Life of a Learner by Sydney

Life of a Learner by Sydney - November 2024 Scholarship Essay

I’m a dreamer and a thinker. I deeply want to understand the “why,” which is a critical component as to how our education system works. True learning depends on intrinsic motivation, but it can be encouraged by a student-centered education system. From fifth through half of ninth grade, I attended a private school that genuinely encouraged my deep love for learning and provided room for remarkable growth. Once transferring to public school, I sought to have teachers that had the passion for true learning – not just teaching. I learned the difference between giving a reason to care and being told to care. Industrialized education programs have pushed the acquisition of information but have not thoroughly taught their students to have a learner’s mindset, which is why my medical school dream is for education to keep curiosity in the classrooms, research laboratories, and medical clinics around the world.

Curiosity should trump the general collection of knowledge. In The Darts Scene from Ted Lasso, Lasso encourages curiosity and demonstrates the detrimental effects of being closed-minded in his impressive darts display. The grading system which is not inherently corrupted, but it sometimes fails to produce real learners when used to scale “smartness” with a subjective, judgmental perspective. Some teachers in public schools spend all their effort on teaching the TEKS and forget the importance of a deep understanding, but gifted teachers do not “teach to the test.” As students, we need to not “data dump” the material learned in Unit 1 as soon as the test is over, so we can memorize, test, dump, and repeat with Unit 2. By the end of the year, most students cannot recall the lessons from the first semester due to rote memorization.
We need teachers to not obstruct the communication of knowledge. No student actively engages with an unenthused instructor rambling about content that seems inapplicable and meaningless. Deep learning must be the pinnacle. In “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato emphasizes the incredible importance of understanding. “The idea of good… is the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual… which he must have his eye fixed.” Further recognizing this importance, modern-day philosopher Wallace remarks, “Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think.”

Industrialized education must not fail its students. It has also provided me with invaluable experiences, opportunities, and relationships. Each generation must fulfill its duty to improve the weaknesses of its time, and I plan to do my part as I pursue medical school. I dream to witness an education system in college that teaches students “how to think” and succeeds in producing a generation of true learners. We must, as Plato says, “endure anything” to spread “such honors and glories!”