Ideas and Aspirations

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes & revelations




It's weird how those words sound so much more beautiful within
the context of the song, when they are communicated by the voice
of Matthew Bellamy.







Hopes and expectations, ideas and aspirations... ...dreams.







My Idea.

In considering why school is currently making me unhappy, or
rather why I am currently unhappy with school, I decided that
it has a lot to do with the concept of this being a Liberal
Arts school.

I wholeheartedly enjoy the Liberal Arts philosophy. I consider
myself to have had a Liberal Arts life through homeschooling.
I like it.

There are two different kinds of people here at Bridgewater; two
very different kinds of thought processes, learning styles, and
general philosophies of life.

There are the science-thinkers... chem, bio, math, comp, etc.

There are the thought-thinkers... socio, psych, eng, rel, philos,
educ, etc.

Bear in mind that there sometimes is some overlap, but...

These different kinds of thinkers consequently have extremely
different opinions about the Liberal Arts philosophy. The science-
thinkers tend to view Liberal Arts as an unnecessary and painful
burden. The thought-thinkers adore the Liberal Arts and view it
as inherently invaluable.



Therefore... in order to create the best kind of school at which my
kindred spirits and me would thrive, there needs to be a Liberal
Arts school that only offers thought-based majors, such as sociology,
psychology, english, religion, philosophy, education, and so on.

This would be my utopia.

Certainly, there would still be a chance for a small percentage of
students to be unhappy (because I have met some science-thinkers that
are thought-thinking majors), but this is why the admissions process
would have to be stricter.

A lot of the issues I see at Bridgewater have to do with the lenient
admissions process.

There is a difference between lenient admissions and lenient education.
Bridgewater has lenient admissions, but its education is not necessarily
overly lenient. Just because my utopia school would have a more trying
admissions process does not mean that its degree of difficulty would be
too much to handle.

My Idea: Utopia School.











My Aspiration.

Recently, a common theme has been arising throughout my educational
assignments and educational thoughts.

I always end up talking about school.

NCLB, Pennsylvania State Budget, Community Colleges, etc, etc.

Apparently, aaaaaaaPAREntly, I am very interested in the public
education system. ...isn't that odd.

Ironic, sure. But it's an issue I'm particularly interested in
because of my unique experiences. It makes sense to me. Reform from
the inside-out, lol. It really does make sense, though, in regards
to what I really want to do... youth counseling, specifically
simply allowing kids a place where they are listened to by someone
who demonstrates compassion, empathy, and empowerment.

:)

Just like hospitals need to employ a hospital chaplain or hospital
counselor to talk with and listen to dying patients (because the
doctors and nurses deal with it every day and would be too emotionally
distraught to discuss such heavy topics each day at work), schools
need to employ a counselor to talk with and listen to students (because
teachers and principles have other priorities to which they must attend).

I know there are Guidance Counselors, but I feel like they mostly deal
with educational planning, not life topics.

I know there are School Psychologists, but I'd rather hold off on the
requirement to get my Doctorate.

It seems to be like there should be a third position to discuss life
topics and LISTEN TO THE STUDENTS.

What I expect might end up happening is that I become employed as a
Guidance Counselor and create my own guidance counseling philosophy of
integrating compassion, empathy, empowerment, and listening into my job
description of initiating educational planning.

My Aspiration: Within-School Counseling.