Meaning of a College Education
What does education mean to me? An education is not just
what you learn, but how you learn it and how you put that to use. An education
does not only come from sitting in a chair and listening to a professor, but
you can gain an education by engaging in a conversation with someone at a book
store or coffee shop, by sharing ideas on a topic, or traveling the world. An
education is knowledge and experience. It is what you learn about yourself as
well as what you learn in the class room and put to use when it comes to life
and your career. College helps you to meet new people, experience new things
and get out in to the world knowing something you didn’t before, whether that
be in the classroom or just by observation.
Experience is the best way of becoming educated. You put what you know to use,
and try new things, challenging yourself. If you experiment out something and
it doesn't work out for you then you know you should try
something else. A part of learning is making mistakes, no one gets
everything right the first time seeing or doing something. Not everything will
be perfect the second or third time you try it either. You know you are
educated on a topic when you can master it and explain it to someone else. Personally,
I am more of a hands-on learner. I have a harder time learning something just
from reading. I have to hear someone say it and then physically try it myself,
that way I see what I don’t understand
Another
way of educating through experience is traveling. College exposes
you to the option to study abroad, exposing yourself to different cultures
gives you an opportunity to think in a different way. When traveling you get
the chance to see new things, meet new people, and see new sights. Since you
have never met these people or seen these sights, it forces you to ask
questions, gaining knowledge in what you once didn’t know. Instead of reading
out of a book, traveling gives you the opportunity to experience with your own
eyes. I love to travel because it educates me on new cultures and traditions
from an up close and personal view. It is good to get outside perspectives on
things, rather than to be one sided and narrow minded. After high school, many
students prefer to take a break from school and to see the world beyond what
they are used to and gain more life experience rather than book smarts. They
travel to different cities, states, or countries and view the world for
themselves rather than reading about it in a textbook. Reading a book can get
boring, but seeing the actual site that the book is talking about is more
intriguing. This is personally why I love traveling, it beats sitting in a
chair and just listening for an hour and a half.
I have moved to several different cities in California
growing up, as well as outside of the state, to Seattle Washington. In one of
the cities I moved to, Ojai California, I attended a vegetarian boarding school
where I was the only girl boarding in a house full of Koreans, and Chinese
boys. This was a whole new experience for me because not only did I have to
adapt to living on my own, but I had to adapt to eating in a way I wasn’t used
to and it exposed me to cultures I never knew much about. This transition made
it easier for me to move into the college dorm. It prepared me to be on my own
and live with different people, as well as trying out some of their traditions.
After leaving the school I was encouraged to see other traditions. I plan on
studying a year abroad in my second or third college year. I want to experience
studying another culture and living in an environment outside of what I am used
to.
You can learn a lot and gain a new perspective on life just
by the people you meet in your life. When you visit a foreign country and meet
their people, you are completely immersed in their culture and are forced to
understand their language. When talking to these people, you learn the
difference in the way they live and the way you live. Seeing and hearing about
the different ways they work, dress, and live their lives.
Attending college must be a want for one to actually retain
information. You see and learn new things everyday in the outside world. But
you have to want to learn to be educated in school. Children, who attend
college, most of the time, come for a good education. “Pure and simple, tuition
at a private college runs, on average, nearly $28,000 a year. If parents pay
that much, they expect nothing less than A's in return.” (Adam Levine, A’s for
Everyone!) They are paying their money to learn from professors with high
degrees. If you don’t want to learn then you won’t learn, you will just hear
the information and forget it.
When you attend elementary, middle, and high school, you are
attending because you have to. When I applied to California State University
Northridge, I signed up to better educate myself. Now in class, I apply myself
more than I did in high school because I’m paying for it. From college, I plan
on taking a variety of classes to help me better understand the world. The college
experience let alone will also educate me on how to become an independent and a
financially stable adult.
When you go to college you will be leaving with more than
just things you've learned in a class room. Although you come to
college to learn about a career you have in mind, there is more to college than
just the studies. “Students think too much about majors. But the
major isn’t nearly as important as the toolbox of skills you come out
with and the experiences you have.” (Making College ‘Relevant,’ Kate Zernike)
By living in the dorms, I am learning how to grow on my own, budget my limits,
take care of my health and be the best that I can be. I wake myself up to
attend class every day and no one is over my shoulder telling me what to do.
Outside of just book studies, college is helping me gain maturity.
The classes I am taking after my general education classes
are going to prepare me for my career, being an ultra sound and MRI technician.
But I also want to study more on liberal arts because with this education I can
take the learning with me to any job I end up with. Vedika Khemani stated in
Why a Liberal Arts Education Matters, “The ability to synthesize different
perspectives into the big picture is far more powerful than narrow expertise in
any single field. The social sciences offer perspectives from vantage points
separated by time, place, and society.” (Khemani) College is not just about
learning one thing, it’s about learning as much as you can so that you can
relate it to all life experiences and situations.
In all classes that I take I am expecting myself to strive
for an A. I probably won’t pass every class with an A but as long as I know I
tried my hardest I will still be proud of myself. If I strive for the highest
grade and only achieve a little less that is better than striving for an
average grade then failing. A good grade, is a grade that is deserved, you may
feel like you worked really hard on something and think you deserve an A, but
you missed a few qualities that you now know to apply next time. To feel that
you have received a good grade, you have to understand why you received it, and
know that you earned it. Like Levine argued, “One of the things an education
should do is let you know what you do well in and what you don’t.” (A’s for
Everyone!) If you are only cheating then you will never know. It feels better
doing good when you know you've worked for it rather than cheating.
Then the grade doesn't mean as much than if you were to learn
the material.
Everyone has a right to a college
education, you just have to want it. Attending college just because you can
afford it, or because everyone is expecting you to without the personal drive
to go and excel is pointless. A college education is the opportunity for one to
learn in more ways more than one as well as meeting new people, gaining
connections, learning life skills and maturing.
This photo signifies that an education can be obtained all over the world so why not go out and adventure it. Studying abroad can expand your mind culturally. It gives you an up close and personal experience with how other people live their daily lives and the history behind why. If you're a hands on learner, traveling and studying in different places can better help you retain the information rather than sitting in a classroom and reading about it out of a book.
Winkler, Kirsten. International Studies: Opportunities and Challenges for Higher Education Systems. 2013. Photograph. Edcetera. 8 April 2013. Web. 27 November 2013.
To everyone across the world an education means something different. It can mean to try new things or learning something new and finding ways to contribute that knowledge to the community. Education doesn't have an exact definition, for everyone everywhere it is a personal experience and the information they've gathered while living life.
Vittana. What Does Education Mean to You?. Youtube. Youtube, 16 December 2011. Web. 28 November 2013.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nsRWNWcyLr4?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
College is a different experience for everyone. For some it could be scary because you are now living on your own and being independent and for some it could be the chance to meet new people and experience living life from a personal point of view instead of being told how it will be on your own. It is the chance to meet new people and hear new stories and well as hearing about other people history and education. Everyone takes something different from college that they take on into their adulthood life.
Liveincollege. What is the College Experience. Youtube. Youtube. 11 November 2010. Web. 28 November 2013
Works Cited
Khemani, Vedika. “Why Liberal Arts Matters.” New York Times. New York Times, 1 February 2012. Web. 12 September 2013.
In this article a student, Vedika Khemai, states the importance of studying liberal arts. Stating that it is better to be educated on something more broad that will help with any and every career instead on only a major. You must also need to have good skills in reading, writing, and communication in today’s society to stand out.
Liveincollege. What is the College Experience. Youtube. Youtube. 11 November 2010. Web. 28 November 2013
The purpose of the video was to share what a college experience in to those students in college. Students state what they’ve learned in college as well as their likes and don’t likes. People usually have stereotypes for what college is like, but in the video students are saying what it actually is.
Vittana. What Does Education Mean to You?. Youtube. Youtube, 16 December 2011. Web. 28 November 2013.
People in this video are stating what an education means to them. What it means to learn something and put it to use. Some shared personal stories on their learning experience. This video is to point out that education has a different meaning for everyone.
Winkler, Kirsten. International Studies: Opportunities and Challenges for Higher Education Systems. 2013. Photograph. Edcetera. 8 April 2013. Web. 27 November 2013.
This picture represents how an education doesn’t have to only be obtained in a classroom. That in fact traveling and studying abroad is a good form of learning as well. It’s a more up close a personal way of interacting with your studies.
Zernike, Kate. “Making College Relevant.” New York Times. New York Times, 3 January 2010. Web. 9 August 2013.
In this article Kate Zernike looks at different ways students can be able to use the information they were taught in school. You shouldn’t only focus on a certain topic so soon, but think about how it will help later in life. She feels that instead of focusing on a major students should also focus on how finding them self as a person and skills they are good at.
No comments:
Post a Comment