Tuning the Voice

Tuning the voice, a documentary created by Chabot college videographers in the fall semester of 2011; where we follow and observe eight new incoming students at Chabot College over the course of the semester. In the documentary we see students who face obstacles in life but yet have one common goal and that is to be better human beings and good students. The documentary also demonstrates how our environment can affect our student life and how passions, dreams and goals keep students motivated to come to class.

College is where you struggle to find balance with your life. Many students work, have children, and some are even caretakers for the elderly in their family. Due to the budget cuts many students are left to fill the void of not being provided with a proper education. One college student in the documentary compared the first day of college to being “homeless” and he felt as if he had to beg to get into the class. This particular statement suggest that the budget cuts has deeply affected our students by giving them the sense of helplessness and the lack of communication between students and teachers do not make being a student better.

            The feeling of helplessness can affect your school environment in many ways. The students seemed to be introduced to the college life in the “sink or swim” way; either you are going to come to class or you are going to waste your time. One major factor that may play a role in the high school dropout rate is the connection between the students and the connection with their teachers. Many students in the documentary feel the lack connection they have with the people around them affect them in the classroom because they do not know who they are sharing their space with and it creates a communication barrier between them. For example, when a group project comes along one person is bound to not do their half of the work leaving a heavier load on another person. Communicating and assigning roles would have probably been a better suggestion rather than just having students form a group without knowing the ability of one another. School is a community of learners and teachers with a lot of goals, dreams, and passions in common with one another.

            School can also be described as a place where passion meets determination and hard work. Both combined can lead to great success. In the beginning of the semester the students were lost and did not have a direction in life but as the students progressed they began to feel a sense of purpose, a responsibility and a passion to create a better America through education. The documentary presented us with students whose dreams are to be engineers, doctors, music performers, surgeons, and one student even wanted to become a radiologist. The students discovered that their passions, dreams, and goals play a major factor in keeping them in the classroom because they have come to realize that education is power and in order to know where you are going you have to have a goal to work towards.

            In conclusion, a person’s environment plays a major role in a student’s life. Some students find solitude in playing a sport and some students prefer to have music as an outlet. The documentary also suggests that having passion, a dream, and a goal are the first steps to helping a student realize why they are in school and to keep them focused. To bridge the gap in education we must communicate and have a connection with what is going on in the classroom and on campus. School is a community and we must all participate in order to make our community a better place for everyone.