Paper three final draft

Back when the History channel was about history a person could have learned the events of World War Two and how such a traumatic event changed the world. It can become awe-inspiring to some, how something like a war can effect almost every country in the world at one time. That spark of intrigue can motivate one to learn as much as they could about this global event for many years to come. Much like Mike Rose mentioned in Lives on the Boundary, An experience like this could give someone "a way to feel special by using [their] mind."  While with such a largely detailed subject, it could take quite some time to learn about the war as a whole. Some might have to begin their research at a young age with a broad overview of the war and progressively go into deeper detail over time.  An educational experience such as this could be more important and longer lasting than a formal classroom lesson, because finding something that truly interests you can be more motivating than being told what to learn.

When a child finds something they are interested in, it gives them something to do and gives a constructive outlet for learning. While it can occasionally be difficult to find a learning subject that a child will be interested in or something that the child will pursue to learn in the future. Once the child finds such an outlet it can be difficult to turn the child away from such an interest. While when a child finds their interest at such a young age, the only sources they would be able to learn more about their interest would only be TV and their school teachers, and because war and weapons are not books elementary schools would normally keep in their libraries, the only sources that a student would be able to find would have to be any history book that might mention it in its text. Students that are passionate about this subject would need to run from the school library, to the public library to find the sources that would have enough detailed information to further their knowledge. There are plenty of simple books that a younger aged student can learn from with ease until they are ready for more advanced books.

As the child gets older, they would be able to find new sources of information such as the internet, where they could just type in a battle or significant person to find hundreds of sources of information. One might only type in "The Battle of Stalingrad" and find websites, books, or even diaries of the solders on both sides of the battle. One might search "Normandy landing" and find photos, blueprints of bunkers, and tactical plans of the invasion from the Americans, British and Canadian fleets. Some might even discover new sources information that can be entertaining while still being informative. Such sources could be movies, an older child can see movies that may have been too violent for a younger child and those movies can send them down a new branch of information they would be curious about. Just as The Walt Disney said in 1957, " We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." Some older teens might also find videogames a source of inspiration to find research topics, even when the topic of the game may be ridiculous, there may be a sliver of reality. Even when the game is about something that may seem like a complete work of fiction such as German jets and lasers, one would find that this topic is more than fiction, Germany had jet fighters and plans for such crazy projects as robots, lasers and space stations. While more opportunities may come as a older teenager, there are even more opportunities to come with age.

As an adult a passionate researcher has an almost unlimited amount of freedom to pursue their passion in more ways than before. The greatest freedom one can have to chase their passion would be the ability to travel on one's own. With today's travel methods it is very easy to travel to such important and historical sites of such Pearl Harbor to see the memorial that rests remnants of the sunken U.S.S. Arizona who was sunk during the Japanese attack. One might take a much longer trip to Europe, such a trip could  turn into an entire vacation with one day traveling to the site the Normandy landing and walk on the same sand that so many had died. While another day could be spent in Berlin visiting the Reichstag to see where the final fight of Berlin took place, and view the Russian graffiti left by the invading red army. Cate Huston make a wonderful point when she shares from her blog "It was scary to set off by myself, but I met people everywhere I went." A person traveling so much can meet some many interesting characters along their travels. Someone can meet veterans from all sides of the war, or witnesses of traumatic events such as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, or Survivors of one of the largest genocides ever committed.

History about something like war can seem so simple on the surface and yet when someone dives deeper into the information, the war can grow into so much more. Just as in this paper finding something that one finds interesting can be long and almost story-worthy journey along one's life. This does not only relate to history, this can relate to other subjects as well as anyone who finds their passion and never lets it go, that they may follow it throughout their life. This is why I believe that an educational experience such as this can be so much more important and longer lasting than a formal classroom lesson.  

Rose, Mike. "I just wanna be average." Lives on the Boundary: A Moving Account of the Struggles and Achievements of America's Educationally Under prepared. New York: MacMillan, 1989. Web. 28 May. 2014

Disney, Walt. The Story of Walt Disney . n.p. 1957. Web. 4 June 2014. 

Huston, Cate. How I Learned to Love Traveling Solo. 2013. Thr. 5 June 2014