The Pursuit of Knowledge by Ellen

The Pursuit of Knowledge by Ellen - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

In my experience, I’ve found that the most helpful and inspiring teachers are those that let me pursue my interests. In each class I take, there is usually at least one topic of discussion that I feel I could research further and learn more about, and enjoy doing so. One of my favorite professors I’ve had in college so far was my Art History professor. She allowed her students to receive extra credit on their final grade for an essay or video presentation on something they found interesting about one of the chapters we covered. This was met with enthusiastic response from the 200+ students that had been sitting in our lecture hall since day one. This was an exciting alternative to the lecture setting we were all used to; we were able to pursue a subject individually, and do so based on our own interests.

There were an enormous amount of essays submitted on the last day of class, all from students who had learned something new from something in the curriculum, no matter how small. One student submitted an essay about the hair styles depicted in “Young Flavian Woman” and “Portrait of a Middle-Aged Flavian Woman”. Another was curious about illuminated manuscripts found in early Christian art, and submitted a video they made about what they found. I turned in an essay about the bull jumping techniques depicted in Minoan artwork. Everything from Egyptian to Roman to Babylonian art was studied and dissected. It made me curious to see what each student had found interesting, and what so many people could accomplish simply because they were interested in doing so.

Each of us had been curious about something that was relatively underdiscussed, and decided to research it further. I appreciate that my professor encouraged us to explore our interest in these subjects; it allowed us to get the most out of the course, and helped us earn a higher grade based on something we wanted to do, rather than rely solely on tests on subjects we may not have enjoyed nearly as much. Finding such interesting facts about the things I liked made me realize that there were probably incredibly interesting facts about subject I wasn't so keen on, and perhaps if I took the time to research them, too, I would have found them to be much more interesting than I previously thought.

So, this is my advice to teachers: allow your students to learn what they want to learn, and they will pursue that past your expectations. I’ve seen students struggle to learn from a class they aren’t interested in- the ones they are required to take. This advice will almost definitely help those students, because if they find something they enjoy, they can take that further and find joy in the course they thought was a nightmare.