How Education Has Shaped Who I Am Today by Jennifer

How Education Has Shaped Who I Am Today by Jennifer - December 2014 Scholarship Essay

There are very few skills in life that I have acquired without education. My heart beats, my lungs breathe and I have biological instincts that drive me to eat and sleep in order for my life to continue. Everything else I know and experience in this world is a result of education.

In my earliest years I learned many lessons from my parents. Some were taught intentionally and with great repetition such as manners, good hygiene and study habits and of course the golden rule. Other lessons that were taught by my parents ran as an undercurrent throughout my childhood as my Mom modeled for me how to be a woman, daughter and mother. These subconscious lessons had a tremendous impact on shaping my personality and greatly informed the person I am today.

Through formal education, and with the unconditional encouragement of my parents, I have learned three indispensable skills that shape the person I am today: reading, questioning, and critical thinking.

One of the most important skills I have learned throughout the course of my education was learned in Kindergarten. Learning to read is often overlooked in its importance in higher education, but it is this fundamental skill that opens the doors to all others. With the ability to read I have the option to learn anything I desire, no longer is there a valid excuse for being uninformed.

The passion and enjoyment my parents and teachers instilled in me for reading was even more valuable to me than the basic necessary skill of reading. Reading equips me with the ability to put myself in another character’s shoes and see the world from their point of view. Reading enables me to visit faraway places in space and time in my imagination that I would have no means of traveling to otherwise. Reading unlocks endless possibilities for all who seek to learn.

I am grateful today for all of the times my parents had the patience to repeatedly answer my questions of “why?” My inquisitive mind constantly seeks explanation and understanding and flourishes with the ability to question. When something doesn’t make sense to me, asking questions allows me to fill in the blanks and understand better in the context of the answers. I was fortunate to have many great teachers in my K-12 education that welcomed my questions and gave me more information according to my interest and thirst for knowledge. These teachers challenged me in ways I am deeply thankful for to this day. It is because of being able to question so innocently and freely as a child with queries such as “What makes a rainbow?” that I am able to ask the tougher questions today like “Why is there so much economic inequality in the United States?”

Reading and questioning are great tools that will get most people where they need to go in life. But there is another essential component that elevates the learner from Piaget’s concrete operational thought to the formal operational stage. That last piece is critical thinking. In the concrete operational stage thinking becomes logical and many adults today do not progress past this stage. In the formal operational stage logic increases and is accompanied by the ability to use deductive reasoning and think abstractly.

In my honors and AP high school classes, as well as my college classes, my professors have pushed me to do more than learn and regurgitate facts. The ability to think critically and analyze gives me the tools to look at a situation and come up with innovative out of the box solutions. My Sociology professor in particular this semester has given us wonderful essay prompts to enable me to not only demonstrate my understanding of the material, but to also take it a step further and apply my own solutions to sociological problems.

Today I would describe myself as an outgoing, eager to learn, high achieving, social activist. These qualities are a direct result of education and acquiring the skills of reading, questioning, and critical thinking. It has been said that “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and I believe that education opens the doors to all possibilities. I am going to put my education to use to accomplish social change.

In my lifetime I will be instrumental in research and development of program reforms to reduce recidivism, both by better rehabilitation of felons, and intervention programs for at risk youth. The path to accomplishing this goal begins with education.