The True Meaning of Education by Yulicia

The True Meaning of Education by Yulicia - October 2022 Scholarship Essay

As a little girl I remember coming home from school, pulling my folder out, and pretending to teach my stuffed animals the homework I had been assigned for the day. I set my stuffed animals as if they were sitting at a table, I made them face the front of my classroom, and there I was with my papers in my hand giving them directions, passing out pencils, and answering questions. I have always enjoyed school, but if I had to choose the best years I would without a doubt say that it is my elementary years. The education I received and the teachers I had each year have greatly impacted me, my personality, my future. Education is very important to me, education defines who I am. Education means learning new skills, invoking interests, and guiding the future to me.
As someone who works closely with elementary children myself, I get to experience first hand the moment a student has that "I got it," moment. That moment is very important to teachers, parents, and the students themselves. Learning new skills in the classroom consists of a list of things that forever benefit students. Skills like problem-solving, analyzing, team-working and communication, following simple directions, and positive habits like being respectful, being independent, and freedom of self. Problem solving and analyzing situations that students have in front of them are elaborated skills especially in secondary education and higher. Today, I use these skills when I find myself stuck on a problem for my math course or english course. It is embedded in my system now to sit back and think, do research, read between the lines before I find a solution. To this day, everyday I benefit from my communication skills, for example being able to discuss with other classmates in a lab, assigning tasks, and group work. In my job, I share this same skill with my students and make sure they understand that it is okay to ask for help, other people can provide other ideas hat build on your own, and they learn to make friends, to take on roles, and not be afraid to ask for help.
Children, teens, college students - everyone - we start developing and growing on things we see around us, things we are told, things we've experienced. These things may become the pillars of our personality! Invoking interests in a multitude of subjects, activities, habits, that is one of the biggest meanings of education. It is in my second grade year that I really got into reading, as far as I can remember I have always loved the English subject - writing, reading, analyzing, you name it. My second grade teacher, one who I have always been grateful for and give so much thanks to, used to read to my class almost everyday if she could. It became my favorite part of class. We had a reading program back in elementary that tracked your reading, it was so fun and grew my love for reading even more. You see my teacher, the school, the system that allowed me to experience that joy and continue to grow it have hugely impacted me. Since then I have become an avid reader a reader of all kinds of different books, a reader who now in turn tries to share and spread that same feeling hoping other students can find a passion in that as well. I think that is what is important here, because of my teacher I was able to grow an interest in a subject that I never knew would still be a part of me today. In education invoking new interests and even strengthening old ones is important for students, and should be touched on in every classroom. Education means spreading a passion for those math athletes, future scientist, future teachers, future sports players, etc.
Lastly, the most important thing that represents education to me is the power in my hands to guide our future. No matter the students age or grade level, what you do, how you act, how you teach, how you build a relationship with your students is fundamental to how they in turn act, think, and succeed. As a future educator, a guider of our future generations, I want to express the importance of learning new things and touching on old skills, of finding who you are, and being confident. I think back to my elementary years, my middle school years, my high school years, and I still remember them and their impact. The teacher that made me fall in love with reading, the teacher that had my back when I felt alone, the teacher that stayed after school or came in early to help me understand a certain concept, the teacher that allowed me to rant, the teacher that taught me how to speak up.
The true meaning of education to me is learning new skills and strengthening old ones, invoking new interests and passions, and guiding the future to success.