Mackenzie Jefferson
2/4/20
The course epigraph is “if we’re not animals if these are adult things except the risk Gatoi in dealing with a partner”. When first reading this epigraph, I had no idea what this meant. There was little context. Now, with conversations in class and the material readings, I have a firmer grasp of what this epigraph is saying. It is revealing that it is a risk to trust. You are risking comfortability and safety. This risk leads to development. Our class discussed growth. Having a goal will help make the learning process easier. In college, you experience a lot of change. Some may consider these growing pains. These pains include becoming confident of yourself, experiencing loneliness and wanting to learn. This epigraph also addresses failure. The scariest thing to any college student. College students question whether it is okay to fail. It is a gamble that will help with growth.
This epigraph speaks about the value of setting goals. For instance, I am handing this paper in late it is disorganized and rushed. I can directly understand the experience of failure and being afraid to allow myself to not succeed. So, I avoid the whole situation entirely. Which isn’t the point of growth. You can’t avoid things and still expect to mature. I mean you can, but it’ll slow and a more gradual slope. My goal for this class is to have a better sense of self and to set boundaries. I want to feel confident in my decisions and to not backpedal.
A boundary that I need to set for myself is to prioritize school rather than socializing. I felt this dilemma I’m facing is something that is like how Gan is felt throughout the story. In Blood Child, the main motif in the story revolves around eggs. In this society, they use sterile eggs for human pleasure. For example, getting drunk and living a longer life. The eggs were heavily pushed by the Tilc. The eggs are used for the Terrans demise when it is fertile eggs. The Terrans get sick and die when they are fertile. Despite this fact, the Eggs are promoted by their society. I associated this dichotomy to the problem we face in America. In campus culture, socializing is promoted. We live in an extroverted world. If you think about it in the grand scheme of things we live in America and everybody wants to be an extrovert. The only way to get ahead is to have conversations. At least communicating with people you’re not going to be lonely. It’s kind of like the system we live in, so we pushed to believe that you need to be sociable. You need cannot be a hermit and you need to talk to people. That it will be your pleasure to do so but when done and excessive amounts socialization was my demise. This paper on time because I decided to focus on my social life mercies my studies
Also, in class, we discussed how students are kids or adults. It all depended on how you viewed college students. We are living in a weird Limbo whether we are children or if we are adults. I felt like this related again back to Blood Child because it was a coming of age story. In a sense college like a coming of age story. We are finding out what it means to be an adult. We have to face hardships and you have to be OK with that. in college, we have to be OK with being challenged. we have to be OK would be hurt and to be OK failing. that’s the only way that we can grow. we’re still kids because we haven’t reached OK yet. so when do you stop becoming a kid ? does it ever stop because being OK with the things that hurt or challenge you? It is so rare it’s almost unachievable at any age. so is there a distinct difference between a child and an adult ? or are we all living in a state of confusion and we use labels to differentiate between each other
I had the advantage of adding this part of class into this essay. in-class we talked about whether someone has a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Having is a growth mindset is thinking that things can change. Having a fixed mindset is believing that things cannot be changed. Students should want to have a growth mindset because then you can be learning. Most people have fixed mindsets. They believe that is people were to change it would be in fixed stages. That is why people think there is a difference between a child and an adult. They think that development comes in stages. A fixed mindset is a thought that if you turn 25, that’s when you become in a real adult or when you’re 16, that’s when you leave childhood. Life doesn’t come in stages set packs easy to digest stages it’s all curve. You learn things little by little you change slightly. And then when you take a step back you realize you’re a completely different person than you were maybe 5 years ago. This is because in a sense everybody is growing whether they realize it or not. Everybody’s changing nothing is set in stone. so, it would be counter-intuitive to believe that there is a difference between a kid and an adult. Plus, to think that some kids are we wiser than the adults in power
In conclusion, the epigraph is more than its literal meaning. It means that we need to trust and to have faith in ourselves. In our case to trust college or the institution that we live in. It’s fine to not feel safe it’s OK to get out of your comfort zone. Because you might be best in a bubble but if you let yourself grow there’s no knowing what you can achieve.