Teaching Me How to Teach Myself by Jay

Teaching Me How to Teach Myself by Jay - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

The most important lesson a teacher has given me came from Mr. Luft, my tenth grade American history teacher. Going into the class, I felt pretty confident, because I already knew a good amount on the subject, so I thought the class would go fairly smoothly for me. Although I learned a lot about the United States, the most important thing that I learned from Mr. Luft’s class was how to teach myself.
Part of what made Mr. Luft's lessons unique was that they helped me to see the connections between people and events. Mr. Luft described the course of American history in a fluent manner, composed of causes, effects, and recurring themes, instead of individual dates. For example, the hot, rough climate of the Deep South was what led the Southern states to grow cotton, and because cotton requires a large amount of labor, the farmers in those states used slaves. The tough living conditions also made the people independent, so they were hard proponents of state rights. This political stance and slavery led to the American Civil War, and because the states were too independent, they could not unite, so they lost the war. As a result, Southern infrastructures were destroyed, making the region educationally, economically, and technologically inferior to the North throughout Reconstruction. Although this is a simplification, this summary provides an accurate view of over two hundred years of American history in a manner that is easy to follow and understand. Mr. Luft’s lesson showed me that everything is connected. Sections of the world around us cannot be isolated and completely understood as if independent; everything logically flows from one point to the next, and should be treated as such, so I try to use this mentality in my everyday life. If I do not understand something in a class, I try to return to an idea that I did know and lead myself logically to the new idea, and if I hear about international issues, I think about what may have led to those problems.
Mr. Luft also helped me see the human side of history and politics. Although many teachers would simply dismiss the Know Nothing Party as a group of racists, he explained to me that the xenophobia and desire to keep secrets from the government came from the natural fear of losing one’s job and being unable to take care of oneself. Although this might not make the members’ actions any more socially appropriate, it was an interesting perspective that I had never heard. Most of Mr. Luft’s lessons discussed how the famous people of American history were simply acting naturally, based on the same human emotions that drive everyone else. It may seem simple now, but before his class, I did not think that the motivations behind a notable politician’s or soldier’s decisions could be anything but foreign or abstruse, but now I realize that they were as comprehensible as those of the people around me. Mr. Luft’s lessons made it possible for me to see that I could analyze and learn about the world, both past and present, just like I could analyze my house or my family, because they were built on the same basic concepts. The most important lesson Mr. Luft told me was how to understand the world’s connections and humanity.