Educational Autobiography - Essay Example

(Day Educational Autobiography It is often said that man learns from experience at every stage of life, especially one’s educational experience matters a lot in culminating and developing better perspectives of life. Early school days My schooling began in a middle class school in the eighth largest city “Dallas” in the United States. It offered me countless opportunities for learning experiences, internships and future growth. At that time the school environment was little feasible because of the outer social impacts. Being stranger to the American society was the big hurdle in my early schooling. Slowly my life caught the pace and I began to mix up with other students. There is role of teachers and books in promoting the educational development of the immature. Fortunately, I had not to work hard to set up rapport with my teachers. I faced some critical situations while my class studies as other American students hesitated to make themselves familiar with Africans, which reflected the persistence of discrimination on the basis of color, race and nationality even after the commencement of globalised era. Though my teachers willingly assisted me in studies as well as in other concerns, all the teachers were not same. I still remember the bitterest experience of my school life when one of my language teachers ignored me in front of the whole class and offered a Native American student to dictate the grammatical source in language. I never concealed my participation in sports particularly volleyball from which I got a separate identity in my school and continued that in K-12 also. In the initial stage of K-12 education, I struggled with the barrier of hesitation which had restricted me to address or to share something with big group of students. Even today I hardly comprehend if my performance in one cultural event was real or just an imagination. One of my psychology trainers assisted me so willingly in that occasion. He taught me to discover the connection which actually exists within experience between the achievements of the past and the issues of the present. It is because of him only that today I carry out all my responsibilities in society and at job front, and walk with head high. In addition, during my K-12 education stage, I realized the failure of Brown Board of education which had begun the process in K-12 schools around 1950’s. Its purpose was to end the racial discrimination at public places especially in schools; but it was not altogether successful. And I never hesitate to admit the comments of Joanne Turner-Sadler “Black children who attend urban schools, for the most part, continue to perform below white children on academic achievement tests” (Sadler, 2009, p. 203). For a good reason I started taking part in debate events and it was a chance to tap out the skills required for discussion on various topics or issues. This compelled me strongly, to be efficient in American English and I became a good bilingual. Due to this initiative I retained some chances to have some small talks with well known personalities of several recognized authorities and charitable groups. My most warm meet was with Mrs. Winfrey, who has been honored as Best Talk Show Host. College Days It was the time to demonstrate professional growth to show initiative by taking advantage of as many professional opportunities as possible, and accepting additional responsibilities. We performed as volunteers to help supervise an after-school club or to assist with playground duties, which helped us to experience and implement the teacher centered approaches those were taught in classes. We attended professional development and faculty meetings, discussing the topics with the cooperating teacher whenever required. One side we had to focus on career development whereas the other side offered perfect time for learning maturity ethics, and moral values. According to John Dewey (1998), ideas underlying traditional education involve transmitting the past to a new generation. (p. 2). During that time, as Dewey proposes, “There had also been developed standards and rules of conduct; moral training consisted in forming habits of action in conformity with these rules and standards” (Dewey, 1998, p.2). Here I must state some social situations and conditions those prevailed during my adulthood. Though things have improved over time in the past 10-20 years in Dallas, during my schooling days it was highly segregated in terms of neighborhoods and suburbs on a larger scale percentage. Similarly, educated ones faced problems at employment front, as Phillips (2006) says, “clearly nonwhites could only be wards, not leaders or creators of civilization, which remained the exclusive gifts of Anglos” (Phillips, 2006, p. 67). I remember a time when blacks had little access to areas like Coppell and Flower Mound. Today, its not an issue of relevance as we see blacks every sphere of social life. Various ethnic groups including Chinese, Indian, Korean, and middle class Latino families, have brought diversity for the city. Furthermore, to assert the weakness of education system, I must say that education system should emphasize on the freedom of the learner. So as to contribute new ideas and thoughts throughout peer group, but in my case the system was not of such type and this restricted the innovative capabilities. Dewey has rightly said “some experiences are mis-educative that has the effect of arresting or distorting the growth of further experience” (Dewey, 1998, p13). Outstanding Experiences Above all, I would prefer to discuss one of the most memorable experiences which I had during my college education. As a part of curriculum, our college used to hold recreational activities too especially cultural and educational tours. During these tours we learned a lot how to socialize with diverse populations and other international students of other groups. This made me strong enough to lead a better and more comfortable life in society. This delivered a situation to experience the impact of social dealing on personality, which we were taught during social education classes. As far as strength and weakness of education system is concerned, it was quite practical to understand the theoretical concepts better. In contrast, I admit gladly that the new education is simpler in principle than the old. It is in harmony with principles of growth. I will conclude it with the words of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1842), “all experience is an arch wherethro’ Gleams that untraveled world, whose margin fades, for ever and for ever when I move” (Cited in goodreads.com, n.d.). It means the fence of experiences fade out with the passage of time and the newer time invades the further life of man. References Alfred, Lord Tennyson’ quotes. (n.d.). Goodreads.com. Retrieved 5 Dec 2010 from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2940505.Alfred_Lord_Tennyson Dewey, J. (1998). Experience and education: The 60th anniversary edition. Indianapolis: Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society In Education. Phillips, M. (2006). White metropolis: Race, ethnicity, and religion in Dallas, 1841-2001. US: University of Texas Press. Sadler, J. T. (2009). African American history: An introduction. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc. Read More