Do you have goldfish in America? by Amber

Do you have goldfish in America? by Amber - March 2018 Scholarship Essay

“What do you want to do when you grow up?” This question is posed to students from the time they enter the education system, when the profession of Spiderman, a princess, or a horse all seem to be valid options, through the countless times' high school and college students are asked what they will major in. Often, students come to view school as merely an extended training period for their careers. Future employment does play a significant part in the reasoning for education, however, there is much more to education than this.
I had the opportunity to teach in a Thai school for several months, where I got to interact with many different types of students. One of my first days at the school, I chatted with a Thai 2nd grader, whose first question to me was “do you have goldfish in America?” This interaction remains fresh in my mind, as an example of the importance of encouraging curiosity in education. 2nd graders are among Socrates best imitators, always asking “why?” to things that adults have come to accept blindly as the way the world is. Encouraging student’s curiosity in all subjects will result in active engagement in the classroom and a passion for learning.
Sometimes students become bored or disengaged in school. I believe that it is often due to the fact that they lose sight of the real reason they sit in a classroom five days of their week. If I had the opportunity to talk with such a student and attempt to inspire them, I imagine the conversation would go something like this:
I ask, “Do you know why you go to school?”
“Hmmmm… to learn?” the student hesitantly replies.
“That’s right! And why do we need to learn?”
This question is met with a slight shrug of the shoulders and a meek “I don’t know.”
“Well, some people say we need to learn so we can work when we get older. That is really important. What do you like to do?”
She thinks and proclaims, “I like drawing.”
“That’s really cool! If you try hard in school and practice your drawing you can do really cool things. You could go to art school and become an artist, or you could become an architect. Do you know what that is?”
She shakes her head no.
“An architect is someone who designs buildings. They draw them out and then the builders build them. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
She nods her head and smiles.
“That’s one reason why we go to school. Sometimes people don’t like school because they don’t feel very good at it. But guess what? School isn’t about being right all the time. It is more important to learn how you can do something even better and learn from your mistakes. The more you go to school, the more you realize how much you actually don’t know. Keep practicing your drawing, do your best in school and don’t be afraid to be wrong sometimes. Ask lots of questions when you don’t know the answers and one day you will realize how much you love learning. You might even find out that you actually love school too!”