Essay on Education
Posted: 2004-01-31 10:31pm
Since I've been wanting to post something in here and have yet to sit down and write, I figure I'd post an essay I typed for my english class in here. If this is the wrong forum, feel free to move it. Also, give me feed back and have a field day point errors out, I need the peer feed back.
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Education
The idea of this paper is a comparison of how High School and College are and the feelings I received from both. High School was a fevered rushed to achieve ‘Good Grades’ in order to graduate at the top of your class so a college will except you into its educational program. College is life training, being taught, not forced, to learn how to think and the what’s required for a chosen profession. Now I will go in to detail.
High School was all about earning high marks so that you would look good to the prospective colleges, since everyone knows your grades are more important what you know. Doesn’t make sense, does it? But if you think about, you can be a super genius but test horribly, getting nervous over the easiest quiz and blowing the whole thing, even though you could recite the answers in your sleep. There are also variations to this theme too. The measure of someone’s intelligence is also seemingly proportional to the number of homework assignments they hand in, which is a new one on me. We were also indoctrinated into the ‘College makes your life’ crowd, but many of the teachers seemed intent on hammering ‘College is Hell, you’re all going to fail!’ into our skulls too. I was actually frightened, which lead to my relative inactivity in regards of trying to get accepted into colleges. Then I started my first semester.
It was different to say the least. I did not have to scurry from class to class in the overpopulated and aggressive halls like in high school. It was quite the opposite, I could take my sweet time moving from class to class, and at least for the ones that were not all the ways a crossed the building, and the air was one of learning and peace. Class was different too, being relatively quiet and not plagued with human attention sponges that really didn’t want to be there. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure those who attend college do so because they want to, not because they have to. I was even prepared my first day for college to be some horrible test of my endurance, the fire walking of knowledge if you will, but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a bike ride through slowly rolling streets. Sure, certain points were difficult, but it was nothing like my teachers in high school had made it out to be. I can also say I was excited to actually be learning something, a rare event during my tenure in high school. To be shown the facts and let us interpret them as we will instead of having them jammed down our throats because it was mandatory was a relief.
In a way, I am like Dante, surviving the four layers of high school hell to be ushered into the heavenly graces of college. The threat of being unprepared for college and unintelligent enough to grace its halls was supplanted by the brilliant light of the truth of what college really is. I realize now that my own personal fears of graduation and education past public school were unfounded, created by the lies of a group of teachers who wanted to shock me into being prepared, instead of letting me situate myself how I wanted to. So I guess my essay is coming to a close, but fear not for its end, since you can always go back and take a look through eyes at the twists in reality
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Education
The idea of this paper is a comparison of how High School and College are and the feelings I received from both. High School was a fevered rushed to achieve ‘Good Grades’ in order to graduate at the top of your class so a college will except you into its educational program. College is life training, being taught, not forced, to learn how to think and the what’s required for a chosen profession. Now I will go in to detail.
High School was all about earning high marks so that you would look good to the prospective colleges, since everyone knows your grades are more important what you know. Doesn’t make sense, does it? But if you think about, you can be a super genius but test horribly, getting nervous over the easiest quiz and blowing the whole thing, even though you could recite the answers in your sleep. There are also variations to this theme too. The measure of someone’s intelligence is also seemingly proportional to the number of homework assignments they hand in, which is a new one on me. We were also indoctrinated into the ‘College makes your life’ crowd, but many of the teachers seemed intent on hammering ‘College is Hell, you’re all going to fail!’ into our skulls too. I was actually frightened, which lead to my relative inactivity in regards of trying to get accepted into colleges. Then I started my first semester.
It was different to say the least. I did not have to scurry from class to class in the overpopulated and aggressive halls like in high school. It was quite the opposite, I could take my sweet time moving from class to class, and at least for the ones that were not all the ways a crossed the building, and the air was one of learning and peace. Class was different too, being relatively quiet and not plagued with human attention sponges that really didn’t want to be there. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure those who attend college do so because they want to, not because they have to. I was even prepared my first day for college to be some horrible test of my endurance, the fire walking of knowledge if you will, but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a bike ride through slowly rolling streets. Sure, certain points were difficult, but it was nothing like my teachers in high school had made it out to be. I can also say I was excited to actually be learning something, a rare event during my tenure in high school. To be shown the facts and let us interpret them as we will instead of having them jammed down our throats because it was mandatory was a relief.
In a way, I am like Dante, surviving the four layers of high school hell to be ushered into the heavenly graces of college. The threat of being unprepared for college and unintelligent enough to grace its halls was supplanted by the brilliant light of the truth of what college really is. I realize now that my own personal fears of graduation and education past public school were unfounded, created by the lies of a group of teachers who wanted to shock me into being prepared, instead of letting me situate myself how I wanted to. So I guess my essay is coming to a close, but fear not for its end, since you can always go back and take a look through eyes at the twists in reality