The Challenges of Life: Turning Lemons into Lemonade

Prompt #1:

The influences in the lives of these students outside of their technology education all affect them, however the education can still play an important role in finding a solution to their problems. For Luisa, her technology education has not helped her get the specific job she wanted or to graduate yet, but eventually this will help. Her time tutoring students has developed her interpersonal and leadership skills and she can still tap into her computer education to graduate and find a different job, although it will take longer than she had hoped. In the long run these extra struggles will make her stronger and teach her how to balance time and to organize and her intrinsic skills as a worker will allow her to excel once her specific knowledge does develop well enough to graduate and get a job. This is similar to things I have seen in the military.

Individuals who had multiple experiences and challenges before joining the Navy were able to develop and advance faster than there peers. For me, having attended a good high school in Wisconsin helped me to develop academic skills that I used to develop my job skills. This was also true for people who went to college before they joined or had a background in their career field before they joined. Having participated in several extraciriculars and holding part-time jobs helped develop my organizational skills which helped me take on more responsibilities. I saw a similar effect in people who had to take on extra responsibilities at home such as child rearing or contributing to the household income. This is the sort of application that I believe helped Kep to excel the way he did.

Having a stressful transition to the United States, working in the family business, and learning English were all additional stresses that taught him to apply himself beyond the normal responsibilities of someone his age. Whereas Kep's extra-education was thrust upon him by circumstance (and he answered the challange remarkably) Sidra has been able to do the same voluntarily. By working as an editor for her school newspaper and apparently being part of other student activities she was able to develop in similar ways. This skills will help both of them in college. Travis's home life has had some of this but, in the short term it appears to have slowed him down. However, when he does go to school he will enter more experienced and more mature. In his case, I would reccomend the service and to enlist in a computer field. His eduacation and computer training will propel him into greater responsibilities and they will in turn, develop his overall abilities to be used in his future career.

On the whole, the variety of circumstance for four students that were provided training in technology will only be temporary impediments. The key in all four was access to the training.