Being Absent From The Education System

My first experience to literacy came as a young adult. I have always been reluctant with my education, because of the family problems I experienced growing up. The harsh treatment our family received growing up made it very difficult to study in school, my body was physically in class but my mind was not. The trials and tribulations I went through growing up as a kid continued throughout my teenage years. Dropping out of high school I believe brought upon literacy difficulty. At the age of twenty-three, I finally had enough of feeling undereducated. Living in my mother’s basement with no job and an 8th grade education, the walls started to close in on me as my frustration became greater by the minute.

Now, I have come to the innate realization that education is more than just academic. Education is multifaceted and constantly changing, it is moldable and diverse, and, most importantly, it means something different to every person lucky enough to embrace it. I wish I knew precisely to what I could attribute this shift in my thinking, but I think it was a gradual process. What I do know, however, is that by the start of my Junior year, I had a new goal in mind for my education; no longer was my focus so strictly embedded in data driven perfection (though my 4.0 GPA did remain unscathed), but rather I decided that this year I would transfer some of my ambition into forming relationships with others in every way I could. This decision managed to impact my life, and even my view of education, in ways that I never could have foreseen.

Throughout my years of schooling, I have become ambivalent about reading and writing. I have struggled in school to make myself enjoy writing. I didn’t mind reading as much, as long as it was to my interest. It has differed throughout the years I have been in school. Some years I have enjoyed both, reading and writing, and other years I have not liked either. Getting myself to enjoy reading and writing has been quite the adventure.

I didn’t always not like reading and writing but somewhere along my educational history I lost interest. The first time I remember writing goes all the way back to preschool when I learned how to write letters. All the way from there to 4th grade I enjoyed writing very much, but then it seemed more like a chore than an activity. It was causing a lot of stress emotionally and it showed in my grades. Writing can explain a story to some extent, but in the overall picture of

little did I know there was more to come in my high school journey. Every day new topics piled up and overwhelming me. At first, I thought I could understand the subjects easily but it was quite hard for me at that time. My approach to everything back before the event was to just to wing it, finish everything at the last minute and hope for the best. So I realized what I was doing something wrong and decided to change, but the transition wasn't easy.

I was raised to love reading from a young age and that is exactly what happened. I learned how to read when I was about two years old and I haven’t stopped. There were stages to what and how I read, advancing with age. The levels of my literature preference is split into three separate intervals.

I used to loathe reading and writing. I still do. There is however, a difference between my feelings regarding reading and writing in my past compared to my feelings now. I didn’t know who I was or what my thoughts were on many subjects. I also had trouble connecting with the stories I was reading. The main turning point in my attitude towards reading was in my ninth grade English class. My teacher, Mrs. Schultz, taught me, or maybe I finally decided to listen, and I found a deeper meaning and moral compass in the book we read. From then on, I looked at literature in a different light.

In elementary I could never keep up with my peers in the reading and writing category. I accelerated among my classmates in math, but I still struggled to be at the same reading level as them. As my classmates moved on to the thin chapter books I was still trying to to get comfortable with what seemed like little kid books. I got so frustrated that I began to hate reading and along with that writing. Because of my struggles with reading it made me a poor writer when I moved into middle school.

Sometimes I wished it was solely the people, my friends, or even the teachers that made high school so miserable, but it was my dream. It was the feeling of knowing your purpose but being confined to one place that sucked the soul out of the dream and made it seem like nothing more than just that – a dream. Each day for me was a struggle because of it. I knew that I had greater potential and that I could do more with my life then what I was currently doing. I felt like everything was pointless, and nothing excited me. I didn’t feel challenged enough and I wasn’t taking classes that either interested or benefited me. Sure, I learned some important things in those classes and gained necessary skills

Growing up, I never was much into reading or writing. My mother was the writer in the family and I was always drawn more in visual expressions such as drawing and painting. It seemed easier for me to draw a picture of a cow then it was to write a description about one. I would attempt to write, as needed for school, but would usually end up getting lost in my own paragraphs and forgetting how to best finish my thoughts.

I started high school as a freshman shortly after arriving in the U.S. As I watched my parents struggle to adjust to their new life, I had to grow up quickly. Instead of staying after school participating in sports and other activities, I came home early to cook, do chores, and help my sisters with their homework. Appreciating the sacrifices that my parents made in order to give me a better future, I reminded myself to try my best in school. I created calendars and schedules to efficiently manage my time, which improved my grades. I also studied English conversations online every

When I was young and first started out reading and writing, I never had an interest in it. Whether it was picture books or short

Written word and reading came to me in the way oil is introduced to a cup of water, a sudden disagreement. I have never Liked reading or writing, but in 6th grade I began to truly despise it. I was always a math and science person ,but I knew could write a well versed and attention grabbing story and essay. My downfall however, was that I could never write them the right way. Being that I always have went through school each year writing wrong. The description of my 6th grade year is what conjured up my decision to change that. This is the year I buckled down, and I told myself that this will be the year I become a better reader as well as a better writer.

Continuing my education through high school I quickly gained an understanding of life. I continued to educated myself and remain open minded about life. I read multiple books, conducted my own research and participated in many school activities, such as college seminars and tours. I learned in order to be successful and provide a better life for myself and child, I needed an education. I instantly became interested in a psychology introductory course in high school. I was fascinated with the human mind and wanted answers. I decided to use my premature decisions as my motivation. I graduated from high school and also became the first person in my family to graduate from college. I graduated from Trinity Washington

Ever since grade school, reading and writing have been forced upon me and many other students. Like some of my peers, I didn't enjoy having to read and write more than twice a day. Despite my long exposure to english and countless and enthusiastic approaches from my teachers, my love for english never grew. Perhaps my dislike for english began when reading and writing was more than a chore rather than a hobby. Since kindergarden, my teachers would read to us everyday until we learned how to read, then we would have to read quietly in class. These class and silent reading sessions were supposed to open our minds and help us explore the world of reading and writing to be more creative but this was not the case with me. My mind was more active during our math and science lessons but we would only have these for about an hour or less. Math and science require logical thinking and most of the time the results are very similar while english and writing are subjective and we can have different opinions on the same subject and still be correct. Personally I am more of a logical thinker than a creative one.