Reflection About Education

An intersectional reflection of my dichotomous relationship with higher education is what fuels my desire to pursue a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. As a first-generation college student, earning a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees profoundly altered the trajectory of my family out of years of generational poverty. As a result of embracing higher education, I possess the ability to think critically and creatively, with a passion and hunger for lifelong learning. Contrarily, the experience also left some biological, psychological, and social scarring. Macroaggressions, tokenism, and implicit bias have all contributed to the way that I now live, learn, and work in the world. While these experiences did not prevent the completion of my education, it has led others to abandon the pursuit, and certainly presents an enigma to many colleges and universities around the country eager to recruit and retain scholars that identify as Black/African-American, first-generation, and/or low socioeconomic status. The majority of my professional experience revolves around this very conundrum and the time has now come to pursue extensive and original research in this chosen field.

The aim of this assignment is to give a reflective account on group presentation and the peer assessment process as well as the development of a personal action plan. It would involve using ‘The What? Model of Structured Reflection’ (Driscoll 2007) to analyse the experience of using a group designed assessment tool to assess my peers and the experience of being peer assessed. Additionally, experience of completing a group presentation would be reflected upon. A personal action plan which identifies areas for personal development and the designed assessment tool is attached as appendix 1 and 2 respectively.

“Schooling the world” was a film based on schools around the world. The Director Carol Black focuses on India schooling and American schooling. The purpose of this film is to show that Americans think education should be one way and not different ways. The schooling in India has changed over time and locals are struggling with the changes. In the older schooling in India is was based on crops and the community. Very few people went to school, but many worked in the fields and in homes. Children are now being sent to boarding school in other towns and leaving their homes to get a better education. Many small towns in India are struggling with the new concept of learning and young people's views on money and communities. Throughout the film I agreed with most of the points in the film, I do disagree with some of the views the older Indian generation has.

My experiences with education have allowed me to witness disparities and challenges that underrepresented students face, as education systems are not designed to meet the needs of these scholars. Furthermore, these experiences have further motivated me to address these issues through research and community involvement. I hope to discover new ways in which underrepresented students can be assisted throughout their postsecondary educational journeys, through graduate research at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ultimately, with a Doctoral Degree focused on Education, I want to conduct transformative research and share this work as faculty at a research-intensive higher education institution.

This semester felt shorter than the first semester, due to the fact, that we had different things apart from our routine lessons.

In this paper, I am going to examine and compare my views on education to the great philosophers Aristotle, Socrates and Plato. Education should not be something forced on people from a very young age. We are educating our children to be master test takers who conform to the norm and not to think outside the box. My position is supported by Socrates in Plato 's The Republic and Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethics, Book II. Because students waste too much time on testing, education should not be compulsory.

Education is a vital part of our society it is critical, from the early stages of preschool, kindergarten, middle and high school and to those that are pursuing higher learning. We are all in a consistent learning cycle, paying little respect to our present educational structure. All through history, we have been learning in various ways. Since we are in the 21st Century, learning is winding up more digitalized. This is the thing that makes it so vital to be able to get a handle on information for what it's worth and have the capacity to apply it to our regular day to day existences. As we learn, we should likewise comprehend that there are diverse learning styles out there that does not transfer data in a simplistic way. This is the reason, as individuals, we must choose if the way data is passed particularly works for us or not. As Friere states in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, "Education either works as an instrument which is utilized to encourage coordination of the more youthful era into the rationale of the present framework, and achieve similarity or it turns into the act of flexibility. The methods by which men and ladies bargain basically and imaginatively with reality and find how to take an interest in the change of their reality." What does it REALLY mean to gain an education? Does it mean you attended a university and got a degree? Does it mean you can recollect pretty much all that you see or read? As I would like to think, it is not one or the other. Being

As I complete my final thoughts for this class, I have come to realize the importance of respecting others. As a future educator, its importance for me to understand the different social and culture values within the classroom. It’s my job to keep a positive environment that promotes learning for all (different ethnicities) students to success. There are plenty resources out there for teachers to utilize inside the classroom to incorporate different students’ cultures. For example, you can incorporate different books on different cultures inside your classroom library. As a teacher, it’s your job to make each child and family feel included. It’s our job to overcome those barriers and challenges that is associated with students who are immigrants. I’m willing to go the distance for my students, but first I need to understand and accept my own personal journey. It starts with understanding your own social identity; your social identity is how you establish yourself as a person.

I come from a country where houses are made by hand and people are made by their social class. Being born and raised in Uzbekistan, I have learned many life lessons. Growing up, I was the only child of my mother who raised me alone while she worked two jobs and studied to complete her doctorate in psychology. My mother lived every day with courage, strength, integrity, humility, and determination, paving the perfect example for her son. Being young, I did not understand the depravity with which people in Uzbekistan lived their daily lives; however, looking back I appreciate the hard work my mother put into every aspect of our lives to give me the opportunities I have today. Both disparity and hardship fall onto the hardest workers because of the injustices riddling the social infrastructure: some of the brightest minds were held to lower status jobs whereas less skilled individuals climbed the social ladder on their fathers’ backs. My mother fought through these inequities with me at her side to bring us into a better life.

It's 1994 in Long Beach, California. Erin Gruwell is just starting her first teaching job, as freshman and sophomore English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, which, two years earlier, implemented a voluntary integration program. For many of the existing teachers, the integration has ruined the school, whose previously stellar academic standing has been replaced with many students who will be lucky to graduate or even be literate. Despite choosing the school on purpose because of its integration program, Erin is unprepared for the nature of her classroom, whose students live by generations of strict moral codes of protecting their own at all cost. Many are in gangs and almost all know somebody that has been killed by gang violence. The Latinos hate the Cambodians who hate the blacks and so on. The only person the students hate more is Ms. Gruwell. It isn't until Erin holds an illegal discussion about a recent drive-by shooting death that she fully begins to understand what she's up against. And it isn't until she provides an assignment of writing a daily journal - which will be not graded, and will remain unread by her unless they so choose - that the students begin to open up to her.

Education is indubitably vital to becoming a great person, who can articulate themselves efficiently. Having a plethora of intelligent family members, education is always a topic of discussion when both sides of my family is around. From report cards to GPA’s, words of excitement always fill the room with warm rays of compliments. Even with the notion of needing to keep my grades up, I sometimes make mistakes, causing me to get an earful from my mother and father. With my own self-motivation to be the best I can be, my grandfather plays a big key in wanting to keep my grades up and succeed. Throughout everything I do he's always been and is willing to give a helping hand. I reflect his traits to help become the best I can possibly be.

God, the Ruler and Creator of every finite and infinite existence in the universe, has called me to a life of love, servitude, and fellowship with other Christians. However, at my age, my walk with Christ is no longer conjoined with decisions made by my parents. The decision of college is entirely mine to make with the benevolent and ever-wise guidance of Christ. By no means is this an easy task, but one ideal has been forthright in my heart-- my education must be Christ-centered.

“Education,” is one of many words that in my opinion cannot be accurately defined rather it varies person to person through culture, community, experience, and social background. For me, education through high school and later to be continued in college or at a university was a number one priority in my house growing up. While it was not a direct part of my culture to be successful in school or even in my community, (in fact you will learn it is quite the opposite of my community standards) it was directly a part of my families background and mother’s personal experience that I was destined to be successful in her eyes of the education realm the day I was born.

The ideas I have been considering since starting and college and starting this journey as college freshman has been the idea of not settling for the least and to believe in myself more. This probably sounds like a very basic discovering one has with oneself but it has made an impact on how I believe in myself and how I carry myself in regards to school work and achieving goals. An idea I have been considering is not an easy decision and I know that I won't deciding anytime soon but the idea of furthering my education and actually becoming a practitioner nurse sounds appealing. I don't know yet if I want to fulfill that education after graduation from nursing school but it has been idea that has been been planted in my head by talking to some peers and other nurses that are interested in furthering their education.

“Dad why did you leave everything you had in Egypt to come to America?” I observed as he attempted not to think of a generic response. He responded “education” and after a long pause he explained,“education was what motivated me to come to America.” Further he explained how he believed that America’s educational system, unlike those of many third-world countries, allows choice which furthers to success. He repeatedly stated vaguely that in Egypt that real success does not exist. However, despite his opinion, I am not sure it exists in America either.