Blog Assignment 9: THow the Structure of Education Impacted my Life

How the Structure of Education Impacted my Life

 

 

As we all know there are many forces and interactions on both individual and social structure levels that impact our daily lives, chances, and choices we make (Newman, 2012). The purpose of this post is to discuss my status as a student and how my life was and continues to be impacted by the structure of education in the contemporary United States.

My educational path is probably quite different than majority of my fellow classmates. Typically, depending on one's level of education, people usually spend three decades or less within the structure of our educational system in the contemporary United States. As a lifetime student, I began preschool at the age of four in California and am currently on track to graduate from Hamline University this spring. This span of knowledge seeking behavior covers 43 years of my life with no clear ending in sight.

To better comprehend the many levels of structure of education I was impacted by, the following are a few that will be discussed at greater length below. My umbrella of my education covered three different states (California, Minnesota, and Maryland). Within those states each had separate teacher's organizations, school boards, districts, and schools. Within these schools (3 elementary, 1 middle, 1 high school, and 3 colleges), I was forever changed, influenced, and most of the time, inspired by faculty, administrators, and teachers with specific philosophies and focuses about the type of education to provide and to whom at the given times. The statuses that played the biggest role in my life in the structure of education were the individual teachers, professors, and especially one Hamline University advisor. Because I have attended the structure of education spanning more than four decades, I have both paid the price as well as reaped the rewards of the continually changing role expectations of my time and gender. As well as the changing expectations of learning independently, memorization, application, testing, and/or essay, etc. You will also learn that I did not for the most part continue or pursue an education only to satisfy the belief that it is for employment procurement and financial success, rather personal growth and fulfillment. I also broke the norm of being a lifetime student as well as a non-traditional student who is in the back side of forty.

So often we talk about how parents, teachers, and the culture in a particular era shaped our lives as if it was based only on human interaction. However, we forget that the institutions, like schools we attend, are man-made and mimic the beliefs of its creators at that time. Like individuals, institutions and their influences on down to the individual, change through time. Experiencing over four decades of education, the continual changing structures and beliefs are reflective in the variety of chances and choices I have at various stages in my life. Like many of my classmates, my early years included preschool, elementary, and junior high school. The differences lie in the level of content, intensity, and expectations from students in the 60s and 70s compared to today. I also endured a difficult transition from California schools to Minnesota schools. The different states did not provide a standard of teaching levels which left my foundation of knowledge to be lacking according to Minnesota school standards. Because of this educational inconsistency between states I was behind in and struggled with math until my middle school years. Luckily for me, my third grade teacher, Mrs. Anderson, took it upon herself to stay with me during recess to tutor my in math. This one teacher single-handily brought me up to speed which prevented me from being held back like my sister because of the difference in caliber of curriculum. In the meantime, the structure of education on paper in a hierarchical chart may have looked the same back then as it does today; however, actions were quite different. For example, once you enter the school’s building the educating existed primarily between the teacher and the student. There was little to no homework, no letter grades, and the only communication with parents occurred at parent teacher conferences. The influence that this had on my life instilled in me the ability to be independent of my parents. Often times, parents did not even know or ask what you were working on at school. It was as if you had two lives (a school life and a home life). Despite this sounding as if my parents did not care or were not involved, to the contrary, this was just the way it was back then. I look back at this and compare it to children in elementary school today and feel that with the amount of communication back and forth in the backpack on a daily basis, in addition to the ridiculous amounts of homework given these days, stressful, overwhelming, and puts a child in the position of needing and constantly having to ask for help. I feel that my “independent” learning has served me well and is the basis of my desire and action of being a lifetime student. I truly believe had I been stressed out like today's kids. I would have been discouraged and turned off with learning.

By the time I reached middle school, the school district was implementing a new independent study type of curriculum for math. I remember this time as being a monumental moment in my desire to achieve and measure my accomplishments. This new math curriculum allows students to complete math modules at their own pace and once accomplished, by successfully testing out, we could move on to the next level. This proved to be a very effective way for me to learn and to become the high achiever that I am today. In the end, I was doing high school math by the time I was in eighth grade. Coincidentally, the school district's decision to implement such an independent learning style curriculum reinforced my tendency for independence.

Entering high school, I continued my independent, high-achieving, under-the-radar education within the confines of education in the early 1980’s. It is during this time that being so independent along with the lack of interaction with school faculty; I experienced major life-changing consequences. I came from a very blue-collar family whereby nobody in previous generations had ever mentioned or attended college. Along with that, the school system failed to educate their students, especially the girls, about college opportunities. I was a straight “A” student, member of the honor society, however, did not know what that meant, and graduated at the top of my class without one single adult at home or at school talk to me about college. I take full responsibility for my whole life, however, children have not experienced the world and will not know what they're missing if somebody does not tell them. It's difficult to know about something if you do not know about its existence. I have a memory of being told I was on the honor society and we needed to walk across the stage with the candle. That was it. Graduating with honors and at the top of my class meant that I had an additional gold tassels on my cap and I got to wear a special sash at our graduation ceremony. At the time, I only knew that it was good for my resume, I did not know it was a door for more opportunities. Because my high school did not focus on students being college-bound, as a part of their structure of education, I took a different path.

Immediately following high school, I did what was expected of me at the time. Move out of your parent’s house, be independent and self-sufficient, get a job, get married, and have children. Luckily for me, my first job out of high school was with a large corporation. I soon discovered that this company offered tuition reimbursement. As long as I maintain a C average, my Corporation paid in full for my college education the first time around. Looking back, I find it interesting that corporate America is responsible for me to reenter the structure of education. Once again, I was influenced by the criteria of tuition reimbursement, to be a high achiever in order to have my education paid for.

It was not until this time in my life when I began to realize that keeping up with the Joneses, achieving the “American Dream” of buying a home, and/or as the old adage that says "money makes the world go round,” a college education would increase my life chances and choices for success (Newman, 2012). Because of my traditional upbringing, and as our textbook states that education comes second to family, I never completed an actual bachelor degree. Instead, I remained a part time student up until two years ago taking classes that either interested me or directly provided knowledge needed at that very specific time to enhance my job/career at any given time.

Older and wiser, with an empty nest, I for the first time was able to prioritize my education over family. I've come to learn that education has been my route to self- actualization. Education has not been just about getting “the job.” It is a part of who I am, what I enjoy, how I challenge myself, and in the end, my thirst for knowledge has and always will be more about personal growth and fulfillment. I was able to learn this about myself during one of my first psychology classes. If you are familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, one can see where they exist on this continuum. I find it ironic, that it took me over 40 years and one psychology class to finally label and understand this burning desire I have within. I am in hot pursuit of self-actualization.

 

 

 

 

Now that I have finally arrived, approaching graduation in the spring, and looking for the perfect grad school to attend, I am better able to reflect on how the structure of education impacted my life in the past and will in the future.

With the rising cost of college, if people had to pay up front we would be a society without higher education for the majority of our population. Every year I fill out the FAFSA form to determine my family contribution towards my education and in turn Hamline University evaluates my financial need and presents me with my financial aid package. Thank goodness for student loans. Hamline University has also impacted my life because I was awarded a “Presidential Scholarship” which played a major role in the attending Hamline over another. This not only impacts me financially, it also provides me with an education by an institution that is regarded to be one of the best. This improves my chances of job offers based on the higher standard of educational credibility, strength, and diversity Hamline has to offer.

Once again, by receiving the presidential scholarship, I was bound by guidelines to maintain and focus on my GPA. In the end, this higher GPA will also play a major role in being accepted by more grad schools. In addition to government financial aid programs, government-backed student loans, privately backed student loans, Hamline scholarships and grants; the faculty has also influenced my life.

It is with great appreciation; I contribute my level of success to the individual professors at Hamline for being the best of the best as well as providing me with a warm, welcoming, and stimulating environment that fuels my desire to learn. It is my advisor, Dr. Dorothee Dietrich, whom I consider to be the most influential staff member to me at Hamline University. Professor Dietrich, took me under her wing, noticed my achievements, cared enough to help me determine my goals, and convinced me that I was Honor’s material, as well as have what it takes to further my education by attending graduate school. Without this one-on-one counsel I would've continued to do what I always have done of working independent, staying under the radar, and potentially miss out on bigger and better opportunities I alone would not be aware of.

In summary, the influences gained especially from the structure of education at Hamline University, the sky is the limit because I will be able to break through that glass ceiling with confidence and be given more opportunities than I ever could have imagined. Thank you Hamline.



 

 

 

 

References

 

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Antie2eseH_kKk0j_bzCH62bvZx4?fr=yfp-t-701-s&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&p=maslow%20theory

 

Newman, D. (2012. Sociology: Exploring the Architexture of Everyday Life: 9th Edition SAGE Publications.