Education is What You Make It by Michael

Education is What You Make It by Michael - October 2022 Scholarship Essay

Education is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the “process of teaching, training, and learning, especially in schools or colleges, to improve knowledge and develop skills.” Seems pretty straightforward, right? Students around the globe sit down in classrooms to learn vital skills that will hopefully follow them into life after their time spent in a damp room listening to a lecture. But education is much more than just biology flashcards and complex equations. Education is - by nature - as diverse as those participating in it. To one high schooler, education is the friendly faces she passes in the hallways; to another, education is securing a position in the competitive job market. The meaning of education is what you give it. To me, education is the opportunity to better yourself, and because of that, education means the absolute world to me. When I first stepped off of the run-down yellow school bus to begin my freshman year of high school, to say the least, I seethed with arrogance. I expected everything I wanted to be handed to me on a silver platter. I began my first period thinking I was better than those around me, and high school was just another way to prove that. At face value, I might have been participating in education, yet it was a vapid and wasteful version of education. As days grew to months, I slowly began to see how my outlook on schooling had turned me into an unmotivated slave to my own shortcomings. I hadn’t been taking advantage of an incredible chance to not just further my knowledge, but to grow as a person. I knew something had to change. Education wasn’t about competition anymore - it was about improvement. I took my newfound growth mindset and ran with it. A thirst for knowledge has brought me new hobbies, unexpected friendships, and ultimately a love of improvement. I had given education meaning and purpose. In the end, education means more than the effects it has on a young high school senior living in rural Utah. Education is what drives every aspiring student across every county and every culture. Take a look at any successful figure in history. Whether it’s Michael Jordan, Abraham Lincoln, or Albert Einstein, every success story began with a love for education, and education is what you make it.