Back to School Free Essays

Learning, they say, is a continuous process. Whether one is in school, on vacation, in church, in a party or in the solitude of silence, learning takes place as long as an individual is responsive to the stimulus which kindles learning. Going back to school shall, however, always be an exhilarating experience for individuals like me who value college schooling as a sacred venture to gain steady foothold for a good future. We will write a custom essay sample on Back to School or any similar topic only for you Order Now This paper briefly describes my learning profile, my perceived strengths which will tide me over a college course, the challenges that I need to hurdle to make the most out of my tertiary education and my special formula towards a successful college life. My Learning Profile From my previous readings, I have reason to believe that I am primarily an auditory learner. I learn best by listening to lectures, rather than by reading lecture hand-outs. Believe it or not, easy listening music usually complements my studying environment. I would like to believe that I am an extrovert. If I may expound, being an extrovert made me enjoy listening to lectures and speeches either with a small or big crowd. I love to share my opinion in the same way that I love hearing others’. The temperament that goes with this moderately extroverted personality may be described as one with a persistently fair activity level and predominantly positive moods. I am neither sensitive nor irritable. My Strengths The following qualities which I developed from home and from previous exposures in academic and extra-curricular activities will be of paramount influence if I were to be successful in obtaining a good college education. My experiences in dealing with people of various cultures made me flexible, sharpened my inter-personal skills and thought me the essence of teamwork. I am extremely thankful that my parents trained me to be self-motivated, well-organized, to have initiative, manage time well, and to act with integrity at all times. Schooling honed my problem-solving and critical thinking skills and endowed me with an entrepreneurial spirit. My Challenges The cliche that â€Å"patience is a virtue† is not yet rooted in my system. This is the greatest weakness that I need to strengthen so that I can get well adapted to college-level learning. My older friends told me that college is so much different from high school. I am starting to believe them. If the challenges I braved in high school did not seem to have developed my patience, I pray that I can invoke my inner self to help me bring out a whole lot of patience, for my own sake. I know I will be needing a lot of it now that I am in college and even more of it in the coming years. Another weakness that I need to address is my propensity to procrastinate. I have heard lots of accounts from college students that there are always so many things to do and less time to do it. I hope that I stop putting off for tomorrow what I can do for today. This way, I will be able to squeeze in all the academic requirements into my limited schedule. My Plan To be successful in college, I have devised a simple plan. This plan entails setting extremely high goals for myself. The rationale is that, even if I do not reach the goal I would have done better than being mediocre. To wit, my goal is to finish college on top of the class. My efforts will, therefore, be geared towards being number one. This means a lot of hard work, sleepless nights and patience. If I really do make it to number one, well and good. But if I do not, I may be number two, number three or even number 10, and this is not bad either. I would not aim for just a passing mark in college, because if I miss the passing mark, I would have failed since there is not much room to maneuver from merely passing to failing. Better said than done, however, setting higher standards mean harder work and lesser fun, as I would have to make advance readings for every new lesson. Reading in advance, according to research, will facilitate comprehension of concepts and theories during the class lecture better than those who did not read beforehand. Conclusion Taking this course made me both a better person and a better learner. I came to know myself better and this provided me important insight into the factors which will help me spell the difference between simply going to school and learning from school. Writing this paper propelled positive thoughts and critical thinking which enabled me to describe myself, my challenges and my plan the way I pictured them in my mind. The mere fact that I completed this requirement is proof that the course served its purpose in exploring the personal dimensions of education. While the world is a gigantic arena of learning experiences, school is always the best forum for scholarly input. Indeed, I am glad I am back to school. How to cite Back to School, Papers Back to School Free Essays Back to School: Education is very important. It determines what you can do in life. It concludes who you will become. We will write a custom essay sample on Back to School or any similar topic only for you Order Now President Barack Obama believes that education is vital and his domestic policy is still focused on education. Why does Barack Obama believe that education is so important to the United States? Why does Obama think education will make the U. S. more competitive? President Barack Obama addresses the target audience directly. The target audience is the students from kindergarten to the twelfth grade. There are two audiences; the main one is the students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia and the second audience is all the students across the United States. The audience verifies the way he directs the audience. He utilizes an informal style where he places himself at the same level as the students. Obama opens the speech with the line†Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? † (page 1 line 1). The language is quite simple and easy to understand. This is the language a six year old and an eighteen year old will comprehend. A very essential element in the speech is that Obama knows how to get the students to identify themselves with him. He doesn’t wish for the students to look upon him as a president; he would like them to see him as one of them, one of the students. It is important that the students recognize that he knows what they are going through. †I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning. (page 1 line 10 to 13). Barack Obama applies ethos. It makes him seem reliable and creditable. He appears to be more trustworthy to the audience because he shares personal experience with them. He includes them in his past by sharing a memory from his childhood. The importance of education to the United States is stated clearly in the speech. Obama states th at†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. † (page 2 line 63 to 64). He considers education to be fundamental for America. It is the future of the U. S. Education is a matter Obama has focused on for a long time. Even now during the election he is still focused on education, he considers that education will make the U. S. more flourishing and competitive. He knows it is not easy to do well in school and many students face challenges every day. Obama wants to encourage and inspire the students to do better. He illustrates the situations of three students Jazmin Perez, Andoni Schultz and Shantell Steve. All of them were in difficult situations and it was improbable for them to be thriving in school. Feature Article  Country School  Allen Curnow These three students are great examples of the American dream because they worked hard and never gave up. They wrote their own destiny. They formed their own future. Obama expects all students to work hard and never give up. He applies famous people who have succeeded through hard work because of the fact that they never gave up. To be successful is not easy it is one of the toughest challenges you will face. Obama clarifies that J. K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was declined twelve times before it was published. He exploits J. K. Rowling because she is someone numerous children and young people can relate to. She herself and the phenomenon Harry Potter is one of the greatest childhood memory of thousands of people. He phrases Michael Jordan’s famous quote â€Å"I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. † (page 4 line 130). This resembles success and failure. He comprehends to succeed because he knows exactly what it takes to fail. He has learned from each failure. And that is why he has succeeded so many times in his career. Michael Jordan is a basket ball legend. Millions of people look upon him with an enormous amount of respect. He is an ideal for anyone including all children and young people involved in sports. It is very easy for children and young people to relate to J. K. Rowling and Michael Jordan because they are who everybody admires and looks up to. Obama conveys that these two succeeded because they have failed and they have gained knowledge from each failure. He would like the students to comprehend that it is alright for you to make mistakes as long as you learn from each one. He knows that very few succeed the first time. Therefore the students must practice. Being successful is tough but Obama doesn’t want the students to give up when tougher times come along. He would like the students to try even harder. Patriotism is a crucial aspect in the speech because education is important for a nation’s competitive ability. Obama states that â€Å"†¦ don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country. † (page 5 line148 to 149). At this point in the speech the president concentrates on the students’ feelings. He accentuates the feeling patriotism. Pathos is thus applied. Obama employs this device because he wants the audience to recognize the importance of education. This is the most important object because no matter what you want to achieve you will need an education to get to your destination. The president utilizes rhetorical questions to engage the students and make them think. He would like a response from the students. These questions have the effect that the students will try to answer the questions and take a stand to what the president phrases â€Å"So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country? † (page 5 line 158 to 160). Education will help the students answer these questions. It is most important value in the speech and in Obama’s domestic policy. Many anaphoras occur in the speech. The president applies them to strengthen his points and sentences. On the second page line 39 to 45 anaphoras are employed â€Å"Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. † The president portrays the future options for the students though he emphasizes that you need to focus and pay attention in school in order to know your strengths and weaknesses. Once you know your strengths you will have a better idea of the possibilities you obtain. The students will know what direction would be better to head after high school. They have knowledge about what field they should look more into and focus on. Education is very important to the president because if the United States possesses the best education then great people will arise such as Mark Zuckerberg who founded Facebook, one of the biggest social networks. Nelson Mandela agrees with Barack Obama on the matter of education. He has stated †Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. † The most significant factor is that students take responsibility for their own education and work harder towards meeting their own goals. How to cite Back to School, Essay examples Back to School Free Essays Back to School: A Comparative Essay Walking back into school for the first time in years sent a rush of memories through my mind, from the tree I used to climb after school to the conversation that lead to the premature loss of my virginity and so much more. Surprisingly, my emotions lead me to something else altogether†¦looking at the dull concrete walls, iron laced windows and towering fences I realized; public school truly is a prison. Mind you, your average middle or high school may not have iron bars or shackles but you can â€Å"bet your bottom dollar† public schools and prisons are more alike than not. We will write a custom essay sample on Back to School or any similar topic only for you Order Now Both include guards, gangs, crowded cafeterias with bad food, strict schedules determined by vociferous bells, signed documents in order to get in or out and only God knows who will get out alive. The only things somewhat cheery about my former schools are the student murals cracked and damaged by barbaric vandals. Every student gets the same sentence: three consecutive sentences of five years, three years and four years before you can be considered a productive member of society. You might get out early for good behavior, but you are probably more likely to end up with time added on. Thinking back to my time in the â€Å"Big House†; I always felt like a criminal. Between the IDs and hall passes it seemed like no matter where I went there was someone making sure I didn’t do something horrible. Getting sent to the torture chamber called â€Å"The Hole† for the most asinine things like having a pack of matches, a metal fork or even wearing a polo that wasn’t just the right shade of green. The Hole truly was psychological torture; a tiny room with no clocks (you’d drop your phone and watch in a box as you walked into the room), the temperature was permanently set to 50 ° degrees Fahrenheit. If a single word was spoken (without permission from the teacher) it gave you an automatic extra day in The Hole and you’d be marched into the musty cafeteria far too late in the afternoon to avoid socialization. Another way of getting sent to The Hole was to be caught out of class without your student ID†¦you could be on your way to your locker to get the ID and you’d be sent to The Hole for the rest of the day. Speaking of IDs, going back to school this past week, I got a taste of â€Å"the good old days†. Trying to get into my old high school was like trying to break into Fort Knox. Having to pull out three different forms of ID, they still rejected my entry. It’s almost funny how even though I’ve graduated, every employee I encountered somehow made me feel like a criminal-just like they did back when I was still a student. My first stop was my high school and I was told in order to enter the school (just to look around) I had to make an appointment a month in advance. After hearing that I desided to hightail it over to my old middle school, this proved just as fruitless. At the middle school I was finally able to speak to a vice principal who told me I could come back after school hours; my joy was short lived when he told me I could only walk through the echoing breezeway which I had already walked through to get to the administration office. For the last time in my life, I walked out of the school feeling loathsome and reprehensible, until I got into my car. As my engine hummed it hit me; I will never have to go back there†¦and I will never have to feel like a criminal again. Considering the fact that I don’t do anything illegal, I know I won’t have to face either form of incarceration again. Also, I will never make my future children suffer through public schooling or what I like to call â€Å"Prison Life Training†; instead, they will either be homeschooled or attend private school. I was so flabbergasted by my mistreatment I had to write where my pen lead me. All in all, prison, grade school, it’s all the same to me and regardless of which one a person is in; they both feel asphyxiating and confining. How to cite Back to School, Papers