What is the value of education? Of universities and schooling and this abstract concept we like to term "higher education"? Several things have been happening recently that have me thinking about education and WHY it (dumb assertion, I know) really does impact everything you do later on in life.
The obvious answers are there - school teaches you a skill set, the building blocks with which to construct a career and hopefully, a life. Basic math, writing, vocabulary, reading comprehension - SATs and GREs would have you think that these are the things that guarantee success or job placement down the line. But what about those brain teasers, the logic puzzles and different games that we used to play in grade school, the ones that actually taught us more about creativity and problem solving?
I know that with the way the economy and the job market is now, the higher-ups are looking for ways to restructure the education system to better prepare students for the challenges of the real world. And likewise, students are turning toward more practical means of existence; better to sacrifice a dream now in favor of some stability and monetary compensation for the future. This is practical. This is the kind of mentality that will help graduating young adults grasp a more tangible reward for their years of schooling.
But call me impractical, but I think this is the kind of mentality that will hurt us in the long run.
I read an article in the New York Times that mentioned a change in curriculum at several universities, including the elimination of philosophy as a major because it lacks "practicality." My thoughts when I read this were varied - yes, "practially" speaking, it doesn't make sense to major in something that won't yield an immediate skill set.
But if you don't have those courses to learn to THINK and only learn how to do "practical" things, then you wouldn't ever question and invent and see the world in a different light, and then where would humanity as a whole be?
Kant? Utilitarianism? Will these words cease to have any meaning? Social engineering will become a kind of trade. Artists will create for a cause or a cost, but not just for the sake of creating. Writers will be funneled into law schools and textbooks, and psychology will give way to psychiatry. Meds over meditation. Hollow substances over concrete thought.
And then how will decisions be made? This all sounds a little too oddly Giver-like. Kids set into certain jobs early on, learning how to perform a duty in society, taught NOT to think outside the box except for a designated Giver...an elimination of feelings and color and difference. Smooth operations oiled by cooperation and standards of living.
If we don't think for ourselves, we cease to exist. We might have money in the bank, but we'll have lost purpose and drive. When we work for others, we'll not have the capacity to question the why or the how; we'll be too focused on the what.
The value of education is that it provides a solid foundation for creativity. We learn the rules to break them, know the fundamentals to build upon them. Looking back at college, I know for a fact that the classes I got the most out of inspired me to think in ways I wouldn't have thought to think (tongue twister) otherwise. Skills, I can adopt as I go. But thoughts and questions, I need to develop at the get-go.
Classrooms are only vessles, after all. It's what's in them, in the minds within them, that count.
Showing posts with label USC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USC. Show all posts
10 January 2010
27 April 2009
Four years later...
So I was checking my STARS report this afternoon, and it startled me just how much of the page read blue. I've become accustomed to looking for incompletes and scanning the page for the bits of red that pop out of the document, but today, I only saw a sea of ultramarine blue. And it's funny, because despite all the dramatic lasts - last classes, last meeting, last issue - that have been bubbling to the surface as of late, it was seeing this oddly soothing shade of blue that really made the weight of four years sink in today.
Looking over classes that I've taken at USC really helps to solidify each semester, and instantly brings me back to all the different experiences each one had to offer.
This is what makes four year seem like such an extended period of time:
So much time, money and effort spent on these courses and what to show of it? Four years of education and experience and life, in a wide range of topics I never would have imagined possible.
Irreplaceable and worth every minute.
Looking over classes that I've taken at USC really helps to solidify each semester, and instantly brings me back to all the different experiences each one had to offer.
This is what makes four year seem like such an extended period of time:
| Course | Units Earned | Course Description |
| CLAS-280g | 4.0 | Classical Mythology |
| WRIT-140 | 4.0 | Writing and Critical Reasoning |
| PHIL-140g | 4.0 | Contemporary Moral and Social Issues |
| EALC-220 | 4.0 | Japanese III |
| JOUR-190 | 2.0 | Introduction to Journalism |
| Course | Units Earned | Course Description |
| EALC-110g | 4.0 | East Asian Humanities: The Great Tradition |
| THTR-184A | 2.0 | Jazz Dance |
| PSYC-100 | 4.0 | Introduction to Psychology |
| PHYS-100Lxg | 4.0 | The Physical World |
| JOUR-201 | 4.0 | History of News in Modern America |
| Course | Units Earned | Course Description |
| PSYC-360 | 4.0 | Abnormal Psychology |
| PSYC-305 | 4.0 | Learning and Memory |
| JOUR-203 | 3.0 | Newswriting: Broadcast |
| JOUR-202 | 3.0 | Newswriting: Print |
| EALC-222 | 4.0 | Japanese IV |
| Course | Units Earned | Course Description |
| THTR-183B | 2.0 | Ballet |
| PSYC-359 | 4.0 | Interpersonal Relations |
| JOUR-303 | 3.0 | Reporting: Broadcast |
| JOUR-302 | 3.0 | Reporting: Print |
| ARLT-100g | 4.0 | Arts and Letters |
| Course | Units Earned | Course Description |
| FA-102 | 4.0 | Design Fundamentals |
| WRIT-340 | 4.0 | Advanced Writing |
| PSYC-338 | 4.0 | Adolescent Development |
| JOUR-309 | 3.0 | Introduction to Online Media |
| JOUR-308 | 3.0 | Newspaper Editing and Design |
| Course | Units Earned | Course Description |
| JOUR-300O | 1.5 | Off-campus Studies |
| JOUR-300O | 1.5 | Off-campus Studies |
| JOUR-300O | 3.0 | Off-campus Studies |
| JOUR-300O | 2.0 | Off-campus Studies |
| SOCI-100O | 4.0 | Off-campus Studies |
| COMM-300O | 4.0 | Off-Campus Studies |
| Course | Units Earned | Course Description |
| JOUR-090x | 0.0 | Internships in the Media |
| JOUR-310 | 4.0 | Investigative Reporting |
| PSYC-462m | 0.0 | Minority Mental Health |
| PSYC-201Lg | 4.0 | The Science of Happiness |
| JOUR-431 | 4.0 | Feature Writing |
| Course | Units Earned | Course Description |
| PSYC-464 | 4.0 | Psychology of Marriage and the Family |
| AMST-449m | 4.0 | Asian American Literature |
| JOUR-470 | 2.0 | Community Journalism |
| JOUR-462 | 4.0 | Law of Mass Communication |
So much time, money and effort spent on these courses and what to show of it? Four years of education and experience and life, in a wide range of topics I never would have imagined possible.
Irreplaceable and worth every minute.
03 April 2009
Midterm project of lurve
Blood, sweat and tears. I'd forgotten how fun it was to edit film projects.
...and how time consuming, har har.
...and how time consuming, har har.
29 January 2009
Small wonder
I've been seeing journalism through several sets of eyes this past week. Being in the Daily Trojan office day in and day out has not only affected my lifestyle, but also the way I view so much of my work as a student, editor, journalist, writer. It baffles me to think that the words and ideas that start in my office every day at 5 p.m. (budget meeting time!) can actually impact so much of the campus, and further than that, the community at large.
When the L.A. Times is picking up some of our exclusive stories and my editors and I spend hour upon hour making sure that word phrases and quotes convey the message we want without creating cases for libel - that's when I really feel the weight of the paper and of the job. This isn't just a small publication to be read by students curious about changes to the dining halls - this is a full-fledged newspaper with depth and weight and pull in how the university is portrayed and how its students are treated.
I found out last week (on Inauguration Day, to be exact), that I didn't get an offer from Teach For America. And in all honesty, seeing that decision on the site and via email and then on the site again (I quadruple checked just to be sure I hadn't misread) really did sting. I wasn't so much taken aback about not getting the offer - I know the applicant pool was enormously competitive this year - it was more that I felt as though I had just plunged headfirst into a pool of icy cold water.
Reality check.
Something I had put some effort (but not my full effort) into hadn't panned out. And I didn't know how I should feel about that. I think all throughout the process, I had been more taken with the message of the organization than the actual work itself. In other words, I've always wanted to teach. To impart knowledge and, in turn, learn a few things myself. And I've always felt that a necessary part of graduating and entering the "real world" is giving back to the community - via service, donations, or conscientiousness. I just didn't know what my "method of payment" would be.
Therefore, Teach For America seemed like the natural fit.
What the rejection told me, however, was that this was not the case. Everything happens for a reason, and I'm taking this decision as a sign that I should seriously pursue journalism - that just might be the best way for me to make the difference and spread the message that I want to. Seeing how much feedback we get with the DT and how effective our stories can be has done two things for me:
1. terrified me, for fear of retribution after publication
2. inspired me, for knowledge that I can impact positive change doing what I love
I like to lean more toward the latter whenever possible. Naturally.
Last weekend, I spoke with my brother about my possible career in publishing and journalism. Based on his opinion, chasing after passions is a lot more rewarding than finding stability and forfeiting ambitions in the long run. In a time when the economy is so shaky and jobs so hard to come by, he said, carving your own path will probably lead you to more happiness than trudging along the road behind other similar-minded individuals.
Break free.
Yesterday, I taught my first class for community journalism, a course I'm taking this semester that brings USC journalists into the neighboring schools to produce a class "newspaper," complete with news, opinion, features, sports and entertainment desks. I was amazed at how much these sixth graders knew, and just how aware they were of themselves and each other. Each student talked about what he or she was interested writing, and the labels were clearly set: I like video games. I like American Idol. I like the Dodgers.
My little writers rattled off their favorite movies, games and celebrities, and asked honest questions, like "What will Obama do to keep his promises for the next four years?"; "Is the train line running by the school a villain or a hero?"; "What kind of relationship does Obama have with his family?"
These are all the same questions that we as journalists always ask, in less unnecessarily wordy, pretentious prose. It was interesting to see the dynamic of the students and really gauge their genuine curiosity about the things happening around them. That they really wanted to know the answer to those questions, while many college students don't care to ask them, was striking to me.
When did we start caring and stop asking?
And why?
The task falls to journalism nowadays, and so anyone who argues that journalism is a dying profession has obviously stopped desiring to learn, to be informed, to grow as a person.
After this past week, I'm seeing that my definition of journalism has become so limited. It's not about puting stories on paper and meeting deadlines. It's about childlike curiosity and the kind of assertiveness that sets off an entire chain reaction of events.
It's about action and reaction.
Live and learn.
When the L.A. Times is picking up some of our exclusive stories and my editors and I spend hour upon hour making sure that word phrases and quotes convey the message we want without creating cases for libel - that's when I really feel the weight of the paper and of the job. This isn't just a small publication to be read by students curious about changes to the dining halls - this is a full-fledged newspaper with depth and weight and pull in how the university is portrayed and how its students are treated.
I found out last week (on Inauguration Day, to be exact), that I didn't get an offer from Teach For America. And in all honesty, seeing that decision on the site and via email and then on the site again (I quadruple checked just to be sure I hadn't misread) really did sting. I wasn't so much taken aback about not getting the offer - I know the applicant pool was enormously competitive this year - it was more that I felt as though I had just plunged headfirst into a pool of icy cold water.
Reality check.
Something I had put some effort (but not my full effort) into hadn't panned out. And I didn't know how I should feel about that. I think all throughout the process, I had been more taken with the message of the organization than the actual work itself. In other words, I've always wanted to teach. To impart knowledge and, in turn, learn a few things myself. And I've always felt that a necessary part of graduating and entering the "real world" is giving back to the community - via service, donations, or conscientiousness. I just didn't know what my "method of payment" would be.
Therefore, Teach For America seemed like the natural fit.
What the rejection told me, however, was that this was not the case. Everything happens for a reason, and I'm taking this decision as a sign that I should seriously pursue journalism - that just might be the best way for me to make the difference and spread the message that I want to. Seeing how much feedback we get with the DT and how effective our stories can be has done two things for me:
1. terrified me, for fear of retribution after publication
2. inspired me, for knowledge that I can impact positive change doing what I love
I like to lean more toward the latter whenever possible. Naturally.
Last weekend, I spoke with my brother about my possible career in publishing and journalism. Based on his opinion, chasing after passions is a lot more rewarding than finding stability and forfeiting ambitions in the long run. In a time when the economy is so shaky and jobs so hard to come by, he said, carving your own path will probably lead you to more happiness than trudging along the road behind other similar-minded individuals.
Break free.
Yesterday, I taught my first class for community journalism, a course I'm taking this semester that brings USC journalists into the neighboring schools to produce a class "newspaper," complete with news, opinion, features, sports and entertainment desks. I was amazed at how much these sixth graders knew, and just how aware they were of themselves and each other. Each student talked about what he or she was interested writing, and the labels were clearly set: I like video games. I like American Idol. I like the Dodgers.
My little writers rattled off their favorite movies, games and celebrities, and asked honest questions, like "What will Obama do to keep his promises for the next four years?"; "Is the train line running by the school a villain or a hero?"; "What kind of relationship does Obama have with his family?"
These are all the same questions that we as journalists always ask, in less unnecessarily wordy, pretentious prose. It was interesting to see the dynamic of the students and really gauge their genuine curiosity about the things happening around them. That they really wanted to know the answer to those questions, while many college students don't care to ask them, was striking to me.
When did we start caring and stop asking?
And why?
The task falls to journalism nowadays, and so anyone who argues that journalism is a dying profession has obviously stopped desiring to learn, to be informed, to grow as a person.
After this past week, I'm seeing that my definition of journalism has become so limited. It's not about puting stories on paper and meeting deadlines. It's about childlike curiosity and the kind of assertiveness that sets off an entire chain reaction of events.
It's about action and reaction.
Live and learn.
13 January 2009
One day DOWN
I'm officially done. With the first night of production for the Daily Trojan, that is. Everything ran as smoothly as I could have hoped, though we did run later than expected because we wanted to make sure that we set a high precedence at the beginning of the year in terms of clean copy, solid design and quality content. Given that this is the first time a lot of my editors have really used InDesign and actually worked together to produce an issue, I think it was a success.
The dynamic of my staff is just incredible as well - I know that I actually worried more about interpersonal relations when selecting my senior editors than competency. Not to say that I didn't take into account how news-savvy and organized they were, but I recognized that how their personalities fit in with everyone else's was going to make a world of difference for the tone of the semester. Working in good company makes life pretty dang good, even with late nights and constant tasks to take care of.
Dedicated, passionate people make me happy.
It's funny how different the start of this semester is compared to the start of the fall, when I was scrambling from one thing to the next, always feeling one step behind and failing miserably at life, etc. Though I know the semester ahead is going to be a crazy hectic one, I can already tell just from the first night that it will also be one of the best - not for the lasts that are requisite parts of senior year - but for all the firsts that I'll inevitably experience these next few months as I step into this very different realm of college.
I love change and renewing and beginning again, and I think holding this position this semester means that I'll always be learning something new - about the DT, about the campus, about the many students and the lives they lead during their four-year tenure at USC. It's so intriguing, and I just want to write write write about everything I learn.
Things always happen for a reason, and everything falls into place in due time.
I hope it all works out.
02 January 2009
Aging Backwards
It’s interesting just how much Barack Obama and Brad Pitt have in common. Well, relatively speaking. Outside of good looks, charisma and a lovely voice, the two men have kept me thinking for quite some time now about a number of the same issues, and for this, I think it’s safe for me to draw the comparison, however random it might seem.
Prior to the start of the New Year (aka just yesterday), I had just seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which I semi-recommend, if nothing else than for the fact that the casting and makeup were amazing), and was in the process of reading Obama’s The Audacity of Hope. The theme of age and passion were mainstays in both of the works, and it got me to start thinking about 2008 in a very peculiar way.
In most senses, it would be logical for me to say that I think I aged a lot since the beginning of the year – back in January, I was still packing up the bits and pieces of my life here in the States for what would be 4.5 of some of the best months of my life in Europe. I ventured to London, learned about the backstreets and best pubs, jet-setted and country-hopped, and began to acclimate myself with a lifestyle I had only imagined before. This was my real “going away” to college experience, and I loved every minute of it.
It was a taste of independence that stuck with me throughout the rest of the year.
Come June, I began working full-time at a daily paper in Woodland Hills and lived with my brother and his roommate over in Westwood for three months. From the experience, I saw my own future laid out side-by-side with my brother’s, an investment banker, and his roommate’s, an assistant sports coach at UCLA. The summer gave me time to reflect on what exactly I was doing with journalism and with my career goals as a whole. Would I get sucked into the daily grind of work, home, sleep, repeat?
Not that my brother or his roommate were unhappy, but I couldn’t honestly say that they were excited about the work that they were doing either. It was a means to an end, and I think it scared me a bit to see two such capable people so devoid of passion for their work. When I initially began working in June, I too, saw just how easily I could fall into routine and the status quo, and I went through a lot of internal turmoil (melodramatic, I know I know), trying to figure out what exactly I could do to keep each day fresh, lively, inspiring.
It took a whole lot of writing and a whole lot of reorganizing for me to get back into the groove – finding a happy balance between my life and structure prior to London and the renewed sense of idealism I had picked up across the pond.
At the end of August, classes began in a flurry, and I literally keeled over in my attempt to hit the ground running. There were far too many ideas, projects, tasks floating around in my head, and the result, even at the beginning of the year, was a less-than-appealing mess of all-nighters, missed deadlines, dropped classes.
This wasn’t the formulaic collegiate life I was used to, and it was far from the kind of senior year I had hoped to have. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing the bigger picture in favor of rushing here and there to finish up tasks that I had half-started, but even so, I kept running on empty with what I can best describe now as denial.
November meant the annual dragon boat tournament up in San Francisco, and with that came a whole barrage of responsibilities that caused me to come to a temporary standstill. Post-tournament and post-break down, I decided I needed to just take a few days to reassess and process what I had been doing wrong for the entire semester, how I had let so much pressure build up to this breaking point.
It was an eye-opening, supremely honest look at my own shortcomings, and seeing those problems laid out before me made see that I had forgotten two important things:
1. I needed to take care of myself now, while I was still young – the repercussions and rewards for my actions today would manifest themselves later on down the line, and I needed to act accordingly.
2. My passion, my writing, had fallen to the wayside, and without a physical list of goals before me, I had succumbed to temporary solutions when I should have been searching for long-term goals.
Following my revelation, things in life began to fall into place once again. I heard back from Teach for America, I was elected into the editor-in-chief position for the Daily Trojan, I reorganized my role with Bamboo Offshoot, I finished off long-term stories for my journalism classes, I began to thrive on the adrenaline of getting things done because I finally had an end-goal in mind.
It was the last stretch of a long semester, but finishing out fall 2008 meant that I could start anew.
And now, just two days into January, I feel ready to start the cycle over again, sans the stress and the break-down and the horrible sleep schedules. I’ve had to replace a lot of things in my life in the last few weeks, but this also means that I get to pick and choose what I want to take with me in this last semester of college.
Packing up the bits and pieces of my life, full circle.
Prior to the start of the New Year (aka just yesterday), I had just seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which I semi-recommend, if nothing else than for the fact that the casting and makeup were amazing), and was in the process of reading Obama’s The Audacity of Hope. The theme of age and passion were mainstays in both of the works, and it got me to start thinking about 2008 in a very peculiar way.
In most senses, it would be logical for me to say that I think I aged a lot since the beginning of the year – back in January, I was still packing up the bits and pieces of my life here in the States for what would be 4.5 of some of the best months of my life in Europe. I ventured to London, learned about the backstreets and best pubs, jet-setted and country-hopped, and began to acclimate myself with a lifestyle I had only imagined before. This was my real “going away” to college experience, and I loved every minute of it.
It was a taste of independence that stuck with me throughout the rest of the year.
Come June, I began working full-time at a daily paper in Woodland Hills and lived with my brother and his roommate over in Westwood for three months. From the experience, I saw my own future laid out side-by-side with my brother’s, an investment banker, and his roommate’s, an assistant sports coach at UCLA. The summer gave me time to reflect on what exactly I was doing with journalism and with my career goals as a whole. Would I get sucked into the daily grind of work, home, sleep, repeat?
Not that my brother or his roommate were unhappy, but I couldn’t honestly say that they were excited about the work that they were doing either. It was a means to an end, and I think it scared me a bit to see two such capable people so devoid of passion for their work. When I initially began working in June, I too, saw just how easily I could fall into routine and the status quo, and I went through a lot of internal turmoil (melodramatic, I know I know), trying to figure out what exactly I could do to keep each day fresh, lively, inspiring.
It took a whole lot of writing and a whole lot of reorganizing for me to get back into the groove – finding a happy balance between my life and structure prior to London and the renewed sense of idealism I had picked up across the pond.
At the end of August, classes began in a flurry, and I literally keeled over in my attempt to hit the ground running. There were far too many ideas, projects, tasks floating around in my head, and the result, even at the beginning of the year, was a less-than-appealing mess of all-nighters, missed deadlines, dropped classes.
This wasn’t the formulaic collegiate life I was used to, and it was far from the kind of senior year I had hoped to have. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing the bigger picture in favor of rushing here and there to finish up tasks that I had half-started, but even so, I kept running on empty with what I can best describe now as denial.
November meant the annual dragon boat tournament up in San Francisco, and with that came a whole barrage of responsibilities that caused me to come to a temporary standstill. Post-tournament and post-break down, I decided I needed to just take a few days to reassess and process what I had been doing wrong for the entire semester, how I had let so much pressure build up to this breaking point.
It was an eye-opening, supremely honest look at my own shortcomings, and seeing those problems laid out before me made see that I had forgotten two important things:
1. I needed to take care of myself now, while I was still young – the repercussions and rewards for my actions today would manifest themselves later on down the line, and I needed to act accordingly.
2. My passion, my writing, had fallen to the wayside, and without a physical list of goals before me, I had succumbed to temporary solutions when I should have been searching for long-term goals.
Following my revelation, things in life began to fall into place once again. I heard back from Teach for America, I was elected into the editor-in-chief position for the Daily Trojan, I reorganized my role with Bamboo Offshoot, I finished off long-term stories for my journalism classes, I began to thrive on the adrenaline of getting things done because I finally had an end-goal in mind.
It was the last stretch of a long semester, but finishing out fall 2008 meant that I could start anew.
And now, just two days into January, I feel ready to start the cycle over again, sans the stress and the break-down and the horrible sleep schedules. I’ve had to replace a lot of things in my life in the last few weeks, but this also means that I get to pick and choose what I want to take with me in this last semester of college.
Packing up the bits and pieces of my life, full circle.
16 December 2008
Home stretch
"The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can."
- Robert Cushing
Inspiration for this very last part of the semester - three stories to revise and you can stick a fork in me because I'll be DONE.
...diving right back in...
08 December 2008
Had to write a final paper on happiness for a science of happiness class this semester. This is the result, honestly the worst piece of BS I have ever had the horror of presenting to a professor. Thought I'd post it here, though, because it's a lesson to be learned - don't write papers while half cracked-out or on serious deadline. Yikes.
True happiness, then, the kind that sticks around longer than simple transient positive feelings, can be defined as a judgment, an internal decision made by an individual regarding his or her attitude in a given situation. As stated in William Shakespeare's famous play Hamlet, and as quoted in Dr. Monterosso's lecture, "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Happiness is founded largely on attitude. It is not a certain set o circumstances that determines happiness, but a certain set o attitudes that makes it possible for some people to take their inherent happiness set point and fluctuate on the positive end of it as opposed to the negative end of it. Given that a large part of a person's innate happiness is determined by genetics, as proven in the Minnesota Twins study, the only way to truly reach a level of happiness that is long-lasting, genetics aside, is to adopt a certain attitude toward the circumstances he or she is presented with.
Whether imagined or not, a person's ability to have control over their lives - including the choice to stress or not in a given situation - plays a large role in determining his or her overall happiness level, and this is perhaps best illustrated by the nursing home study. In this study, Adam Galinsky, a professor at Northwestern University, gave a group of senior citizens in a nursing home a plant to care for, and a control group nothing to care for. It was found that the group that had the plants to care for tended to live longer, happier lives than those who didn't, mostly because they felt that they had an element of control over their plants. They therefore felt more purpose in their lives and the psychological state of control - of being able to choose their attitudes - translated into a physical ability to live a longer, richer life.
A person's attributional style is perhaps the biggest determining factor in how happy a person can be said to be - someone who blames himself when things go awry and assumes that the negative circumstances are permanent rather than temporary is more likely to spiral into a pattern o unhappiness than someone who is able to see the situation in the big picture and acknowledge how realistically temporary and negative circumstances are. In a study by Seligman and Maier, two groups of do were left in harnesses for a period of time and then given electric shocks at different intervals. One groups was given a lever to press that would stop the shocks, and another group had levers that did nothing to stop the electric shocks. Dogs from the second group developed something known as "learned helplessness" - that is, that nothing they could do would change the situation that they were in. As a result, these dogs would refuse to try anything to stop their pain, showing signs of what can best be described as an equivalent to human clinical depression. Translated into human-relatable terms, this shows that people who adopt the attitude of learned helplessness do not bother to venture to either know themselves or establish relationships with other people and therefore are a cause of their own unhappiness.
In order to structure a life wherein happiness is a constant, then, it is necessary for individuals to build upon their own internal satisfaction and extend that into interpersonal relations with others. It is without a doubt that social connectivity contributes largely to the happiness level of individuals. Studies have proven that the greater the number of social networks a person has, the more likely he or she is to have a higher life satisfaction rating. Being with other people, whether in a companionship or romantic sense, helps to establish a person's sense of self and gives him or her a bigger opportunity to take on social responsibility that might impact his or her own happiness in addition to helping the other party, and this is how happiness is nurtured and sustained. Intangible life assets, such as forgiveness, generosity and gratitude all tie into individuals' overall happiness.
The difference between animals and human beings is their capacity to have a multi-layered happiness that is independent of external factors. For dogs or pigs, as John Stuart Mills pointed out, happiness is contingent on ignorance, and the general consensus is that it is better to be a dissatisfied human being than to be a satisfied animal. Our ability to think about our actions and e a player in our own lives is what sets us apart and what makes our lives richer and happier."
14 September 2008
Circle of Life
It's amazing how so many things have really come full circle in these first few weeks of senior year. I just got back from a Jason Mraz concert out in Cabazon, and as I was standing there in the crowd, swaying and sifting to the addictive rhythm and flow of the Dynamo of Volition, I thought back to my first Mraz concert at the beginning of senior year in high school, and how much things and life and circumstances have changed since then.
More than that, though, I thought about what hasn't changed, what parts of me are still intact after four grueling, eye-opening years of college.
Four years ago, I was sprinting through my last leg of high school, nervous about college applications and the prospect of leaving the bubble of comfort I had grown up in. I remember having a whole jumble of emotions as I started the year - excited about being top-dog (assuming power over yearbook and Chinese Club seemed to be such a big deal back then), hesitant about figuring out my plans post-graduation, reflective about friendships made within the cardboard walls of Whitney. There was a sense of urgency to the whole year, trying to cram in as much as possible before ending that ever-so-significant phase of life.
It took a lot of introspection and reevaluation to strike a happy balance between work and play, holding on and letting go, and I had to flounder a bit at the beginning of the year before I could upright myself and structure my life in such a way that I wasn’t burning out or always running to catch up.
Now, four years later, I find myself in the same situation. These past three weeks have been hellishly busy, but I really have no one but myself to blame for making it so. I was overextending myself and living from day to day, doing everything just in the nick of time, not really planning ahead or really even taking the time to breathe. Even after my stint in the hospital following the marathon, my mind refused to rest, racing forward to what I had to do the next day following my release. I told everyone that physically collapsing was a wake-up call for me to really slow down in life, but in my head I told myself that I just needed to make myself stronger and even scolded myself for letting myself falter.
I’ve grown up with a need to be busy, to make every moment of my day count. As a consequence, I’ve been filling any empty spaces in my schedule with lunch dates, office hours, catch-up coffees, dinners, meetings…saying “yes” to everyone because I’d rather spend my time focused on them and their problems than on my own. Only problem is that in these past few weeks, I’ve found myself burning out because I’m making myself so available to everything and convincing myself that I can make time for things that I really can’t.
One of the many good things that came out of all those coffees and lunches and dinners and meetings, though, is that I got a better sense of my own skewed sense of priorities. Even though I “knew” that I should slow down and stop attracting unnecessary stress, it took hearing it from multiple people to really set in.
There are only 24 hours in a day.
I am not superwoman.
If I don’t take care of myself, I can’t fully take care of anyone or anything else.
Slow down.
Enjoy it.
Breathe.
There are a million things that still need to be done this weekend, but after really taking the time to stop and take my own advice, I’m realizing that I’m not only happier, but a whole lot more functional. I’m making lists and prioritizing, cutting out the fluff and getting down to what really matters to me.
Putting myself first feels a bit strange, but I’m telling myself that I need to get used to it. Help myself before I can completely help others, and learn to say “no” to commitments.
I won’t worry my life away.
There’s a rhyme and reason to why I love Mr. Mraz’s music so much. True, there’s something soothing about his voice, the way he makes it an art to sing and scat, but beyond that, his music reminds me of senior year and anticipating the next step. Of new beginnings and turnarounds and reassessing. Hearing his songs is a reminder of what has been and what is to come. It sounds dramatic, I know, but music is my life, and each clip of sound is a segment of my soul, pieced together into the person I am now.
Going to the concert really brought home the reality that I’m now in my senior year of college. No more adjustment period. I’ve found my groove and I intend to ride this out till I can’t ride no more. This is it and I’m going to make it the best year yet. I’ve decided.
“You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.”
More than that, though, I thought about what hasn't changed, what parts of me are still intact after four grueling, eye-opening years of college.
Four years ago, I was sprinting through my last leg of high school, nervous about college applications and the prospect of leaving the bubble of comfort I had grown up in. I remember having a whole jumble of emotions as I started the year - excited about being top-dog (assuming power over yearbook and Chinese Club seemed to be such a big deal back then), hesitant about figuring out my plans post-graduation, reflective about friendships made within the cardboard walls of Whitney. There was a sense of urgency to the whole year, trying to cram in as much as possible before ending that ever-so-significant phase of life.
It took a lot of introspection and reevaluation to strike a happy balance between work and play, holding on and letting go, and I had to flounder a bit at the beginning of the year before I could upright myself and structure my life in such a way that I wasn’t burning out or always running to catch up.
Now, four years later, I find myself in the same situation. These past three weeks have been hellishly busy, but I really have no one but myself to blame for making it so. I was overextending myself and living from day to day, doing everything just in the nick of time, not really planning ahead or really even taking the time to breathe. Even after my stint in the hospital following the marathon, my mind refused to rest, racing forward to what I had to do the next day following my release. I told everyone that physically collapsing was a wake-up call for me to really slow down in life, but in my head I told myself that I just needed to make myself stronger and even scolded myself for letting myself falter.
I’ve grown up with a need to be busy, to make every moment of my day count. As a consequence, I’ve been filling any empty spaces in my schedule with lunch dates, office hours, catch-up coffees, dinners, meetings…saying “yes” to everyone because I’d rather spend my time focused on them and their problems than on my own. Only problem is that in these past few weeks, I’ve found myself burning out because I’m making myself so available to everything and convincing myself that I can make time for things that I really can’t.
One of the many good things that came out of all those coffees and lunches and dinners and meetings, though, is that I got a better sense of my own skewed sense of priorities. Even though I “knew” that I should slow down and stop attracting unnecessary stress, it took hearing it from multiple people to really set in.
There are only 24 hours in a day.
I am not superwoman.
If I don’t take care of myself, I can’t fully take care of anyone or anything else.
Slow down.
Enjoy it.
Breathe.
There are a million things that still need to be done this weekend, but after really taking the time to stop and take my own advice, I’m realizing that I’m not only happier, but a whole lot more functional. I’m making lists and prioritizing, cutting out the fluff and getting down to what really matters to me.
Putting myself first feels a bit strange, but I’m telling myself that I need to get used to it. Help myself before I can completely help others, and learn to say “no” to commitments.
I won’t worry my life away.
There’s a rhyme and reason to why I love Mr. Mraz’s music so much. True, there’s something soothing about his voice, the way he makes it an art to sing and scat, but beyond that, his music reminds me of senior year and anticipating the next step. Of new beginnings and turnarounds and reassessing. Hearing his songs is a reminder of what has been and what is to come. It sounds dramatic, I know, but music is my life, and each clip of sound is a segment of my soul, pieced together into the person I am now.
Going to the concert really brought home the reality that I’m now in my senior year of college. No more adjustment period. I’ve found my groove and I intend to ride this out till I can’t ride no more. This is it and I’m going to make it the best year yet. I’ve decided.
“You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.”
27 August 2008
Greedy Much?
I think I'm being greedy. It's only the third day of class and already I can feel that I just might burn out this semester with all the activities and commitments and jobs I'm trying to juggle. The horrible part of the whole situation isn't the being busy, though. In actuality, the real harsh realization is that I might be overly busy for all the wrong reasons.
My friend brought up a really good point the other day. When I was trying to justify to him my taking on so many different responsibilities, he looked me straight in the eye and asked me if it might just be that I'm being selfish.
I was taken aback and it must have shown on my face because he quickly explained that he didn't mean it in a good or bad way, just as a statement of fact. Greediness is tied to "want" and "need," and in my case, I "want" to do too much and I "need" to stay busy, two facts that will probably lead to much unavoidable stress later on down the line. I think maybe I'm too caught up in the idea that I need to cram all of these things into my senior year, when really, I need to take a step back (maybe two) and drop a few commitments.
The only thing is, all of the things I decided to get involved in this year are so important to me...so is that being selfish? I'm grabbing for too much and maybe that's just wrong because I'll turn up with nothing. If these first three days have been any indication, I'm not going to have much time for myself - and is that in itself being selfish?
At this year's APASS student welcome, a lot of the incoming freshmen were asking for advice about time management and I almost wanted to laugh. I told them it was okay to say "no" to organizations and "no" to commitments and to make sure that their own sanity came first. To take care of themselves before helping others, just so that they would be able to contribute themselves 100% to the project at hand. I told them to prioritize and eliminate unnecessary stressors.
I need to take my own advice. Badly.
It's such a strange line to walk upon, balancing my needs with what I perceive to be other people's needs. When you know your loved ones and friends are depending on you, it's hard to turn your back just because you need to take care of YOU.
My friend brought up a really good point the other day. When I was trying to justify to him my taking on so many different responsibilities, he looked me straight in the eye and asked me if it might just be that I'm being selfish.
I was taken aback and it must have shown on my face because he quickly explained that he didn't mean it in a good or bad way, just as a statement of fact. Greediness is tied to "want" and "need," and in my case, I "want" to do too much and I "need" to stay busy, two facts that will probably lead to much unavoidable stress later on down the line. I think maybe I'm too caught up in the idea that I need to cram all of these things into my senior year, when really, I need to take a step back (maybe two) and drop a few commitments.
The only thing is, all of the things I decided to get involved in this year are so important to me...so is that being selfish? I'm grabbing for too much and maybe that's just wrong because I'll turn up with nothing. If these first three days have been any indication, I'm not going to have much time for myself - and is that in itself being selfish?
At this year's APASS student welcome, a lot of the incoming freshmen were asking for advice about time management and I almost wanted to laugh. I told them it was okay to say "no" to organizations and "no" to commitments and to make sure that their own sanity came first. To take care of themselves before helping others, just so that they would be able to contribute themselves 100% to the project at hand. I told them to prioritize and eliminate unnecessary stressors.
I need to take my own advice. Badly.
It's such a strange line to walk upon, balancing my needs with what I perceive to be other people's needs. When you know your loved ones and friends are depending on you, it's hard to turn your back just because you need to take care of YOU.
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