Motivating students by supporting their dreams

By Mimi Nissim
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
March, 2011

October Sky is a movie that I have never seen or even heard of before. After today's class however, I am very glad that I was given the opportunity to watch such an inspiring movie. Nowadays, we just go to the movies, sit in a dark theatre for two hours, eat some popcorn, and watch a movie. That movie could make us laugh or cry or scare us to death. The point being to just go and watch a movie and forget about the outside world and think only of the movie. In the case of October Sky, for two hours we are engulfed in the world of Homer Hickam working hard and pushing forward to achieve his goals. He has a dream to build and fly rockets successfully and he would not quit no matter what stood in his way. His father, his ultimate hero, does nothing to show support but rather dissuades him from pursuing his dreams. All Homer hears from his father is that he is wasting his time and he should be realistic about his future as a coal miner.

Thankfully, Homer had the support of a wonderful teacher, Ms. Riley, that would motivate him to never quit and to push forward through all the obstacles. No matter what others felt about his dream, Homer had one goal in mind and he was set to do whatever it took to achieve greatness. He wanted more from his life and he knew that in order to escape his small town in Virginia, he would need to work extra hard to earn a scholarship to college. The rocket was just a means to an end to take him down that path and allow him the freedom to pursue his dream to go to college. In the end, his hard work and dedication earned him the respect and recognition that he so desired from everyone, especially his father.

If we lived in a perfect world, I would say that Homer's father should have been more supportive of his son's dreams. Unfortunately, he was just being realistic and felt that in the end his son would just end up a coal miner like he was and so are all the other men in the town. Homer's father never had a way to escape and he expected the same fate to fall upon his son. Thankfully, in the end, he realized that his son could go far and he needed his help to get there. He supported his son and did whatever he could to help him with his rocket. The support from his father meant so much to Homer and it was all he wanted from him. It shows how important it is to motivate your children and support their dreams. The worst thing a parent could do is to push their children down and tell them that they can not achieve something. That negativity could prevent them from ever going after what they want and they will lose all their motivation to succeed in life. Parents and teachers must be there to show support and push children to move forward.

I hope to one day sit down with my own children and watch October Sky with them as a family. I will make sure that they understand the real story behind the movie. Homer had a dream and he did whatever he had to do to accomplish that dream. With his hard work and devotion to rocket building, he was able to succeed and change his fate. Each step of the way, he was motivated to work hard and get his ticket out of that small town. My own children will someday have dreams of their own and they must work hard to get where they want to be in life. I know that I will be right there to push them forward and make all their dreams come true. Without motivation and hard work, we will never get anywhere in life.