The Story of my Learning Experience - Essay Example

The Story of My Learning Experience The education system has always been criticized for its skewedness in teaching the correct to the young generation. This is an issue of much concern considering that education is the pillar of the society. The need to have a better education system has never been made so clear to me until I had to deal with the challenges of the modern world without adequate skills and proficiency. Having gone through the different levels of learning from grade school to college, I have made serious but interesting discoveries about the education system.

My experience and personal observation serves as great source of knowledge and motivation for those aiming to scale the heights of education. I have gathered overwhelming evidence that suggests that although the education system has undergone revolution, it is still in its liberal infancy. This is because the population bred from the learning institutions can hardly take on the challenges of the changing world effectively and appropriately. Up to the time I did my final exams in high school, I could not utilize the learned knowledge in real life to make any meaningful achievement.

This is withstanding that I had spent approximately 12 years in school reading volumes of books. My realization echoed Nussbaum sentiments that the population cannot think logically and independently about various issues affecting the society simply because they have been raised within a dormant education system (Nussbaum 53). At least, the 12 years I had spent in grade and high school should have given me at least fundamentals of philosophy and profound history that would secure me a niche in the global society.

Therefore, I strongly suggest that students should be taught the basic and fundamentals of philosophy in order to make them independent thinkers. This approach should be integrated within the historical approach to learning as proposed by Loewen (32). Therefore, a synergistic learning for students should be based on learning to be independent thinkers based on the true foundation of history. I still feel that such learning should be executed at grade and high school level since this is the stage where fundamentals of life are taught.

I took the challenge of doing a thorough historical review and realized that, the realms of American history go beyond what any simple mind can perceive. This sentiment has been best echoed by Loewen. It did not come by surprise that, we were only taught the less interesting, less challenging, and least useful part of their history. Learning volumes and volumes of historical books without clarity of objectives was all in vain and a waste of valuable time. It always left me fatigued and bored of the history that was primarily meant to propel me towards the challenging future.

Indeed, “history reveals how we got to this point. Understanding our past is central to our ability to understand ourselves and the world around us” (Loewen web). Therefore, a more profound learning approach can be achieved by teaching rich history based on cosmopolitan values and therefore make it interesting for all students. In reality, I see and value myself as citizens of the global society. This is even more important with the increasing global interaction that demands deep and wide understanding of the global society.

However, I was always made to understand that understanding my origin as well as origin and development of the global society is the key to prosperity. This is the only foundation in which ability to handle current and future challenges should be based. Sincerely, students should learn their history as well as the history of the global society and then enrich the same with an understanding of the causes of challenges of the modern world. It was quite ironical that I was expected to integrate with the global society effectively and efficiently after school.

However, what I had learned about the cultures and way of life for other communities was quite disheartening. It made me realize that current education system is so short sighted that students hardly see beyond solving the immediate problems. Truly, this has been caused by what the two scholars would term as lack of profound understanding of historical facts and education system that teaches within the boundaries of nationalities. I would propose that modern society students should envision a wide approach to problem solving both at a personal level and as a society.

Students should therefore learn the important facts in their history as well as the global history. This way, they will be able to reflect on the challenges and the triumphs of the people who made history and therefore stand on their shoulders to solve current and future problems. Additionally, students ought to see beyond the borders as cosmopolitans by embracing the global society as a family. This synergistic method will equip every student with skills to handle challenges and problems in a wide and global perspective.

Most notably, I observed that the American education system lacks in teaching the historical developments of racial, cultural, religious, and political developments. Hardly does the system teach the bare truth. Certainly, many of the people I know are not able to handle the challenges of race, culture, and politics of the global society since they have very little understanding of their own societal foundations. Therefore, I would suggest that students should enrich themselves with a profound knowledge about the constructs of the society.

This should be done both at a localized level and at a global perspective as well. This will definitely equip the students with the necessary skills to understand other societies that make up the global society in which we are all members. Students should see beyond their immediate problems and challenges and seek to understand the rich and diverse history that mas made the current societal set up. I encourage a global approach to learning should therefore be encouraged and enhanced to equip the students with skills and knowledge to handle the increasing challenges of the modern global society.

Works Cited Loewen, James. “Introduction to Lies My Teacher Told Me”. Web, 21 February 2012. http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/content.php?file=liesmyteachertoldme-introduction.html Loewen, James. “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong”. New York: New Press, 2008. Print. Nussbaum, Craven. “Cultivating humanity: a classical defense of reform in liberal education”. New York: Harvard University Press, 1998. Print.