Here is my education experience in my life time, and how I plan to use my education to better my life. Formal Education Experience My formal education began in Kindergarten when I started attending Wisconsin Hills Elementary/Middle School. At the time Wisconsin Hills was a K-8th grade school so I had to tough it out with all the big kids. After two years at Wisconsin Hills, the grade school moved out and took up residence in a newly renovated school named Swanson Elementary. This is the school I remember most when I think about the beginning of my academic career.
I decided to try because of my parents, sports, and most importantly my future. I knew that I was capable because of my past. Kindergarten through 7th grade I received straight A’s and was on the honor roll each year. What pushed me the most was my parents. I wasn’t able to do a lot of things that I wanted to do because of my grades.
I was told that when you become a junior that’s when everything starts to get harder and you have to buckle down meaning no time for friends and really no weekend because it was going to require a lot of work, but I was sure that if I got through middle school, 9th and 10th grade that it would be no different than any other grade level class that I had taken already and passed. I was receiving an assignment in all classes to complete during the summer. I started the work, but it was so boring that I never finished the work. As time went on, my grades affected me, so I had to get tutoring if I wanted to be able to play football in the upcoming season. As I spent more time trying to bring up my grade in one class, my grades began to suffer in my other classes.
Finally, another important thing I learned was that all my work needs to be turned in on time. I really don’t want to get backed up on school work. To begin, my fist year as freshmen in high school was a challenge during my first week or two. I was having trouble finding time to do my homework because every Tuesday and Thursday’s I had practice from 5 pm to 7 pm. At Lincoln, we had advisory every Tuesday and Thursday, which was very convenient for me.
Having severe speech problems as a child, combined with handwriting and spelling issues, I found myself keeping more to my own thoughts and never being able to express my thoughts on paper. At the time, I did not have the ability to sort through my constructive thoughts or even put them on paper. Fortunately after I began going to The Shelton School, a private school for children and teens with learning differences, it was made clear that I should be put into extensive reading and speech classes with the hopes of helping with my struggles. Even though the classes did help me out tremendously with my struggles of spelling and speech, my issues with being able to sort through my jumbled thoughts were never addressed. When I eventually transferred to public schools, the issues that everyone overlooked because they were not an obvious problem for me really came back to haunt me when I was assigned any sort of extensive writing assignment.
This first semester of my ninth grade year was absolutely horrible. I am not trying to blame my failures on how hard my classes are, or how mean of teachers I have; but instead, reflect upon what I did wrong. Let us start by saying that I did not plan this marking period out so well. I thought that I would fly below the radar, passing my classes without doing too much work or putting in too much effort. This was one of the worst decisions I have made to this very day.
I've been shy for as long as I can remember. In elementary school, I only spoke when I was asked to. I had a hard time making new friends because I rarely ever started conversations with the nice kids and I never stood up to the school bully. I signed up for afterschool activities which my parents told me were a great way to make new friends. But a kid shy as I was could fade into the background, unnoticed.
I really hate school. And by hate, I mean that I experience rageful, disgusting, negative emotions when I think about it. The institutions I have attended, from elementary school up through the community college I am currently attending, have failed me in every way possible. It's no secret that I'm smart, no genius mind you, but I'm certainly towards the upper end of the bell curve. I have been incredibly bored by school since day one.
High school is critical for teenagers, and should bridge the gap maturity between adolescents and adults. However, high schools today are serving more as confinement zones, where parents just leave their kids five days a week and assume development takes place. Through moderations to the grading policies and learning style, high schools will provide students with not only the education needed to succeed but also the attitude to want to continue learning. There is too much emphasis being placed on grades in American high schools. With our increasingly competitive society, students are pushed to make the best grades that they can in the toughest classes that they can take so that they’ll be considered at a prestigious university.
These values are easy to say but hard to live by and maintain. This essay will exemplify one of the seven values and how it has affected my life. When I was in my senior year of high school, I was given the responsibility to train, teach, and lead a renowned drill team. I had more people cheering for me to fail than to succeed, and I understood why because on the outside looking in, the only thing anyone could see was a quiet and meek baby faced female that could not be a day out of middle school. Despite the doubts I stood up and took my responsibilities, and was given a team of thirty two junior reserved officer training corps (JROTC) cadets ranging from 9th to 12th grade that were coming from all different walks of life.