Adrienne Rich Education Rich Analysis

“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people that are prepared for today.” These heartfelt words were spoken by the civil rights activist Malcolm X who believed that people should never stop learning. I’m very much like him in that way. I believe that everybody should have the right to a fair education. I certainly enjoy learning at my current school, Julia R. Masterman. Masterman has taught me many things that I never thought I would learn. In this essay I will discuss how my education, so far, has impacted my life through improving social skills, rigorous academics and has increased my sense of independence.

Growing up in poverty meant always being in a pinch for money. This led me to my decision of seeking a job within the first month of my freshman year in high school. Thankfully, this decision led me to the precious self-taught skill of time management. I was able to build my skills until my sophomore year. I tried to take on more shifts at work than I could handle, in aspiration of saving up for a car, and consequently my grades began to slip. I acquired my first C in my favorite class: Chemistry. Being an aspiring student in the medical field, and a student who prides themselves on their grades, I was devastated. As a result, I soon reached the epiphany that one has to have priorities in life; I chose mine to be education. I discussed with my boss my situation and she gave me a set schedule of a doable 4 days a week. This allowed me to do my homework and studying in advance. This also permitted me to get enough sleep,

The author of “Race to the Top of What? Education is About More Than Jobs”, Mike Rose, has over 40 years experience teaching and interacting with others in an educational context. Rose insists that education changes lives and helps people to discover themselves and their passions, as well as moves students further up in life. He has had many students with a variety of reasons for going, or going back, to school, and argues that there should be more public recognition and endorsement for the assortment of reasons people value education. I affirm this notion, that there’s more to education than work, and that the many other values of education should be given the same amount of emphasis.

Robert Louis Stevenson once said, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” Although education is one of the most challenging professions in the world, it is also one of the most rewarding because of the great responsibility entrusted to us. We have the opportunity mould the lives of our future leaders, plant seeds of hope in the hopeless, and inspire a generation of innovators.

Knowing the struggles my ancestors have prevailed upon to provide me the opportunity to pursue my dreams is humbling. They’ve taught me that education is power. I was able to understand its magnitude by becoming an English teacher to students from a local underprivileged public school. I had been capable of reminding them that they are entitled to dream, simply by giving them the knowledge and opportunity to think outside of the box. As I move on to college, I hope to continue to empower individuals through education, providing them the opportunity that my great-grandmother wished for but did not have. Despite the tumultuous path to accepting and understanding myself, I know that college will be another colorful fragment to the patchwork of my

All through Middle School and High School I had to juggle my academics with my

I felt it was very important to be fully involved in my academics and activities in high school. My freshman year I took part in Show Choir, Football Cheer, Basketball Cheer, and finally Softball. My class schedule consisted of accelerated classes like Geometry because I took Algebra I in middle school. I decided to stay a part of only Show Choir and Football Cheer during my sophomore year, while still being challenged in my classes. By my junior year, I was in Football Cheer, HOSA, and Key Club. I took classes such as AP English and Pre-Calculus in order to keep myself challenged. My junior year was when I started taking part in community service at the local middle school

For all my virtuous endeavors I have learned a profound truth; the journey to perfection requires many elementary strides. In the pursuit of an education, I believe that striving for perfection leads to accomplishment; equally valued, to the length and direction of the stride. Considering whether the investment in a college education is worth the return or a waste of time we must also consider the perspective of those who would introspect. Acknowledging the obvious ambiguity of worth and value, infinite perspectives regarding education emerge. Whether you are an investor pursuing financial gain, a philosopher seeking enlightenment or a proletariat considering employment, reward will reflect

Adrienne Rich begins her piece, Taking Women Students Seriously, with the assertion that she must create “a context [and] delineate a background” (Rich 210) against which the world should speak of the concept of women as students. Rich follows the struggle of women throughout an androcentric educational sphere in settings that range from Harvard to the urban City College of New York. Through an interweaving of experiential evidence and biting critique she further cultivates the reader’s understanding of the stereotypical views of female passivity and self-deprecation seen in mainstream educational systems throughout the nation. These outlooks, Rich insists, harm not only the quality of education received by women, but their determined self worth in their own eyes, and the eyes of their peers.

As a highschool student in a small town I struggle between my sports I do and my education plus wanting to spend time with my family. I wake up go to school, go straight to the gym, come home around 9-9:30, I miss family dinner every night and I don’t go to bed until

School and academics always came easy to me when I was growing up. I never found that I needed to study much for tests, or worry about homework, because I was really good at memorizing notes. I’m sure you can imagine that as a freshman in High School I received my first real rude awakening. I started to fall behind in classes, barely passing tests, I would "forget" to do my homework, and school became agonizing for me. I learned that the bare minimum led to barely passing. By my sophomore year I decided to clean up my act. I began making social sacrifices so that I could apply my all to my academics. Sophomore year I chose a new social group to be a part of, I put a renewed emphasis on my grades and scholastic achievements, as well as chose

Since the first day of kindergarten my father has always said, “ Having a strong education is one of the most important opportunities you’ll receive in life.” I have heard this same quote over and over again for 21 years. I didn’t really think about what he meant by it until my senior year of high school. I was sitting in homeroom the first day of senior year asking myself, “What is so important about getting a good education?” I didn’t really get the answer to the question until my freshman year of college. After I graduated high school I was able to see the kids who really cared where they went in life and the ones who didn’t. I thought about the kids, who dropped out of college after the first semester and went home to work at McDonalds.

According to College Atlas Statistics, seventy percent of Americans will go study at a four-year college, but less than two-thirds will graduate with a degree. There are also 44.2 million people in America with student loan debt. The traditional idea of going to college has been defined by many as the key to getting a job and becoming successful. While that may be true for some, that cliche idea has put many Americans in an unwanted financial situation and working a job they aren’t content with. I believe it’s important for students to know why they are spending the time, effort, and money in getting a degree. I define Education as a way to help change the world, expand intellectuality and learn more about what I’m passionate about.

Adrienne Rich writes of the importance of claiming or receiving an education, a dilemma faced in most schools and curriculums across the world. Rich says that both students and professors are a part of the problem, “but ultimately those two parts are indivisible,” (1). Rich points out the problems with institutionalized education and says that “if university education means anything beyond the processing of human beings into expected roles, through credit hours, tests, and grades, … it implies an ethical and intellectual

In Adrienne Rich’s speech, Claiming an Education, a statement was made that broadened my views of being a student in a university: “you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education: you will do much better to think of being here to claim one” (paragraph 2). To furthermore explain this statement, students (especially women) should not attend school to just “receive” what is offered, but to rightfully take what is yours; which would be the degree.