Memorable School Experience - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages It was not long before school became a strong social outlet and I began to experience great success in my courses. I excelled academically and was barely cognizant of a group of students in courses I had that were quickly failing. One day I showed up and they had transferred to another class. I went on for much of the year concentrating on school. While I experienced relative success, towards the end of the year I increasingly felt something was missing in my life. While at the time I thought it was simply the need of a more robust social life, in retrospect I recognize that even at this early age I was experiencing a slight crisis of personal meaning. At nights I would sit by myself and think about the purpose of even being successful in school or life. Like a miniature Camus or Sartre, I gradually came to believe that there was no real meaning to life and that the books and schoolwork I had so diligently devoted myself to was nothing but me fooling myself that things mattered. I sought out ways to counter this depression. Increasingly I looked to others thinking they new the answers. It was this that led me to one-day talk with the kids who had dropped out of my courses a few months earlier. To me it seemed as if they similarly rejected school and found a different path. One day during lunch I ate with them and then walked with them as they went behind the school. There was a pasture next door where they would sneak away and smoke marijuana. As we were returning I turned my head and noticed the school resource officer standing right beside us; he had watched us the entire time. I ended up receiving a week-long suspension. At the time I was truly furious with what had happened, but today I realize it was a turning point in my life. I consider Hartman’s story when he writes, “I became a bulldog and I spoke --truly spoke, clearly-- for the first time” (Hartman). After this incident I too found my voice. While at times I continued to question life, I learned to find my own meaning and appreciate everyday for what it is. My favorite teacher in high school was my junior year English teacher Mr. Harvey. Before enrolling in his course English had always seemed to be to be a study of grammar, structure, vocabulary, and ancient texts that held little resemblance to my modern existence. Throughout my junior year of high school I came to gain a much deeper appreciation for literature and poetry, and the ways that writing empower our lives. The first day of class we walked in and after head administered an introductory talk had everyone in the class stand up. We then walked into procession to a desk he had at the front of the room; we were instructed to step onto the desk and then jump off. The intention was so that the class would become more comfortable with jumping into the intellectual unknown. Throughout the semester Mr. Harvey regularly came up with novel and unique teaching methods. One day the class would be outside at the lake writing poetry, the next day we’d be analyzing Sylvia Plath indoors. While the course was filled with excitement, in retrospect perhaps the things I appreciate most about Mr. Harvey were the things I disliked at the time. Regularly he would choose a student’s essay and place it on a projector and correct it in front the entire class. Everyone dreaded having his or her essay being chosen, albeit the individual ...Download file to see next pagesRead More