Harrison McConnell / Staff Reporter
In this article “Amanda Gao – From Nothing to Everything” I have learned that you can be drowing in defeat and hatred to becoming extremely successful and having lots of worth.
The knowledge that I gained from reading this article involve; resilience, support, perspectives, inspiration and communities.
Firstly, resilience: In this article, Amanda had experienced a traumatic event, known as the Tangshan earthquake. Amanda managed to survive the earthquake and was eventually able to become very successful. What this can teach students is to be resilient and overcome challenges in their own lives. It can teach me to always be resilient when searching for information on my own blog posts. It can teach me how to do better in my news articles.
Support: Students always need support in one way or another, if it be tutoring to staying consistent in their work habits. Students can take this advice from the article and put it into their own lives. This can be with searching for support for help in a certain subject. What I can learn from this is that I can be supportive to my peers, vice versa. I can also ask my teacher for help as they are always very supportive.
Perspectives: There are often many different ways of looking at things in life. Just because you get a bad grade or even fail miserably on a test or exam, it does not define what type of student you are or what you are going to be like in your future. Students can take this adivce and now be in a perspective where they see setbacks as a growth opportunity. What I can take away from this in my blog posts is that I can learn from my mistakes and grow with my knowledge.
Inpiration and Communities: In the article, Amanda and her sister after the earthquake were being helped out by the government with government assistance through money and donations, afterwords Amanda and her sister became very successful. This can teach students about how community support is important, and that desipite facing hardships you can still reach your goals with determination. I can use inspiration to help me with my blog posts. I can be a self motivator and help myself be better at what I do.
In the article by Zubtsova “Elder Interview: 4 Generations Behind” Zubtsova talks about how their great grandma had endured a tough life through poverty. She went through many different circumstances, she witnessed bombings, food shortages and he devistation of her homeland during WW2. The story highlights the importance of adaptablility, family support, and the importance of appreciating what you have.
This can teach students a lot about the way of school and how to manage their time. Adaptability is very important for students in the fact that they have to adapt to the different ways of how their teachers teach, they also have to learn how to adapt to different ways of doing work. The next example is about family support. I can use this by being able to adapt to the different ways that my teacher wants me to finish assignments.
Family is very important, in the story the grandmother had immense care for her siblings in an underground basement, this shows the strength of family ties. Students can learn from this by helping eachother out when they are struggling in a certain subject of life senario. I have an will continue to use family for help with my schooling. My parents have been through school already and my brother is a year older than me, so I have more than enough family support and bonds to help me with my schooling.
Students often take what they have in school for granted, like having free schooling in Canada or the things they have access to while in school. In the story the grandmother shows how she really accepts what she had and how to use it to her advantage. In the story she had to make due by eating raw potato skins and occasionally using them as fish bait. This demonstrates how she is accepting of the limited food sources and using it to her advantage. She also has a lot of gratitude which ties in to acceptance, in one example she was offered a chocolate bar from a German soldier, even though she was sure if it was safe to eat she accepted it with gratitude. What I can take away from this is that I need to be more grateful about what I have in my life and use it to my advantage to better my school work.
This article “The Importance of Continuing to Learn and Act – My Grandpa” replays the life of Mineo Kushiro. In his early days he assisted his father who was a farmer in picking peaches, grapes and later strawberries.
The story tells students about personal growt and setting personal goals, balancing your career, and dedication.
After Mineo’s retirement he was still active in courses related to Buddhism and poetry. This signifies that he was still interested in his personal growth. He also shows that there is importance in making personal goals and persuing them. Students learn from this by knowing that for your whole life you can still have a sense of purpose and direction even after you retire or are dedicated to a job. What I can take away from this is being able to create goals for myself and be able to understand personal growth better. I can learn that there is always ways to improve myself and the environment I live in.
Balancing your career with life is often not someones first priority when they settle on a career. Mineo went from farming with his father in Kushiro to persuing a career in banking after going to Keio University and having a family. This can teach students that, yes you can be very dedicated to persuing your career and working very hard to get it. You can still live life and make a happy medium between the two. I learned from this that I need to enjoy life while still being able to persue my career.
Dedication in this story is present as the grandfather after he had went to Tokyo to go to University, this indicates his dedication to getting a career. Students can learn from this by knowing that you have to be dedicated to finishing school or university.
These three stories can tell students a lot about how to get through school successfully and efficiently. The elders in these stories have gone through much and many more struggling times in their life than us. I think that what we should take away from these stories is to be grateful for the things you have, have dedication and inspiration to help you through your schooling, and you should always recognize that your family is there to help you out when you are struggling. We should also analyze our problems with different perspectives to understand how we can overcome them.
Sources