I have watched part of, Waiting for Superman, but can not remember where. What I found most shocking was the fact of how it cost more to have people in prison than to have someone go to school from kindergarten to the twelve grade. I was also shocked and frustrated that there are teachers that do not teach, instead they play games and read. I don not think it is fair that students' success is all based on what school they go to. I think everyone should have the equal opportunity to have an equal education. I think parents are a big key if we want  change in our education system. If parents and people who want to see a real change in the education system I think it is possible. It is a difficult task, but I think that we need to be more insistent if we want to see change.

When I read the article, 12 Lies You Need to Stop Telling Yourself, I actually laughed not because I found the article ridiculous, but because I found it ironic. The reason I found it ironic was because this past weekend I went to The People's Institute Retreat, and part of what was similar to this article.While at the retreat, we talked about how people create negative messages or mindsets for themselves when in reality they do not exist. That's why I found the article to be ironic. I know that I am an individual who says many of the things on the list, and the retreat referred that, but from my experience at the retreat I learned that I am not the only one who has these thoughts. That in its self is comforting. Just knowing that everyone is struggling with similar thoughts. If I read this, and I did not go to the retreat, I think that my suggestions for improvement would be superficial. The reason I say that is that the retreat actually facilitated a set environment and provided us with modes to get rid of these lies we tell ourselves; compared to me just reading the article and coming up with ways to improve this issue on my own with no guidance. At the retreat, they told us that we often have more negative views about ourselves then positive view, and the way they helped us get rid of those negative views is trying to come up with concrete evidence to support the negative views, and to come up with evidence that counter acts our negative views. 99.9 percent of the time most of us could not come up with data to support our negative thinking, which goes to show how silly we can be to let ideas that are not even real affect us in such a big way.

With that said said I think that many people, including the students from the empowerment pipe line have lived with the consent lies that they are not good enough to go to college. When someone has been consistently told something,even if it is a lie, the individual will internalize those thoughts and eventually think that those lies are the truth. So getting an individual to realize something they have internalized for so long is not reality will be challenging. What I think will work is being personal with them. I think that the way we can actually impact them is by sharing a personal experience. For example, if we share with them the lies we tell ourselves and we provide them with a counter example of why these lies are not the truth I think that will make us seem more relatable to them, and hopefully it will make them realize that they too are lying to themselves. In the end, I have realized that I am always going to have these negative views and lies, but it is up to me how I let those lies effect me. Sometimes they will overpower me, but for the most part I will do my best to remind me that I am worthy of anything that comes my way.

These quotes remind me of the article: 

The cruelest lies are often told in silence.~ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. ~PLATO