The evolution of my education by Savannah

The evolution of my education by Savannah - September 2021 Scholarship Essay

I grew up in an extremely conservative and religious family, in an extremely conservative and religious town. As a result, I grew up believing in God and Jesus, and it was considered abnormal to believe otherwise. One of the main tenets of Christianity, is the story of creation. In this story, God is said to have created the world in six days, and on the seventh day he rested. In his creation of the world, he also created humans and animals, with Adam and Eve being the first humans he created. The story of creation was often taught to children in our schools, due to the heavy Christian influence that was in our community. So it was a huge shock to my knowledge and understanding, when a new teacher in middle school taught about evolution.

The theory of evolution had gone against everything that I had originally been taught to believe about the creation of humanity. I thought it was insane that this teacher was trying to tell us that humanity evolved from monkeys. The teacher choosing to teach the theory of evolution in school, disturbed my parents, as well as many other parents of students at the school. My parents went to the teacher and expressed their negative feelings towards evolution, trying to get them to erase the topic from their course. The teacher refused, and as a result, I learned about the theory of evolution. As I said, at first the theory seemed totally insane and unrealistic. But as time went on, I began to realize how much sense it actually made. In my mind, evolution began to make more sense than before. A being that I cannot see, simply speaking humans into existence, no longer seemed rational. As a result of this experience in middle school, I began to question everything that I had been taught growing up. I now know to do my own research on topics, and not immediately believe everything that is told to me.