“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.
One the first day of school in the third grade, as I proudly wore my navy blue polo uniform that wrote “Jotham W. Wakeman Public School Number 6” I was excited to go to back to school. There was just something I missed about the grey painted walls, the dark and empty cold rooms, and the indigestible school lunch. They called it a school, claimed to be treating the children like “ students” but we were treated as young juveniles. “Only speak when you are told to.” “ Everyone stand in a straight line now.” “ Do not slouch, sit up straight” “ class chores, every week everyone receives a chore” At such a young age I thought: was I receiving an education or a variety of punishments?
After the “rules” of the class were discussed my teacher went around the class and made the students introduce themselves. “Please introduce yourself” she said as she lowered her glasses, raised her eyebrows up, tilted her head a little down and
His book Schooled was a delight for me to read, and once I started I did not want to put it down. I liked many of the characters as the author wrote them well and gave everyone a different personality, this kept the story interesting. The writing style was different than I had encountered before, as each chapter depicted a different person’s point of view. The alternating characters' points of view, allowed me to gain insight into the turmoil that each character was experiencing as Cap influenced their lives. Although I was hesitant of the style at first the story flowed nicely and I could really envision each character. I also really enjoyed the plot of this book. A home schooled eighth grade hippie being forced into society through a normal
Regarding my college education, I opted for a rather unconventional route to prepare for medical school. I declared a major in Music with a concentration on Composition, along with piano as a principal instrument. I addition to these, I took all of the required pre-medical courses along with additional important science courses to acquire the academic exposure necessary to be successful in medical school. Throughout my college career, I have successfully juggled the two disciplines, and have consequently achieved the required mastery of both.
Education is inevitable. It is all around us because we can learn from virtually anything. When you are cooking, dancing, talking or any other activity you have actually had to learn several things to be able to do them. In the educational perspective, I am a pragmatist and I tend to follow after Dewey's footsteps. The concept of Pragmatism is one that developed in the 20th century. My philosophy is based on the idea that learning should involve real-life situations. Learning becomes more concrete to a student when they apply it to real-life situations, as where learning things that do not connect to them has more of an abstract sense. Personally, I would have to agree with Dewey when he said, "I
“Be a reflective teacher. Honestly look at what you do from time to time. Evaluate the purpose of your role as a teacher.” (Robert John Meenham, 2011)
Without education people would be lost. Education gives a student the knowledge to survive in a demanding world. It also helps a student grow as an individual. Students need to be motivated to learn by the teacher in the classroom. Motivation can come in different forms and depends on the age of the students. A teacher has many rewarding experiences in the classroom. My goal is to get students interested in learning. Teachers need to make sure that they do not discriminate in their classrooms. Also, they must have good classroom management in order to provide an effective learning environment. My philosophy of education is progressivism. I want my students to learn how to work
Looking at me now, you never would be able to guess that I began my school career within the exclusive halls of Queens of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Elementary School. You also never would have guessed that my stubborn, strong-willed, elementary school self would lead the charge for my own termination from that school. The idea of leaving the school came from the fact that my time spent there was just as painful and meticulous as saying the school’s full name, and my headstrong self knew that I had to get out of there. It took some time to get what I desperately wanted, but after my cousin had transferred from Queen’s to a public school on the outside of the city and declared that he liked it, my parents begrudgingly allowed me to make
Every since the start of high school, I have been following news articles. News about economics, political matters, terrorist movements etc. and it has started to make me see things in a different light. I choose Education Inequality as my research topic because lately I have noticed how much school and education has made an impact on my life. Education has led me down an advanced track for all my classes, it has provided me with an amazing group of intelligent friends that push me to do excel in everything that I do, it has also shown me that I am privileged.
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.
America's victory against Great Britain in 1786 not only gained them independence but the status of a world superpower; where the world would watch our every move and imitate it. Now, 241 years later we still stand as one of the superpowers of the world. Yet, our testing scores place 31st in the world. Which is why our government has been working on improving our education system, hoping to improve our scores. Yet even with all the attention on improving our system, there haven't been many changes; and our test scores have barely risen. If so many people believe education isn't going down the right path, then why hasn't it changed, in so many years? International testing scores are rising and surpassing ours. Yet, the United States is not making progress in growing educational programs. Over the years we have seen other countries education scores rise, and surpass ours. Despite our current efforts, it raises the question, when will we actually improve our education, and catch up with the world? Even though there have been some changes, our education needs to reworked, and re evaluated, so our scores will rise, and we can catch up with the rest of the world.
It is easy to be frustrated at education. It is easy to think about all that education is lacking. It seems like most of the time, the conversation is spent talking about how there are never enough of the good things that really help people to learn. When I started studying education in a critical lens, even when I was taking a course that was specifically designed to think about the possibilities of education, I felt that a good amount of the time was still spent thinking about the shortcomings. And, in critical thinking, it is a very useful tool to not just accept the systems the way they are! However, I started to get lost in tearing down the status quo. I started to feel like most of my time was spent learning about how education was inequitable and inaccessible, especially in terms of race, class, gender and ability. The anger in the articles I was reading was ringing through loud and clear and I was ready to take up the battle cry because if one is systematically denied education, they are denied economic and social capital in our society, which it is unjust (cite). However, I kept feeling unfulfilled by just feeling this anger. Anger and critical deconstruction of the system of education can catalyze change, but one has to have some idea of what an accessible and equitable system would look like in order to then start the work to get there.
Education was created as a way for everyone to grow up and have an equal opportunity to pursue wealth. (Spring) This does not guarantee that you will become wealthy but it gives you an equal opportunity to succeed. Growing up I thought that the education that I was received was the same that all children received. However, upon concepts brought up in education I learned that the education that everyone received growing up was not the same as everyone else. I learned that the education that I experience was based where I lived where I went to school and my racial background. Some concepts, that I learned from urban education about my own education experience was that there are different types of schools, tracking in schools, and student teacher interaction.
The dynamics of the student population yields no two students who are exactly alike. For this reason, it seems unreasonable to use one form of instructional materials, curriculum delivery, and assessment standards for all students. Educators realize that students learn at different rates and through different avenues. Individualized instruction approaches attempt to make the learning experience suitable for each student in terms of his or her learning needs, interests, and developmental level. Individualized instruction programs focus on objectives that are personal for each child. The child is an active partner in decision-making in terms of activities, subject matter, and assessment. Because students learn at different rates,
Like most people, my education started out traditionally with Kindergarten and proceeded through current college level. The one piece of education that may differed from most others would have to be “pre-k” schooling. I did not attend this aspect of schooling and believe that it had an impact on my education and readiness for school. Although I was placed in “daycare” programs on occasion, it was not consistent enough nor had the curriculum to prepare me for the social interactions and activities learned in the first year of schooling. From then on, I seemed to adjust to the normalcy of school and began developing friend groups and relationships. I proceeded to middle school afterword’s with little problems until approximately 8th grade where my grades began to see their first decline.
Words can carry the mind to many worlds, they form fears, excitement and make us think of what it can be. In a classroom full of five-year old’s, we were told that we were the future leaders of our country and even the world. Not sure of the others but for me that was a moment I can never forget. From my perspective people labeled me because of my color of skin and race. Sacrifices from my dad and myself also has shaped my education, it is what has kept me going. The pressure falls on each one of us differently. I was always being compared to my older siblings, not by my parents, by my educators. It was hard being the youngest, the bar was set high for me. Education has always been an enormous part in my life, no matter the seconds,
Nelson Mandela once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world," and I find this to be an exceedingly motivating and inspirational remark. Growing up in less than optimal conditions and living through many disconcerting situations, I have found myself using these experiences to drive myself to make a mark in the world and let my voice be heard. Education has proven itself to be the most successful route I have found in being able to truly fit in and finally grow as a person, which has, in turn, influenced me to leave my mark on society.