The Value Of My Education : The Value Of Education

Education means something different for everyone. According to Mike Rose, “a good education helps us make sense of the world and find our way in it” (33). The truth to this is that education affects us in every aspect of our lives. Rose emphasizes the value in the experience of education beyond the value of education for the purpose of custom or intelligence; he explores the purpose of going to school in terms of how he defines himself and his personal growth in the stages of his academic career. In Rose’s exploration of the purpose of school, he also reflects on his personal experiences and how those experiences gave him tools that are applicable for his daily life. Mike Rose’s Why School?: Reclaiming Education for All of Us persuades his audience of the importance of education beyond the classroom, emphasizing how those experiences become crucial to one’s personal growth and potential.

Learning that school is something to be glad about was one aspect I will never forget. School helps spark and form the character of discovery in one’s mind. To find problems in the world’s society and attempt to fix them so future generations will not be forced to make that same mistake. Other than social media, education is the most powerful tool to train an adolescent’s mind. Coming from the Nobleboro Central School I have this story. The first trimester was a long one, I had never presented a project before and didn’t know the first thing about talking out loud in front of a class. Also, my English was considerably bad with papers handed in, in rough draft form. My English is still a little rusty, although my past teachers have guided me past the few trimesters preparing me for an average High School paper. Concludingly, the first trimester of public school was a real learning experience with mostly a C average in most of my classes which left room for improvement. The second trimester I had an understanding of school and was trying more and more on improving how I could understand teachers. This time of education at public school was the aha moment wherein I could explore the true reasons of presentations, tests and open book exams. The third and final trimester was a matter of consistency in grades. Because of this, most of my trimester average grades were in the B+/A range. Thankfully, because of this I had finished the 8th grade with most subjects having a yearly average of a

As we pulled up to the massive elementary school building, I begged my mom to let me stay home from school, just once. As usual, she said no. Realizing my attempt to get out of school was futile, I shouldered my backpack, swung open the door, and trudged over to the front door. I would rather be anywhere else than here. For the majority of my life, I attended public schools. It wasn’t rare for me to fail a test or even a whole class. It was because of these failures that I would get even more demotivated and threw away the idea of working hard or completing quality work altogether.

Education means something different for everyone. According to Mike Rose, “a good education helps us make sense of the world and find our way in it” (33). The truth to this is that education affects us in every aspect of our lives. Rose emphasizes the value in the experience of education beyond the value of education for the purpose of custom or intelligence; he explores the purpose of going to school in terms of how he defines himself and his personal growth in the stages of his academic career. In Rose’s exploration of the purpose of school, he also reflects on his personal experiences and how those experiences gave him tools that are applicable to his daily life. Mike Rose’s Why School?: Reclaiming Education for All of Us persuades his audience of the importance of education beyond the classroom, emphasizing how those experiences become crucial to one’s personal growth and potential.

Time and time again I've found myself declaring education as the central pillar of my growth and development, that of which has been consistent throughout my life and educational career. From the age of 8 I've attributed school and learning as a way to escape the outside world, both willingly, and as an involuntary coping mechanism; school was a refuge, a safe place where I could build healthy relationships and escape my worries. I felt valued by my teachers, and I was given opportunities to contribute to a community, and for the first time felt autonomous- and that I could control my future.

Many are quick to disregard education’s role outside of the classroom. According to Mike Rose, “a good education helps us make sense of the world and find our way in it” (Rose 33). Rose emphasizes the value in the experience of education beyond the value of education for the purpose of custom or intelligence; he explores the purpose of going to school in terms of how he defines himself and his personal growth in the stages of his academic career. By reflecting on his personal experiences and how those gave him the tools applicable to his daily life, he emphasizes why education should never be overlooked. Rose’s referencing relatable experiences in a logical manner makes his argument persuasive to the readers and he succeeds in making the readers reconsider why education matters to them. In his book Why School?: Reclaiming Education for All of Us, Mike Rose effectively persuades his audience of the importance of education beyond the classroom, emphasizing how those experiences become crucial to one’s personal growth and potential in our everyday lives.

“In the United States today, there is no more certain investment than a college education”(Carnevale and Melton). Education has always been a major component of American society. One can only go so far without an education, and the more education and knowledge someone has, the better their chances of being successful. Some people believe a high school education is enough, and it is, enough to land a job at a fast food restaurant. I speculate they feel this way because they feel school is not for them, or maybe they just do not want to go far in life. To get far in life people must go above and beyond, and learn things that others do not know to make them

Pharinet states “often the desire for learning is not what drives students to attend college” (635. Practical Argument: A Text and Anthology). We have developed in a society where everyone is expected to proceed to college. In actuality, nearly all people are not qualified for it. We are practically produced and accustom to believe that everyone needs a higher education in order to be successful. There are people who have never attended college and are progressing better than those who graduate with a bachelor’s or master’s degree. “The specter of successful college dropouts like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs weigh on young people making the decision on whether or not to go to college” (usnews.com). The main reason why everyone wants to be accepted to college is not for themselves but because they are pressured to by guidance counselors and parents claiming it is the right choice to

There are the students who decide not to go to college and start a career instead. They enter true adult life right out of high school. Life for those students is not getting any better. From 1987 to 2007, average lifetime income for a high school graduate dropped by 20 percent while the average lifetime income for college graduates has raised by one percent (Davies). The value of a high school diploma is dropping. The knowledge gained in high school is not enough for a good paying job. For those looking to go on to a higher education are also unprepared. They are paying large amounts of money for college to learn what they should already know. This problem with young adults can be traced back to school before high school.

From the moment I walked into the doors of Gertrude Fellow’s Elementary School as a five-year-old kindergarten student, I fell in love. I went into each day excited and ready to learn. This passion for school continued throughout my high school and college years. It is part of what drives my love for education. School was always an environment to be myself, explore new things, and to even make a few mistakes. As a young child, I thought everybody felt the same way. I was confused when peers said they hated coming to class, or couldn’t wait to go home. I couldn’t understand why anyone would hate something I loved so much.

Society has established in our minds that it is extremely important for us to go to college if we want to succeed in life. School as we know is not for everybody. Some of the most successful people in this world did not go to college including George Washington who is one of our founding fathers. People feel that college is the only way in which they can reach their dreams which is not true. With hard work and dedication you can go as far as you want in life. In college you learn what they give you to learn. Many of us just go to college because “it’s the right thing to do”. It gives you a title and nothing more. You can learn what you are doing at college with a simple click of a button at home. The Times had reported last spring that about fifty five percent of college graduates are working in jobs that need a college degree. (thechoice) These young college graduates are not developing

The day you stop seeking knowledge is the day you stop growing. Roughly half of the students who enter a 4-year school will receive a bachelor’s degree within 6 years. Most students would like to spend less time in school and help boost the economy as much as they can. 23 percent of full-time undergrads, who are 24 or younger, work 20 hours or more a week. Yes, it teaches college students many valuable tips and everyone need to learn how to take care of themselves and take responsibility, but that puts a lot of pressure on young adults that have yet to experience what the real world is

I remember going into my freshman year of high school nervous but excited because I thought I’d learn so many new things. Next thing you know I found myself dreading school. Was I being lazy? Was it my lack of motivation? I still can’t grasp why exactly I lost that excitement or that yearning to go to school. I was raised to have the idea that school was a place to learn not socialize. But at the age of 14, what teenagers don’t want to socialize and that’s what got a hold of me. I spent too much time worrying about other things that didn’t involve my education.

Yet still take the initiative every day to get up and work on school work and for some of the millions of students go into a campus! But what truly drives a college student to want to learn? Is it the need for a batter paying job? Is it to benefit your family? Or to maybe just tell yourself “ Hey I did this!” I think it could be all three but when it comes to most high school students getting overwhelmed with the things that are going on in their home lives and bring it to school when they should be paying attention. “High schoolers dropping out can be attributable to the social climate, particularly those elements dealing with student participation and the severity of the problem environment.” (Pittman, Haughwout, December 1987) As we age we realize that college is going to be required of us at some point so why not do it now. We as college students psych ourselves up for this awesome experience, to find that it is stressful and way harder than we thought college was going to be, we learned in high school. So, we go into everything blind thinking one way to find that it is another. But no matter what gets in some of our way we keep going knocking out one class at a

The first year, the time to prove myself had arrived. Classes, rooms, teachers, and some students were unfamiliar. Eventually, minutes melted into hours, hours to days, and days to weeks. It didn’t take long before my schedule was routine, something of second nature. Humor and happiness were found in the form of my advisory family, where school was transformed into something more than going through the same motions of day to day activity. By the closing point of sixth grade, I was having a hard time letting go of what I’d adapted to. “What’s wrong?” my dad asked when I was getting into the car after being picked up early on the last day. I explained how distressed I was that my first year of middle school exceeded my expectations, and that it had to come to an end. Although his outlook viewed my reason for sorrow as trivial, I didn’t.