David Eggers: Once Upon a School

I took away from this video that through volunteering, many other things in our world can get accomplished. Also I got out of this video that when you volunteer your time, you can really make a change for the positive in whatever you are doing. Through volunteering, you can even positively influence others. For example, whenever a celebrity volunteers, many people view them as a better person and somebody to look up to. Like Dave Eggers, some celebrities have even made it their goal to change the world for the better. Whenever their change is made, it is well noticed.


Cameron Diaz volunteering. Cameron Diaz is an actor with a good reputation for volunteering with certain projects



However, celebrities are not the only ones who can make change happen. Even non-celebrites can make change in this world. Eggers is not the only one who did this.  Many other people have done similar volunteer ideas that have shaped society differently as a whole.

Make A Wish is a foundation that was started by somebody who was not neccessarily famous by any means. Today, it is one of the most sponsored foundations around. Their goal is to give a kid in need a wish.

         Eggers uses a presentation style which has many pictures. I think that this is helpful to the presentation, because many people have never heard of a concept like this in their life. Sure, you may see tutoring centers like Sylvan, but this one consists of volunteers who sacrifice their time in order to improve the student’s quality of education.  The pictures give the audience a more clear understanding of what occurs during these sessions and why this is so important to Eggers.

            This connects to me personally, especially when Dave Eggers mentioned that these students work harder than they ever have before in their life, because they are making a product that is going to the outside world. I know that whenever we have a fishbowl, I am constantly trying to seem as though I am somebody with a plethora of knowledge when we have people from all over the world coming in to watch and discuss the Fishbowl. I work harder than I ever worked for any other book in order to sound like an impressive student with plenty of potential. I believe that the other students also work as hard as they can, because they want to prove the knowledge that they know to the world.
            This connects to education, because through more individual time with the teachers, the students can improve everything at a more efficient pace. The harsh reality is that many teachers do not have time to conference with each of their students in order to help them improve. In order to improve education, I think that schools would be better off if they spent more time working with students somehow. In order to get one-on-one time in, teachers have had students arrange certain times to conference with them that can either be in or out of class. Budget cuts are causing classes to be bigger and less time or chances for the students to learn individually. However,  Arapahoe has something similar to his tutoring program. It is better known as study center. In study center, they have a teacher for every single subject. These teachers can help you in order to become better at what you are doing or to improve your learning. Through this individual time, several students succeed more. However, I think that many students feel that it is unncesscary to go, because they are not always comfortable with who the teacher is.

            This connects to the world, because many teachers are beginning to get the message that in order to improve the quality of the students’ academic lives, they need to begin working with the students individually in order to help them. Many volunteers who have no involvement in teaching students are even beginning to get involved and help out in the education field. Teachers are tired of seeing students struggle due to lower budgets or trouble in general. Also, many people have felt inspiration to prove what students can do. Even in my class, we are doing projects that push students farther than they have ever been pushed before. Many teachers and education volunteers want to push education, including David Eggers, whose volunteers had a book published with students’ work inside of it.