My High School Chemistry Book

More people than ever before are attending college due to the endless opportunities that it provides. Louis Menand, a college professor and the author of “Live and Learn: Why We Have College,” explains the meaning of college through three theories that have been developed. Theory 1 supports the idea of the sorting-out process that separates the highly intelligent from the less intelligent. Menand’s second theory explains that college provides opportunities for developmental growth, personal growth, and teaches individuals about the world around us. These are valuable lessons that will not be learned anywhere else. Theory three supports the idea of people attending college to specialize in a specific vocation. I

What we get out of the college experience, we use in our day to day lives. Even the things we think aren’t important or useful end up becoming helpful. The material we learn in college is fundamental when it comes jobs and life in general. We are taught to make choices. We are taught how the real world works, and how to turn our education into our way of life. “…the really significant education in thinking that we’re supposed to get in a place like this isn’t really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about.” (Wallace 199).

College is an opportunity to truly discover who you are. Often enough, you hear people saying “You should really major in this field, I think you would really enjoy this career.” or, “Do you think you really want to study that? Have you thought about what you will be doing ten years from now?” filling your mind with self doubt, uncertainty, and the anxiousness of not knowing what you want to do with the rest of your life. Mark Edmundson wrote an article titled, Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?, published in Oxford American addressing college students and their families how the most important thing college students should focus on is personal growth. When students take their courses seriously their engagement can help finding out who they really are and which future career will lead not necessarily to great financial success, but to a career and life that is very satisfying. Edmundson wants to inspire his audience and have them take what he is saying seriously. Edmundson uses satirical informal language and hypothetical situations to effectively persuade college students to focus on their personal growth in order to create a life and career that is deeply fulfilling.

The article “Secrets of the Most Successful College Students” by Annie Murphy Paul provides advice as well as experiences of wise students that can be implemented into the academic careers of any determined learner. This article is relevant to my life since I am a student planning to go to college. Many of the advice that was stated is already applied to the way in which I learn now. Becoming aware of the success that could follow from putting this well-advised information into effect is inspiring.

In a national survey of 2000+ adults concerning college education, “74% say their college education was very useful in helping them grow intellectually,” and, “69% say it was very useful in helping them grow and mature as a person (Pew).” These statistics validate the satisfaction of students who feel like their college experience had helped them become a better person. Some may argue that higher education can be toxic, as a teacher stated that,“in schools, we create artificial learning environment for our children that they know to be contrived and unserving of their full attention and engagement (Crawford).” However, this “environment” may be tough, but at the same time is preparing students to be the best they possibly can be in the real

I was placed is Mrs. Basden’s AP Chemistry class at the Highland High School, and I observed on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I assisted Mrs. Basden with group questions and activities. The AP chemistry course is very intensive and contains a lot of required material to cover within a school year. The majority of the observation was revolved around solving practice problems that will help these students on the AP exam. Due to the rigorous schedule of teaching all the topics that will be on the AP Chemistry Exam, there are not many opportunities for large reading and writing strategies in the classroom towards the end of the school year.

College students get to analyze other subjects that they may have not shown an interest in before; that will help them construct their career. Getting the necessary skills students need, will assure their success on anything they choose to do. “It is the education which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, and a force in urging them” (Newman, 54). Education gives students a better understanding their own opinions, and judgments; it creates anxiousness in developing them, a fluency in expressing them, and a power in urging them.

10. Your friend says that what makes one element distinct from another is the number of electrons about the atomic nucleus. Do you agree wholeheartedly, partially, or not at all? Explain.

During my undergraduate career, I have learn a lot more than what was taught in the classroom. It was an experience that you cannot describe in words; something you can only experience. Luckily, I had environment that encouraged me to explore beyond what a textbook has to over via instructor, counselor or peer. When your challenges are arranged as a journey of learning, surrounded by a supportive environment, the wonders you can learn about the world are endless.

I nearly use all of the information and skills I learn in my everyday life. Soon that will form my character as an adult. It is clear that school is a means of learning but multiple children do not believe that they will use most of the knowledge they gain from this source. Numerous people do not know how to use school knowledge in everyday life. A knowledge that can help me in everyday life would be Critical Thinking. “Critical Thinking skills teach a variety of skills that can be applied to any situation in life that calls for reflection, analysis and planning”(What) said S. M. Rayhanul Islam. Since I use this concept in school, I have already prepared myself in this area for adulthood but I still have an abundance of knowledge yet to learn. In the article, School Knowledge and Its Relevance to Everyday Life in Rural Western Kenya it states, “School knowledge is believed to transform and change children and the status of the educated person draws its importance from the relevance of education in everyday life” (School).This quote shows that students that behave a certain way in school will probably use that same concept after they graduate from high school. How far they will go in life will depend on the way they act. As many people say knowledge is power. Those students that pay attention to lecture and use their gained knowledge as resources to do more will probably be better off in life than if it was the other way around. I use this mindset in my everyday school life. This is the main way in getting into that right track, to get educated. It causes students to have lots of experience so when they are set free on their own, they will at least have some type of knowledge which they can build themselves from. This is the reason why I am doing volunteer work and scholarships -- in hopes of getting into different environments to experience life besides school. I will use

Passionate to know more, learn more, (he) sailed for France…in order to attend lectures at the Sorbonne” (McCullough, 2008/2012, p. 334). He felt this urge to learn more, so he sought and went after greater knowledge. He worked for it. I would like to repeat the quote by Abigail Adams, “Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought with ardor and attended with diligence” (McCullough, 2008/2012, p. 334).

I now realize for me to be able to grow as a person and as a student I need to prepare my mind with as much information, facts, and details as I can. With all this new knowledge the chance to become something great hangs in the balance. By studying everything around me I can nurture, expand, and fill my mind with enough knowledge I can become anything I put my mind

Jack Kerouac is well known for saying, “The best teacher is experience and not through someone's distorted point of view”. With such a vast and beautiful world to explore there are many important life lessons one can learn while taking time away from school. Having to go out and survive on your own can be a very fulfilling endeavor. Not attending college immediately after high school allowed me to travel the country while realizing the importance of time and money management, living these realities helped me become more aware of my thirst for knowledge.

This approach focuses on the importance of quality curriculum and the need for revision so that it consists of learnings that students find enjoyable and useful. The classes in college are intended to broaden the student's outlook on life. This is the goal of general education. When the information is not applicable, the motivation to learn decreases and the only incentive to attend class is because class participation is weighted on the final grade for the class. Instructors ought not to be dispassionate, thus, translating that same lifelessness into the students.

As Daniel J. Boorstin said, “Education is learning what you didn 't even know you didn 't know.”