished analyzing the second chapter of Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy Of The Oppressed, that I realized that this was it. This passion and drive for learning and understanding philosophy brought me to change my major and end up as a student at the Philosophy department at UCI.
While Philosophy is in itself an interesting subject, a huge part of my passion was brought about by the amazingly inspiring teachers I’ve had in my life. This extends from the brilliant professors I’ve had at UCI and other colleges, to the amazing and caring teachers I’ve had at the K-12 level. Of course, there are also the other teachers who weren’t as creative and inspiring but nevertheless, allowed for me to assess and compare which helped me to learn better. I believe that it was in trying to understand the differences of teachers and teaching styles that that led me to taking education classes at UCI, as well as volunteering for programs like Humanities Out There, the Shalimar Teen Center, and substitute teaching.
The classes I took at the Education Department at UCI for my education minor were fantastic as they allowed for understanding of different problems of education and differing sides to how to teach. The first class I took with Professor Thurston Domina allowed me to see education as more than just teacher and student interaction. It allowed me to realize that other factors like socio-economic inequality, environment, and politics differ heavily from one school to the next. Professor Valerie Hall helped me to understand the difference between information getting and actual understanding when it comes to teaching students by providing different ideas and elements one can use in an actual class setting.
Trying to understanding education theory via the psychological, sociological, biological, and philosophical is vastly important but I believe it is important also to have the experience of being an observer as well as a guide in learning how to teach. My experiences as a substitute teacher in the public school are important as they allow me to observe classroom behavior and my affect on students. I do recognize, though, that being a substitute teacher is only a tiny glimpse of what actual teaching is like but being in a classroom as a guide is a much more real than it is discussing about it in theory. The experiences help me to become more comfortable in the classroom setting, but I feel I still need to learn more before I fully dive into teaching.
The MAT program at UCI is the best choice for me as I know for certain that the faculty in the Education Department are amazingly brilliant and also have a passion for their specific studies. I am also very interested in the public schools in the Orange County area, specifically in disparity of wealth between districts and schools as well as the effects of budget cuts. I want to do research to observe the differences between the public schools in the Orange County area and to perhaps contribute to world of education. However, I realize that I don’t have parameter or guidance as to what I am doing and I believe I would be able to fine tune the research with the help of the brilliant minds at UCI. I want to make a difference, but in order to do so properly, I feel it is imperative that I prepare myself properly and be able to learn as much as I can first. I don’t know if I am cut out to be a teacher, but I am defiantly willing to put myself out there to learn and to experience.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
A subject turned observer. Rather, a subject-observer-interacter. That is what I want to become. My formal education, beginning with Kindergarten to when I walked on stage to graduate with a B.A. in Philosophy and minor in Educational Studies this past Fall, has led me to realize that I’ve only been a subject of education. That is, I’ve been taught to, but I have never before really taught others nor have I observed the process of teaching formally. My parents and teachers continually reminded me that education has importance and value and I wonder how far I would have gotten in my educational career had it not been for that realization. I wonder at times how students who aren’t blessed with wonderful parents like mine and equally devoted teachers come to that realization. Perhaps they don’t. One can't do anything about a student's familial situation, but one does have the opportunity to affect these same students in school and to impart in them the joy and rewards of learning. I, however, don't see education as a "banking system" as Paolo Frier advocates against in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I don't believe that teachers are sole retainers of information and that students are just merely waiting to be filled with information. Rather, students need to learn how to learn with what information they are given with teachers as guides. This takes as much discipline from the students as well as the teacher. Why do I want to get into the MAT program? I believe that the MAT program would help me to become a better guide versus being either a disciplinarian or a mere repository of information. I want to also be able to understand the structures and ideas behind modern educational theories and formulate my own based on the theories.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Perceptions and being good
Instead of commenting on why there hasn't been an update since last year, I will continue to just write.
Yesterday, I met with the Chairman of L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Johnson Kam. My uncle-in-law, who came from China just about a little over a month ago with my aunt and her two kids, was looking for a job and so another relative set up a meeting with what I thought was the manager of the L&L near my house.
I went along with him because he pretty much does not know an ounce of english and was applying for a job as a cook and he needed a ride and possibly a translator. We get there and we end up meeting the man, who spoke Cantonese and English quite well, but it seemed to be quite an informal meeting as everyone was wearing street clothes and he seemed to talk to me more.
What he ended up saying was that he can give my uncle a job, but he would not be training in the store that we were in. The condition was, if my uncle wanted to work for L&L, that he would need to come with the manager to Hawaii for a month to train directly as he felt the people in the store would not train him well enough. The manager stated he will pay for the plane ticket, the housing, as well as food while he was in Hawaii.
I, being the skeptic and not really knowing who this man was, felt that this man was a bit on the sketchy side. Who was he to make such an offer for fully paid training for a month in HAWAII? He has never met my Uncle-in-law prior to this and I wasn't sure of what my Aunt's relationship to this person was. The guy even asked me if I was interested in being a manager of a store. Suffice to say, we had to think about it and consider with family and the man was more than willing to comply. He offered his personal number and told us to give him a call... and that was the meeting.
I went home to look up who he was and lo and behold, he was the co-owner of the entire franchise. With just knowing that, my level of skepticism was almost disappeared. But I wondered why he would do this for someone he doesn't even know. I'm sure he knows the situation that my uncle-in-law is in and he is willing to provide him with a great opportunity. While it isn't a managerial job or some kind of top notch executive career, I still think that such a job is respectable. My aunt and uncle-in-law must have come to the US believing that the opportunity will be better for their two kids in spite of the burden on them for not knowing the language or the culture. It is very taxing and trying for us to have to cater to their family, we have to remind ourselves that they are family and that we were once like them. I just hope they really are willing to put in the effort.
But back to the topic. This Johnson Kam really does seem to be a genuinely nice guy and it doesn't seem to me like he has any hidden agendas. I wonder that if I were successful as he, would I be willing to do so much for someone else? Would I still be able to relate to the people or would I end up being a stuck-up jerk? Then again, this supposes that I will be successful in the future.
Perception is a strange thing. In looking for a mate, (typically) we would first chose to talk to the gorgeous looking person rather than the pot-marked wall flower from across the room. People may seem skeevy or nice in outward appearance of mannerisms and through conversions, but how much information do we need in order to truly find out? This line of thinking, however, proposes that people are only one singular attitude/belief/behavior. Who are we to say that people are not a multitude of different emotions and feelings during different times? But if we were a multitude and can be different things all the time, where is the consistency? How can we believe in other people if they change their agendas and personal philosophies and beliefs all the time? Perhaps having relationships with others is about this balance between these two sides and judging for ourselves which to keep and which to change. Some might not do it as well as others, but then again, there are not really any guidelines. There may be ideas that many people believe, like the trustworthyness of a person as his beliefs and behaviors are consistent and the opposite for those who seem erratic. We can never be in the minds of other and thus, cannot know how they feel about us. But we know some things that people socially agree on. Deciding for ourselves how we want to portray ourselves is the only control we have... even if our portrayal by others cannot be controlled.
That was a strange segway. But do expect more.
Yesterday, I met with the Chairman of L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Johnson Kam. My uncle-in-law, who came from China just about a little over a month ago with my aunt and her two kids, was looking for a job and so another relative set up a meeting with what I thought was the manager of the L&L near my house.
I went along with him because he pretty much does not know an ounce of english and was applying for a job as a cook and he needed a ride and possibly a translator. We get there and we end up meeting the man, who spoke Cantonese and English quite well, but it seemed to be quite an informal meeting as everyone was wearing street clothes and he seemed to talk to me more.
What he ended up saying was that he can give my uncle a job, but he would not be training in the store that we were in. The condition was, if my uncle wanted to work for L&L, that he would need to come with the manager to Hawaii for a month to train directly as he felt the people in the store would not train him well enough. The manager stated he will pay for the plane ticket, the housing, as well as food while he was in Hawaii.
I, being the skeptic and not really knowing who this man was, felt that this man was a bit on the sketchy side. Who was he to make such an offer for fully paid training for a month in HAWAII? He has never met my Uncle-in-law prior to this and I wasn't sure of what my Aunt's relationship to this person was. The guy even asked me if I was interested in being a manager of a store. Suffice to say, we had to think about it and consider with family and the man was more than willing to comply. He offered his personal number and told us to give him a call... and that was the meeting.
I went home to look up who he was and lo and behold, he was the co-owner of the entire franchise. With just knowing that, my level of skepticism was almost disappeared. But I wondered why he would do this for someone he doesn't even know. I'm sure he knows the situation that my uncle-in-law is in and he is willing to provide him with a great opportunity. While it isn't a managerial job or some kind of top notch executive career, I still think that such a job is respectable. My aunt and uncle-in-law must have come to the US believing that the opportunity will be better for their two kids in spite of the burden on them for not knowing the language or the culture. It is very taxing and trying for us to have to cater to their family, we have to remind ourselves that they are family and that we were once like them. I just hope they really are willing to put in the effort.
But back to the topic. This Johnson Kam really does seem to be a genuinely nice guy and it doesn't seem to me like he has any hidden agendas. I wonder that if I were successful as he, would I be willing to do so much for someone else? Would I still be able to relate to the people or would I end up being a stuck-up jerk? Then again, this supposes that I will be successful in the future.
Perception is a strange thing. In looking for a mate, (typically) we would first chose to talk to the gorgeous looking person rather than the pot-marked wall flower from across the room. People may seem skeevy or nice in outward appearance of mannerisms and through conversions, but how much information do we need in order to truly find out? This line of thinking, however, proposes that people are only one singular attitude/belief/behavior. Who are we to say that people are not a multitude of different emotions and feelings during different times? But if we were a multitude and can be different things all the time, where is the consistency? How can we believe in other people if they change their agendas and personal philosophies and beliefs all the time? Perhaps having relationships with others is about this balance between these two sides and judging for ourselves which to keep and which to change. Some might not do it as well as others, but then again, there are not really any guidelines. There may be ideas that many people believe, like the trustworthyness of a person as his beliefs and behaviors are consistent and the opposite for those who seem erratic. We can never be in the minds of other and thus, cannot know how they feel about us. But we know some things that people socially agree on. Deciding for ourselves how we want to portray ourselves is the only control we have... even if our portrayal by others cannot be controlled.
That was a strange segway. But do expect more.
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