The Tank by Daniel

The Tank by Daniel - September 2024 Scholarship Essay

73.8 million people, the estimated number of students enrolled in public school in 2021. It is safe to say that this number increases by tens of millions by year, as the rate of enrollment is increasing by almost 24 percent. Why are these numbers significant? It is the number of students every year that are congregated into a place where the walls are bare, the imagination feels stifled, and you cannot leave until your sentence of 7 hours is up. Sounds a lot like another place we are all familiar with, right? I believe we can only imagine and brainstorm as big as our environment around us. The mind, to me, reminds me of the shark theory: a shark that is kept in a small tank, although it will grow, can only grow in relation to the size of the tank. Without proper care and space, the shark experiences stunted growth.
Getting out of the classroom and really getting firsthand experience is something I did not realize I cherished greatly until writing this essay. I love to go out in study groups on a nice lawn and exchange ideas with fresh, unboxed air, something you cannot get in a classroom. Whether it is taking samples to examine the pH levels of a river or going to a museum with specific instructions to find and examine different artifacts, there remains a constant. Interactivity. This kind of learning really engages the mind and body together, calling for an immersive and rememberable learning experience. My favorite example of this came from my time at high school in my CNA course. To become a CNA, you must get clinical hours to take the written and physical tests. Through this program, I learned skills and networked before I even stepped foot on an actual job site.
Around this time, I am learning to start and scale my own online business through mentorship and the best way of non-traditional learning: active and direct hands-on attempts and learning through a small margin of trial and error. Put simply, I believe the best way to learn and teach is to get out of the classroom and really provide an intellectually engaging environment. We should all aspire to get out of the tank, and into the world.