Brevity by Emma

Brevity by Emma - February 2023 Scholarship Essay

Communication is the link between an educator and their students because, without clear communication, students become confused or miseducated, creating cracks in what should be a solid foundation of knowledge that is strong enough to be built upon in the upcoming years of a student's academic journey. The teaching of a subject often makes or breaks the students' interest and experience in that subject, and the way students are able to phrase their questions usually determines whether or not they receive a worthy answer. Evidently, clarity and purposeful word choice are necessities if both teachers and students intend to succeed in building triumphant educations. The great news is that anyone can teach and learn calculus using textbook explanations or info-packed videos on solving physics pulley problems.
BORING. Fun fact: my favorite classes actually are calculus and physics because my teachers don't bore me. Instead of long lectures I won't remember, these classes translate textbook material into pithy sentences and experiments, keeping me hooked. When students face never-ending sentences like "X is an essential building block to our nation's most prized creation," and "circuits consist of numerous components all necessary for the successful flow of current," they lose interest, and therefore knowledge.
Teachers and students should practice brevity. Essay writing and lab reports need pithiness. This demonstrates an understanding, that students know what they know. Practicing communicating with only as many words as needed forces students to step back and analyze their thinking. Analyzing one's knowledge furthers understanding and passion, leading to an empowered education. Additionally, brevity makes introspective discussions and group collaboration possible. Learning is maximized when done alongside others, when we discover the "whys" and "hows" of the "whats" and push each other to reevaluate our knowledge.
Although communicating is essential to successful education, how we communicate is what really determines the success of a student's learning journey.