No Red Pill No Blue Pill Response

The article, "No Red Pill No Blue Pill" by Ana Cristina Pratas was a creative way to express the hardships of teaching to an unmotivated group. The message the author was conveying is that no matter the effort of the teacher, you can only learn if you want to. In the end, you choose how much you want to learn, how much information you want to absorb. After all, it's your education. The author might have written this article to indirectly advise her current class that if they weren't motivated enough, they wouldn't learn. This was a very creative way to express her struggles, and effective as well. The message was clear- the teacher shouldn't have to put in all of the effort, students have part of the responsibility too. 

The author's style of writing enhanced this article, and made it more interesting to read. She had a somewhat poetic scheme while introducing her topic as well as rounding off at the end. Furthermore, I enjoyed the descriptive language scattered throughout the article. In addition, I noticed quite a lot of visuals throughout her work. Despite her writing style, the visuals were somewhat distracting, and only a few were necessary. For example, what connection did the very first picture have to the article? On the other hand, the allusions made within the text was very useful. To elaborate, to be honest I myself had no idea what "No red pill, no blue pill" meant, until I read through the whole piece. If it wasn't for the links, I would probably still not understand the connection it had to her article. 

This article was very expressive and I enjoyed reading it very much. It made me realize that we couldn't put the blame  on teachers all the time; students have as much authority of their learning as teachers do. Many people tend to blame teachers when they don't learn in school. However, has anyone considered the other side of the story- have the students been putting as much, if not more effort than the teachers? By highschool, the students are old enough to step up and be the change they want to see, instead of sitting on the sidelines and criticizing others. If they are not satisfied with the teacher's method of teaching, they should be the ones to take charge and let them know. Students should take the initiative to further their learning, because you only learn as much as you want to. In my opinion, blaming teachers is just the easy way out. This relates to our society and my personal experiences because I always hear negativity about teachers, when students are partly to blame. You cannot solely accuse teachers of not doing their job without considering if the students have either. After highschool, there will be no teachers to guide us, and we take on full responsibility of our learning. Therefore, we should be prepared to be self-motivated and ready to learn. I completely agree with the author's message, and she has done a good job of expressing her opinions effectively.