Knowledge For Its Own Sake by Samantha

Knowledge For Its Own Sake by Samantha - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

It was late winter of my senior year when I approached my physics teacher, Mr. Dauphin, with a request for withdrawal from his class. There were several reasons behind my hesitancy to continue his course. The first was the trebuchet project that the physics class was assigned each year. Not only did I not think I was smart enough or mechanical enough to build one, but my father was always so busy that I did not think I could get assistance with it either. The second reason was that I had just signed up to join the military after graduation. In conjunction with my third reason – the physics course was the last period of the day and I could drop it in order to have a free period as a senior – I elected to spend less time focusing on academia, and more time with family and friends.

Mr. Dauphin’s disappointment with my decision was clear. He briefly tried to persuade me to continue the course, but I had already made my decision. I distinctly remember saying, “I won’t need physics in the military.” Mr. Dauphin responded, “But you need to be logical.” That was always his selling point to snotty teenagers whenever they questioned why they needed to learn whatever he was teaching. Mr. Dauphin taught several courses at my high school, two of which I had the pleasure of being a part of. My sophomore year, I completed his Algebra II course, during which he kept us interested by his own youthful enthusiasm. It also helped that he would play his bass for us while we worked on assigned pages from the textbook. It was throughout this class that I heard him repeatedly counter his students’ complaints. He informed us that despite the fact that learning logarithms and matrices would probably have zero practical value for many of the paths in life they would choose, the very pursuit of this knowledge was beneficial in becoming a more logical and rational person.

It only took me months before realizing that many more people, especially in the military, could benefit from math and science education if it only meant they would make more sensible decisions. As I continued my education through night classes while serving active duty, I heard the same questions asked by high school students repeated to college professors. “But why do I need to know this?” While only some of the professors simply ignored the whining, the remainder would inform the student that it was because it was a required course. Every time I heard the question, Mr. Dauphin’s answer would come to mind. These topics were not required knowledge for everyday life for most people, but they were worth knowing for the sake of knowing. It was imperative to flex the power of your thinking and problem solving skills in order to ward off atrophy. Education is paramount to success not only in the workplace, but in our personal lives as well. On a personal note, my job in the Marine Corps turned out to be that of an intelligence analyst, and the degree I am pursuing now is a Juris Doctorate from Berkeley Law School. Despite my belief that I would never again require physics or math in my lifetime, I certainly needed and will continue to need logic and reason to succeed. Looking back now, I realize Mr. Dauphin was a young teacher, but despite that, or maybe because of that, he was able to share his insight with his students, even with one who departed his course prematurely.