Exactly What You Would Expect by Andrew

Exactly What You Would Expect by Andrew - May 2020 Scholarship Essay

Most of us writing these essays are students. As students, we get to experience first hand how effective our educational system is. However, as much as great grades are praised (and rightfully so), there seems to be a lot of us who are just... there. Our friends and family will say their congrats and praise you for your good grades (again, not shaming that at all), but even if you're doing decent in school, it never seems like enough. As someone who's been on both sides of the argument, I can say without a doubt that the flaws we see now are going to drive the future of our education.

I was a C/D average student throughout most of K-12. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't engage much. People thought I was just a bad student. My issues were known but never addressed. It wasn't until 11th grade when I had found my passion: space and science. I started learning the relation between math and the real world. I was hooked. My grades were picking up, and my teacher even put me in an advanced course for the following year because he saw a spark in me that others did not (thank you Mr. Zaragoza).

So what was missing? I'm sure there are many other factors involved, but I believe there are two things that need to change. First of all, is that we need to find better ways that the information can apply to the students. Tell us the reason why we are analyzing The Great Gatsby. Why do I need to know the exact year(s) something happened for a test? It's more practical for us to remember the order or era in which things occurred, why memorize the exact years of events? Every student reading this could probably list another 1000 questions. Why? We need to find a reason. It is what has guided me into going to NASA, to becoming an Aerospace Engineering major. Reason gives us purpose. I know NOW that I have to write papers to better my fluidity and structure. I know NOW why trigonometry is so critical to the engineering world. If I knew that these things were to better my future, things would be different. But I didn't know. I don't know what I don't know.

Which leads me to my second reason. Guidance. Most of my teachers were critical and sometimes condescending because they thought I was a bad student. There are only a small handful of teachers I ever dealt with that pulled me off to the side, and were sympathetic and trying to understand what's going on. One of those teachers was Mr. Zaragoza. When students are in honors or advanced courses, they're in a positive feedback loop. They're doing extraordinarily well, and are constantly reminded and praised by it, only to make them want to do better. But the average or below-average kids, they don't have the same cycle, and instead don't see the purpose unless it's something they enjoy. We need a structure that allows teachers to refer to guidance counselors, or to have teachers take a course about working positively with students.

Thankfully, the essay asked about what it would be like FIFTY years from now. All of us students will either be old or retired or both. At that point, we would have changed things by then. We are aware of the flaws now and will be more critical about it when we become teachers or deans. The educational system 50 years from now will be one where ALL students feel engaged and heard, where the students that are struggling will get the help and guidance at a much faster pace, and it'll be a time when we will be engaged early on with things we enjoy. I still get blown away that kids are learning basic circuitry with bread-boards at some schools. ELEMENTARY schools. Coding too! Early development is already in the works and being implemented today. 50 year from now, with the guidance and purpose we help them fill in, students will be THRIVING at not just an academic level, but a personal level as well. I can't wait for the day when we can get these issues resolved.