How has education been rewarding or unrewarding for me? Answering the question of whether education has been rewarding for me or not, is going to be a complex one because of the fact that I have attended school in two very different educational systems. Nevertheless, I have learned many things, which I would not have been able to learn had I not been fortunate enough to receive schooling.
According to Nezver Stacey “education plays a role in influencing people’s performance in market and nonmarket.” Of course, education has been rewarding in a sense, because it has taught me to read, write and count money, but in a deeper sense of myself. I gained all my elementary and High school education from my homeland country. Getting the opportunity to continue my education abroad to be precise America is a dream of many if not all, having arrived in the country as an immigrant, the only way I could learn the culture of my new environment and to be able to fit well in the society is through education. Even though we had limited teaching and learning materials in my country, I strongly believe that the curriculum and standard of education that is being taught in my country not just shaped me to be educated but rather helped me to fit well in the society. That being said high school presented me with many challenges, but my education at high school was instrumental and rewarding because the curriculum challenged me to work harder and stay focused to my studies and the wonderful teachers I had made it easy for me to be able to fit well in my environment and what lies ahead of me in college and the world in general.
Upon starting school in the U.S, I noticed one prominent thing, and it was the fact that many teachers cared more about serving the honest needs of students. The standards were set so low for me because I got a detailed explanation of what was expected from me and I was also able to participate and ask questions on class. This made things east for me because I did not get the privilege of doing all that when I was in my country. I always respect and acknowledge the presence of my educators because they are the ones who can guide me to become a successful person.
Also, my high school pedagogy contributed to my being good academically but I couldn’t be such successful without the huge support that I had from my lovely parents. A situation in contrast to that of a friend called Mark “what high school is” his parents never paid attention to why he never does his homework at home she believes what he always tells her “she will ask whether he has any homework he will tell her no and virtually tomorrow and any other day.” My parents made sure they had my teachers contact and frequently visit the school to make sure they had enough knowledge as to what direction I was going academically. Whenever turn to get a lower grade from a subject that I was good at, for a whole month I will have to do the dishes, cleaning and all the household duties without any help from any of my siblings, which wasn’t easy to do alone and learn to make up for better grade for my future exam. It kept me on my toes to make sure I was doing well in school and made sure I excel so I can get my parents compliment and my teachers as well. According to Suarez-Orozco, “The immigrant youngsters, who attended middle and high schools near San Diego, California, reported liking school more and had greater respect for authority figures such as principals than classmates who were white or second-generation Mexican-American”. I strongly agree with this statement because when I was in my country, I did not necessarily have to respect my teachers but the consequences that resulted from not doing so was unpleasant.
I always respected my teacher all the time because I was aware of how my mum was working hard to pay for my education when I was in my county. I did not want to be involved in anything that might make my mum upset with me. Having this mindset made me respect not only the teachers in my school when I was in my country but to also respect my peer, and anyone younger or older than me. This is because I always want to do on to other as I want others to do unto me. My high school environment together with my peers pushed me to the limit to explore the self-belief in me to excel in my academics.
A situation similar to that of Mike Rose in “I just wanna be Average” page 124 “Mercy relied on a series of tests, mostly the Stanford-Binet for placement and somehow the results of his test got confused with those of another student named Rose. The other Rose apparently didn’t do very well for that he was placed in the vocational track, a euphemism for the bottom”. Rose was placed in an environment that he was not meant to be. For me the new environment and the peers around me made it challenging.
I had to learn a different culture at the shortest possible time to the best of my ability, fortunately on my side I was a brilliant student. A teacher by the name Mr. Philips discovered how brilliant i was academically similar to that of Mike Rose “I just wanna be average” page 132 he was challenged by one of his tutors, Mr. McFarland to discover his love for academics. He advised me to concentrate on the academics by so doing my peers will realized how good I was which will make everyone in the class want to hang around me for that matter, it will help me understand the new culture that I find myself in.
With understanding of the culture coupled with consistent good grades in school shaped me to a form of symbol in class, by my second year in high school I was made the class rep. My high school environment coupled with my peers were not the predominant factors that help shaped me to fit well in my society and the future that lies ahead. The teachers and the teaching style that I was fortunate to be exposed to was second to none. Unlike Mark “what high school Is” The teaching style did not help him to concentrate and pay attention to his studies, page 24 “Mark leaves his books in his locker. He remembers he has home work but figures that he can do it during English class the next day.
He knows that there will be an in-class presentation of one of the Romeo and Juliet scenes and that he will not be in it. The teacher will not notice his homework writing, or won’t do anything if she does”. My teachers made it their life mission to make sure each and every student was given the optimum attention they needed. Comparable to “I just want to be Average” Where is being seen as a dumping ground for disaffected so there were few teachers who worked hard to make sure the students were fully equipped with adequate knowledge that will help them to be successful in college and the society in general.
“But mostly the teachers had no idea of how to engage the imaginations of us kids who were scuttling along at the bottom of the pond. The teachers would have needed some inventiveness, for none of us was groomed for the classroom” page 126. The teachers have it at the back of their mind that the students are already failures so there was no effort, dedication and devotion on their part to make sure if not all the students do understand what they were being taught, with that kind of attitude that is being exhibited by the teachers contributed to the students not being serious to what they were being taught in class. I recalled there was there was a time when I was challenged by science teacher to score an A in one of or test if indeed i was that genius that i called myself, of which i did but i never achieved it that easy. I spent hours working in the laboratory, sleepless night studying just to make sure make sure I can make the grade that I was required of.
Those kinds of challenges not just helped me a lot because they were contributing factors that kept me glued to my books and made me a better student in my college. My parents together with my high school teachers and environment made me understand in life one has to have a goal, that will be the driving force to keep you on your feet in other to be able to get to the goal. There will be challenge you will experience some shortfalls along the road but that shouldn’t be the stumbling block to prevent you from getting to your goals unlike Mark Page 20 “when he saw some students dealing in some form of transaction presumably marijuana affected him psychologically in the locker room”. Most high schools in the country if not all have scanners that students go through before they can be allowed to get inside the school, my school had its challenges but I never made those challenges mine I try my best to my ability to stay to my goals to be successful academically. Education has been rewarding to me as a situation similar to that of Rose page 127 “we were talking about the parable of the talents, about achievement, working hard, doing the best you can, blah-blah-blah when the teacher called on Ken Harvey for an opinion, he taught about it for a second and said (I just want to be Average)” he thought about it for a very long time and made him realize he has to work hard to get to his dreams.
For me it gave me exposure and made me realize what world was awaiting me when am done with school and the college I was dreaming to attend when am done with my high school. Finally, education has been rewarding because of wonderful parental care I had, exceptional teachers who made it a mission of no retreat no surrender to make sure each and every student in my school remain focus to what brought them to school and who they want to be and what they want to become. The encouragement they gave me when i first i arrived in the school and the love they shown was second to none. It made me loved the school more than any other place that I find myself at.In conclusion education, has been rewarding because it gave me the self-awareness, the good environment exception teachers and also the platform to build upon the dream that I had in my head the very first day i step my foot in a formal institution. The great Maya Angelou once said, “People only do what they know how to do and once they know better, they do better.” Now that I know better, I surely will do better.
References
Orozco, Suarez.
“Immigrants ; Education.” Society 33.4 (1996): 3. Web. Nikolaev, Boris. “Does Other People’s Education Make Us Less Happy?” Economics of Education Review 52 (2016): 176-91. Web.
“Rose, Mike.” (2012): 2508. Web. Stacey, Nevzer. “Social Benefits of Education.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 559 (1998): 54.
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