Nonacademic Education

Looking at my course load right now, I would say that I value what I learn in our English and government class the most because I’m actually applying what I’ve learned from class and using it in the real world. I definitely value nonacademic education for that reason.

I wish that more of my classes taught less academically because I think that sometimes teachers get caught up with what is going to be on a test or what they have to get through for that year, that they skip out on the lesson of how it applies to us. I, personally, don’t value many of the classes I’m taking because I don’t see how it will affect me in the long term. And while that seems a bit… selfish… how I am suppose to take anything away from learning about polynomials or the Farmer’s Alliance? What does that have to do with the real world?

Like okay, take for example the differences between my history class and my government class. Both have to do with how our country runs and how it came about, but my government class (in the whole week or so I’ve been taking it) is already is being used in my life. In my history class we learned about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights but now in my government class we actually have to memorize the first 10 amendments. I think that is a great idea because, hey, we’re living in America and we really should know what our rights are! I think that if we had had to learn about what impacts our daily lives or how things came out, instead of having to memorize who Sitting Bull was, that would have been a lot more effective.

Maybe I’m totally off in that last paragraph but what I am trying to get across is that nonacademic is valued because it translates over in the real world and stays with us.

You know, when I talk to my dad about our school, he says that he likes University because it teaches us to think- it challenges us to think critically and outside of the box. I’m questioning what is presented and not just letting it go in one ear and out the other. I value nonacademic education because it allows me to do just that. I’m experiencing new things and applying how to view things in different ways. I’m not simply memorizing a lesson from a book; I’m learning from who and what I’m around and what is presented to me.