A Classroom With No Walls by Valerie

A Classroom With No Walls by Valerie - October 2014 Scholarship Essay

My ideal classroom environment would be one in which there are no walls. Walls promote limits, but education is limitless. There is no end to the amount of knowledge a person can obtain. Education should not be limited to what a student can learn in the classroom. The structure of the traditional educational environment is not conducive to motivating young people to learn. It instead serves the same purpose as bars would serve to contain a caged animal. The natural response to any animal, or human, in a situation of confinement, is to escape. Education needs to be taken out of the conventional classroom and experienced in the world-the place where the students will eventually use their knowledge. The world contains unlimited educational opportunities that are both entertaining and challenging. If going to a museum is not in the budget, then just changing the place of learning to a less structured and stodgy environment would also be helpful.

During my first semester of college, I took a nursing course. The lectures took place not in a confining classroom, but outside on a grassy knoll. The class would sit in a circle on the grass and discuss nursing policies and ideas for improvement. Students felt free to express their opinions without fear of judgment. The atmosphere was casual and unstructured and therefore allowed creativity. It gave the students the freedom to express themselves without fear or intimidation. The simple change of environment motivated the students in a way that would not be possible in a classroom with four walls.

Why must school be so structured? Instead of sitting in a classroom, discussing art history, why not go to a museum and see the art in its natural beauty. Instead of listening to a dull lecture about Shakespeare, would it not be more inspirational and memorable to see a play? Students lack motivation, from elementary school through college, due to the lack of intellectual stimulation in the classroom. Would children not be more motivated with less listening and more experiencing? I think they would.