The Importance of Continued Learning by Alyssa

The Importance of Continued Learning by Alyssa - March 2018 Scholarship Essay

Second grade students have a very limited vocabulary than the rest of the world, as they are still young and developing. Bringing up the importance of continued learning to them would be challenging as I would have to choose my words carefully so they’d understand what I’m trying to tell them. One important thing I’d have to take into consideration when deciding how to approach them with this important subject is the fact that children in the second grade age group have a hard time sitting still and listening. This means I would have to come up with a more interesting way to discuss this with them, rather than sitting them down and talking to them face to face when I’m not even sure they’d understand most of what I’m saying.
I would have to come up with a way to entertain the kids as well as keep them focused on what I’m trying to tell them. Honestly, I would go through a lot more steps than the average person to accomplish this. I know every child is different and that everyone learns things differently, so I would study the child I’d be speaking to in order to get a sense of what they’re like and how to best get the information across to them. Once I know how the child focuses and what they like, that’s when I’ll make my move. Some children might be more visual than other and learn better when things are shown to them rather than just being explained to them. Since that is a very popular way of learning, I’ll focus on that.
Say the child I’m speaking to is a visual learner. I would have to come up with a way to spark their interest, as well as keep it. The simplest thing I can think of is having ‘props’ with me. That way, I can provide a way for the child to focus, as well as tangible things to help them better understand what I’m trying to tell them. The main things I would tell them about the importance of continued learning would be all the benefits associated with it. Those being, the amount of success you’re almost guaranteed to have. It’s very obvious that the average person who goes on to college or med school or whatever it may be, rather than stopping at high school or even before, is going to be more successful. That is due to their exposure to education. In order to explain this to a child, I would have little dolls or something to represent people, and I would come up with a scenario for each, regarding their education as well as what happens to them based on the education they received.
I would most likely start by describing the people with the least amount of education, and go up from there. I would talk about how since this doll was poor and had to help his family on the fields rather than going to school, he didn’t get proper education which mean he’ll be working on the fields all his life since that’s all he knows. Then maybe I’d give an example of a high school drop-out who sits around all day and does nothing. I would explain that since that is what the doll decided to do with its life, it won’t be very successful at all. Then I’d bring up a veteran. Someone who chose to discontinue their education (for a good reason) and how hard it would be for them to find a job when they return home. Then, I’d look at the more positive side and talk about a doll who finished high school and went on to work, or maybe go to a trade school. They’d be able to make a living, but that’d be it. They stopped their education as well. Now, someone who goes on to college to get an abundance of education to work towards a goal of theirs will definitely be more successful than most of the examples previously listed, as they extended their education for their future. I would use each of these examples and explanations on a different doll to help the child differentiate each one so they understand all actions have consequences, good or bad.
Hopefully this visual aid will help that child understand what I’m saying, as its right before their eyes instead of being something explained to them and assumed was understood. I would try my best to help the child understand what I’m saying about each doll as well as the overall idea of continuing your education in order to benefit your future. With the examples as well as explanations given for each, I think the child will understand that it is very important to go to school and try as hard as possible to only benefit them and their future. Overall, my main focus would be to give the child examples of different scenarios to help them understand just how important education really is.