No red pill, no blue pill

Hello, My name is Maya and I am also a student from Mr. Lees Hum 8 class, this is in response to your post “No red pill, No blue pill”.

     I really enjoyed reading your post, it was a nice different out look on a topic that has been greatly stressed and reviewed by my elementary teaches in the past. The poetic type of beginning really grasped my attention and since you also touched up with it throughout the entire writing it gave the piece a really nice edge, that intrigues people to read more. Even though I’ve watched the Matrix (but still am kind of fuzzy on the confusing story line to the movie) I wouldn’t have gone as far to make a comparison about it to my school life. It was a brilliant idea to make a connection of the red pill, blue pill from a popular movie and compare it to learning and how students now lack motivation. The similarities on the topic are really coming out for me now and it was a clever way to grasp attention. However even without that, from the first mysterious sentence you had me hooked to read more. It was a very well thought out attention grabber while the pictures are really worth a million words and they amplified the message you were trying to create.

In my opinion the message you were trying to give wasn’t only that both students and teachers have to participate to keep the other motivated, that it’s each owns job and responsibility to become and stay inspired, but that you can’t have one without the other. For a student to stay inspired the teacher has to keep faith in that student, or else the student will become discouraged and lose their inspiration. Same goes for the teacher, if a teacher tries with all his/her might to educate a student but the student refuses to learn then neither will prosper. Each one holds a power over the other both positively and negatively, because the attitude of one will alter or dent the others. Without the motivation from both sides the effort from just one of them is in vain and dies out quickly.

 They need participation from each other just like a safe needs a key and how a  economical flashlight needs a person to wind it.Think about it this way, if there is great potential and prosperity inside a safe but no one has a key to open it then soon force and quick rash decisions to try and open the safe may end up damaging it, just how a student can be brought down by damaging comments when they are ignored in a process of trying to learn something, then expected to perform said task perfectly when asked. They need someone that doesn’t lose hope and try to help them by supporting them but it’s their job as well, to first show the promise that the other needs to know how hard they have to try to succeed. Also to how a economical flashlight needs someone to wind to to keep the light going, even though the light may flicker and not be as bright at times or it may not perform as well as you want it too, or even as well that you know it can, it still needs you to help and wind it the entire time so that even the smallest of flicker or biggest of beacons of light don’t go out. If you lose hope that the flashlight will work well, or get tired and frustrated about it along the way and stop trying to make it work, then the flashlight won't work on it’s own. How can it? Even though everything it needs to work it there, it has to have the support of someone else along the way, students need a teacher that will have hope in them throughout their entire learning career. So that they always know to stay motivated even when they are just barely flickering like a flashlight about to go out.

I think this is part of why Ms. Lees showed us your post, since we just started high school some of us might be becoming overwhelmed. We might try to forget our responsibilities to our schoolwork because the teachers aren’t breathing down our necks forcing us to do it. Since we have all the structure we need it’s becoming both of our jobs to stay motivated and actually finish the work in class, to read that page that our teacher assigned, to pay attention to the board even though our friends aren’t, to listen in class even though our phones are so much more tempting, to still study for that test even though its almost spring break and we can taste the anticipation of leaving school. She wanted this to remind us that we have to work more as a team because in the long run, which is a REALLY long couple years to come since we only just started, we have to remember that this work now will affect us. The work habits we have  now, or lack off are what will bring us into a pattern. If we don’t have any disposition to work and explore subjects now, later on that will be very hard to change.

We still have to be inspired and motivated to do our work because really there’s only so much that, that one side can do. Theres only so many times a person can open a safe with a key before the opening  door rusts shut. Only so many times a person will attempt to wind up that non-battery flashlight before they leave it for something easier, like grabbing their phone instead. Sadly the most often case of lack of motivation isn’t the teacher fault, sometimes they won’t pay enough attention to the student so finally it’s them who gives up, but I believe you were trying to say that “each it’s own but later on both will clash and become undone”. That’s something my Grandma tells me, later on everything I do will affect me somehow, big or small if I expect it or not.  It’s the same for school work, in my school some kids don’t finish their work or study because they think it’s only grade 8 and grades now won’t affect them for the future, or that they don’t need the material now for the long run. Even some students that know they need the material for future classes that still isn’t enough for them to begin trying with the school work they make now. The teachers and students each have to try their best to keep material interesting and relatable, thats where the need for motivation comes in because without any school work is dull and and the both students aren’t really trying but just barely scraping by.

 Your outlook on it that it cannot be either, no red pill no blue pill, is really refreshing that you're not blaming either side for anything but saying that they must work together for either to prosper. Everyone must participate so that the guidance can come everywhere and the entire group of students and teachers and pull each other forward when everyone has an attitude that makes them eager to learn, and not only learn but work and participate to the best that they can. So that from the motivation to learn that becomes a desire and finally and impulse  to become better in everything that you can.

I also agree with Sydney that the pictures were a very nice touch and they added to the mysteriously intriguing writing style that you used. I enjoyed reading your post and I hope to get some feedback from you about my response! :)
 Thank-you