Education - Malcolm X - Essay Example

Education When we were small children, Jae Wook Kim, one of my closest friends used to tell methat he wanted to become an astronaut no matter what happens. That time, we were lying side by side on a dewy grass with our gazing eyes fixed on the starry immensity way up above and all that occupied our sense of smell was fresh zesty scent. Readily I knew then that the place we were at along with all the elements of nature that stimulated our senses contributed to my friend’s imagination of being in spacesuit and reaching the stellar vastness. Now, it makes me wonder. Which similar setting in school could possibly make us, in the same fashion, dream of wanting to be in ‘education’? Like Malcolm X, there comes a point when education means learning from people outside of the academe. Certain individuals in our Korean society, at least those within my immediate community, have in one way or the other affected the way I think whether in reference to my studies or an aspect relevant to my social life. When Malcolm X’s discriminating eighth-grade instructor told him “no realistic goal for a nigger” exists at the time he was one of the best students who had foreseen career in law, the moment clearly marked a turning point in his educational decision. Mere words, thus, could ‘make or break’ a person and likewise, some of my perceptions during secondary years at school had been impacted by teachers and classmates in and out of academic discussions. Due to such an experience, I could say that formal scholastic training would be inadequate if a student neglects or fails to have access to other modes of learning. In my case, it was very essential to get in touch with people in different ways. By the time I developed the habit of cramming prior to taking major exams back then, I was in constant need of companions who would either assist me in reviewing difficult subjects, especially the ones I got rid of the most, or simply accompany me for leisure or relaxing break after studying. I crammed so much that I ended up obtaining unpleasant grades that were quite bothersome not only to me but to my parents, concerned friends, and instructors at school who had seen and believed in my potentials. As it made me look into myself, I discovered that while I desired all along to keep up with my studies, I missed setting my priorities right. Friends who were fond of ‘happy-go-lucky’ times, I observed, bore a huge influence in the sense that I had spent an ample amount of time hanging out with them in parties, getaways, shopping, and even petty dates. Little did I realize that instead of having relief from stress of schoolwork, I earned distractions which reflected poor time management and lack of self-control on my part. I used to think that I could study well if I had moments to unwind first, so as to dissolve external pressures and worries which I thought might get in the way of focus but the more I seek to charge myself with wonderful mood as such, the more I became exhausted. The strength meant to have been reserved for making notes and working on assignments was all sapped, making me feel the need to have plenty of rest so that I crammed often. As a consequence, rather than getting properly organized with the lessons already taught, I unconsciously settled on losing my train of smooth thinking and whenever the trouble with discontinuity persisted, I would struggle with comprehension or with coping to recall subject matters dealt with. Though oppression was rare in the previous school I attended, students in general took part in throwing and receiving criticism. Somehow, this was embedded in our system of education and inevitably worked to test how strong a character could get, I suppose. Since I could not afford to let the situation with harshly criticizing individuals affect my personal growth in a negative way, I typically perceived comments as a sign of challenge capable of creating an opportunity for me to enhance my overall skills. It was not easy to have them acknowledged this way but through several encounters, I learned as well to view criticisms as words that, by nature, are only temporarily effectual. By treating them as nothing more significant than plain information, I think of them as knowledge to be used in determining curricular and non-curricular inabilities alike upon which a reinforced education must be designated. Malcolm X, after a drastic turn of fate from good to bad, had regained interest in education in prison through gradual observation of an inmate’s life which motivated him to obtain knowledge by reading with insatiable appetite. His trust and growing empathy for Elton Embry is inspiring enough that besides acquisition of Islamic belief, there occurred every reason to discern wisdom in the light of seeking advice or examining how someone else managed to live in cell with a renewed state of mind. To Malcolm X, the newly-found faith was based upon education for which the ultimate goal is ‘enlightenment’ and after high school, I remember an event in our sociology class where our teacher Jin Young Park discussed a concept that was relevant to his colorful life story and I found a great deal of learning in it. For the first time, I witnessed that the entire class overcame boredom and sleepiness, listening intently as if we had been mesmerized on a journey where the depth of thought would require more than a bell’s ring to be cut off. The professor particularly sparked my enthusiasm to think more creatively and become more critically concerned towards social issues. Eventually, I recognized what we had been missing in the customary education in which instructors went by presenting the subject using a bulk of information alone. To improve on effectively conveying the principle of a subject matter, I would suggest for the faculty to consider including a tool or approach that would necessarily relate classroom learning to prevailing conditions outside of the academe whether in the economy, politics, social, and cultural issues. This way, education would enable each student to make reflections and develop interest in learning further so that cramming may be surpassed by studying completely and ahead of time. The enlightening experience during the aforementioned sociological lecture also helped me personally to acquire some degree of curiosity and attraction to pursue engagement with intellectual talks where raising of arguments and free exchange of ideas are competitive yet healthy and psychologically stimulating. Work Cited “Malcolm X.” 20 June 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X. 23 June 2011. Read More