The Wikiseat Project: A Student Considers The Role of Problems

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Our initial steps in The WikiSeat project have had us considering the role that problems play in both the project and our lives.  Here's a very insightful post by one of our students.  Steven's class blog is called Thoughts of a Rugby Player and it is used here with his kind permission. - Sean Wheeler

Just Think About It

by Steven H.

Nothing in life is perfect, because of this there are these things called "problems". Problems can be anything from something being built incorrectly on a bridge or a building to emotional or medical issues somebody may have. I think the word "problem" should be defined as something that isn't the way we think it should be and needs fixing. Some things are more easily fixed than others, issues like autism or other mental disorders. I have a close friend whose sister has autism and they are always supporting ways to help her. Problems can go from this extreme to the mild problem of a flat tire. Both are necessary to fix, this is why I think they are both problems.

All people have different attitudes towards problems. People who act like Marvin the manically depressed robot from "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" who are constantly saying everything is destined to fail, no matter what you do. These people don't really try to solve the problem they just sit back and say "See I told you so". There are also the people who just slink away from the problem and say "I'll do it later". Neither of these people are really helping any of the other people who actually correct the problem, but hindering them. This brings me to the third type of person, the proactive problem solver. These people go out in search of a problem, not wait for a problem to happen or to be given one, but actually look for them. This is how I was raised to deal with any problem, the tried and true "It's YOUR problem so YOU fix it".

The only catch is that in order to be a true problem solver, you need to be able to identify problems. You can't assume the blatant explanation is the correct one and this requires you to put forth something called effort. This is a problem that is being exasperated by several things, but one of the prime reasons is due to our schooling system. I can say with confidence that we just play a game through high school. It only dawned on me what we were doing in sixth grade but when it did, even the minimal effort I was putting forth stopped. Until this year I haven't put any thought or effort into school, even though I was in the "focus" program, the supposedly challenging course for middle school students. For four years I haven't tried to do well in school. This is a huge problem that needs to be solved and I think that the 2.0 program at Lakewood High School is on the right track. This is all in the opinion of a sixteen year old kid. However this kid has played the game known as school for eight years, which is almost twice the length of the longest average career of a professional football player. I think I know my game pretty well if you ask me.