Reading Journal 1: Ghost (Shawshank Redemption)

 "Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."                  
                 Andy Dufresne is not a real person. This may sound weird but he was never there. He is not a person or even a thing but a different projection of the hope. From the beginning, we can realize some strange facts about him. Unlike usual prisoners in the Shawshank, Andy was an intellectual character. He used to be a famous banker. Innocence is also another difference. It turned out that Elwood Blatch was responsible for committing the murders. Also he was the only one that acted against the forced system. Importantly, he is the only one that escaped the cell. “It’s my life! It’s my life, don’t you understand it’s my life?” clearly shows his thoughts and determinations. Those characteristics are not shared by anyone in the prison which makes him unrealistic. These clues started the thoughts that maybe he did not exist at all but represent the hope. To think about it, both Andy and hope have few things in common. They cannot be seen easily in prisons and they can motivate people.

                  If Andy Dufresne is hope, he should have caused something special to happen in the prison where hope is not allowed. Somehow, many characters showed his influence. Warden Norton, the antagonist who represented the inhumanity, was totally destroyed in the end because of the redemption. Tommy Williams got help from Andy who was eager for the job. His best friend, Red learned how to ‘hope’ again which had great impact in his future. He said “There are others here like me, others who remember Andy.” If Andy is considered as a hope then in here, everybody has some kind of hope in their hearts although they are suffering from institutionalization.

                  Andy not only changed the prison but changed the insides of prisoners. He allowed many of them to have ‘hope’. This saved Red indirectly. When Brooks was out of the prison, he could not adjust himself to the new world. The isolation deepened the institutionalization. His death was not long after the release. If he never met Andy, Red would have faced the same situation and end up like Brooks. But Andy the hope changed him. Although Red was institutionalized, Andy taught him to live with hope which was the motivation for continuing his life. In the end, hope led another man to Zihuatanejo, the utopia.

Education Revolution

In Little Prince, the prince said this. “They never say to you, 'What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?' Instead, they demand 'How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much money does his father make?' Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.” The same thing is happening in the modern education system. Many schools only focus on academic subjects which rooted from traditional goal of public education. Also the system does not consider passions or interests of students. This must change for the students and also for the society. This can be done with few procedures.

 In the time table, most of the subjects you see are academic subjects such as math, science, and philosophy. It is true that some classes deal with music and art which are considered as ‘non-academic’ in this society. However, if you consider the amount of time the classes are distributed, it is easy to notice that academic subjects take most of the time. This shows how much the non-academic subjects are so underrated. Most people also have the conception of thinking that getting the good grades in school is the best thing a student can achieve. Such wrong biases are the causes for the undervaluation of non-academic subjects. According to Ken Robinson, “Human communities depend upon a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability.” The schools are doing the exact opposite of what Ken said by restricting students to only study academic subjects.

In most of the high schools, students do not get the chances to choose which classes they want to listen which is different in KMLA. This shows that the education system does not care about students at all. This does not mean that the traditional educations are just worthless. Some students learn new useful knowledge from them. However, the influence of students in the system is so insignificant that it cannot reflect most of the students’ ideas and opinions effectively. Not every student enjoys spending time in schools. There are some teenagers who go to schools for the lunch and sleep rest of the time. This is happening because the purpose of education is not actually educating at all. Rather it is close to standardizing. By standardization, the society can get young people who are the products made in factory of education. The public education is not a true education but a method to maintain and stabilize the society.

 To fix the problem, there are two things to consider. It is about changing people’s thoughts. The society needs to allow more space for the arts in the education system. A lot of students lose their interest in schools because they do not get to learn things they want. By providing more opportunities to participate in classes they want, students will become passionate about it. Ken argued that we should recognize the power of human talents and passion. To maximize those two qualities, the education must not restrict student’s ability but rather broaden student’s talents and creativity for their future. This can only happen if all the people, including students, teachers, parents and our society, are trying their best to fix it.

 The goal of traditional education is to standardization. However, it is time for the change. Now the purpose of education should be diversification so that everyone can expand their abilities in their talented areas. Education will no longer kill creativity but guide students to their bright future. Until Ken Robinson loses his job, everyone should try hard to improve the education system into a more idealistic one. 

My first prize

“I can’t just believe this!” That was the first words that came out of my mouth. After getting into the elementary school, I won the first contest of the year. Not just a certificate of participating but the first place. I thought my drawing was terrible. A lot of lines of crayons went out of their designated place and all kinds of mistakes can be seen even from far behind. Somehow, the teachers liked the idea of the drawing which was supposed to have the predictions of the future. The picture consisted of different tubes that connected different buildings and people could go through them. To me, it was one of the memories in my elementary school that I cannot forget.

My feelings were complicated at that time. At first, it was so unexpected to me. That drawing contest was the first school events for not just me but every other kid in my same age. Also it was the first chance for us students who had hopes that they could win the prize. When we drew the pictures in the class time, everybody was so focused and putting their efforts in. By seeing other kids doing theirs all looked great that they could easily beat mine in quality. Then on the announcement, my name was called and I received the prize in front of everybody. I was so unexpected about the outcome.

When I got the prize, at first I felt very nervous. But later on, I started to feel happy. It was the first time I ever got a prize in a public place in front of many people. That prize was the thing that I could be proud of. It was nice to have my thing which can beat anyone else. My friends praised me for the prize and that felt also good because I felt like I was recognized as a good artist.

Soon after, I heard about something else. My advisor told me that I needed to go to a city’s drawing contest as my school’s representative. I felt like there was a huge mountain ahead of me that I had to go through. But I decided to participate in the competition and started to prepare for it. During this time, I got to know with different teachers and also seniors whom I never saw before. This preparation not only helped increase my drawing skills but also showed me different worlds existed around me.

Time flew quickly and it became the day when the contest was held. The competition was held in Korean Historical Museum which stored a lot of historical artifacts of Korea’s past. The participants were supposed to choose one artifact and draw it with our own methods. No restrictions on the tools. So I went in and looked for the best item. It was really hard to find because most of the items were official papers which were used in the government of Chosun. Then one vase came into my eyesight and I just knew that it is the one. So I started to set up my painting tools in front of the vase and started the picture with sketch. About one and half hours later, I was finished with my piece.

When I finished my work the first thought that came into my mind was “What if I don’t get a prize so that I don’t live up to the expectations of the school?” But as time passes I realized that it was not the prize that was important but the efforts that I put in. I no longer regretted my piece and waited for the result to come out. Fortunately, I won the smallest prize of the contest. However, it did not matter because I was so excited that I had actually won a prize in the competition supported by Seoul.

There is still the picture hanging up in my home. When I look at it, it reminds me of not just the competition but also the other memories of the past. Those were very peaceful that I want to go back to those days. Anyway, that drawing really looks like a artwork of an elementary school boy, but to me it is more precious than Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.