Education : The Key to Communication by Arden

Education : The Key to Communication by Arden - July 2019 Scholarship Essay

A Chinese proverb states, “One cannot become useful without being educated.” As a teenage high school student, I am very familiar with the frustration and irritation that comes with the inability to express myself fully or in a way that helps other people to understand me. However, as I grow older and learn to write and portray my feelings in various ways and to help different people to do the same, I am also recognizing the fact that without my English education or education in general, I would not be able to do so. In other words, helping people communicate and express their thoughts and ideas stems from education.
From a simple sentence to a compound-complex sentence, English education has been helping people for centuries to express ideas and thoughts that flow through their minds on a daily basis. In fact, writings such as articles, poetry, books, and novels have been telling stories that speaking alone cannot accomplish. For me, helping fellow classmates to write a short paragraph or a five paragraph essay is one of the many ways I can put my English education to good use. Writing and creating material together has also helped us to understand who we are as not only students but also people. This understanding and appreciation, however, is not completely possible without education. Without English education, our ways of understanding and appreciating one another is severely limited.
For math students, solving equations and cracking word problems are different ways for them to express their thoughts and ideas in a manner that words cannot capture. Although I am not the best at math, learning it has helped me to understand and appreciate the students who do enjoy math. After questioning my best friend about why she enjoys math so much, she said to me, “English is your language, while math is my language. You can write in your sleep while I can solve problems in my sleep.” Hearing this made me realize that people communicate through more than just paper and pen. For some, a calculator and a pencil are the ways they express their thoughts and heart. As another friend put it, “Math is simple. There’s one answer but you can find the solution in many different ways.” Although I could not quite agree with her statement, I did understand that math is her way of communicating to other people. Even though math and English are rather different subjects, in the end, they both accomplish the same goal: to communicate and express the thoughts and ideas that come to us on a day to day basis.
Outside of English and math education, science, fine arts, and music are also common courses that help students express their thoughts and ideas. For example, many science students may enjoy participating in experiments and observations because it is a way for them to express their curiosity about the world surrounding them. For fine art students, art class is a place for them to express and exhibit their creativity through various art works such as painting and sculpting. And for music students, music class is a way for them to convey their deepest thoughts and feelings using diverse instruments to produce different styles of music. Looking at the various ways students express themselves, it is clear that the magic of education lies in the fact that no two students are like. No matter how big or small the school, students are able to discover themselves in the education they are given at school.
Without these different aspects of English, math, science, and fine art education, our forms of communication and expression would be very limited. The reason why I am passionate about education is that education is one step of a basic foundation to understanding one another. Being a high school student is hard enough on its own; however, not being able to communicate with fellow students would make this life a lot harder than it would have to be. Even though there are times when school is difficult and stressful, receiving our education is important because of the effects it can have on our social skills. In the end, our education helps us to widen our horizons and to think open mindedly; but most importantly, education helps us to communicate with one another as normal people preparing for adulthood rather than just students trying to survive high school.