How to be Educated

I spent the first twenty or so years of my life in a small town called Chatham in the worst state of America: New Jersey. Chatham was an exceptionally wealthy town that I believe had one of the better public school systems in the state - and in that same vein, New Jersey seems to have the best school systems in the entire country.

"The Best" in the state

So for me, school was meant to be an immense and important part of my life.


Unfortunately, I didn't like it very much. The majority of the students in my school were, in my personal experience, appreciated less as individual minds with varying skills and areas of expertise and more as numbers to fit a statistic. If we weren't "academically inclined", as in excelled working in academia apart from other areas (ie: theatrics, arts, literature and creative writing, hands on skillsets, etc.) we were pushed along anyway. I often think of the stereotypical teacher/writer relationship in "Feel-Good" movies where the misunderstood and outcasted student who's ridiculed by his or her peers discovers a teacher who appreciates and recognizes their incredible talent in an alternative field and helps them discover their own success and achievement. I often see myself as one of those misunderstood students, only I never had a teacher to help me find my own unique value and talent I had to offer.

Most of my peers would agree that our school sucked. Most of our teachers had no personality, were incredibly biased and opinionated, or was just following their syllabus and semester schedule with the intensity of a religious zealot. What I learned most from school was that I probably wouldn't learn what I wanted to learn from -that- school. Instead, I learned how to teach myself the things I truly was interested in and how to handle the overload of work I was getting from the undesired classes I had to take (with my fair share of disappointing grades).

Now, as an adult in college, I find I fit in far better than I used to. Going to a college (community or otherwise) is an opportunity where you as an individual are sought after. Professors and fellow students want to see what kind of differing ideas you bring to the discussion. The differences in where we all excel, wether academically, creatively, or skillset-wise are what makes for an even richer and fuller classroom experience.

I look forward to seeing what the rest of our class this semester will teach me.