Education Paper Reflection

Writing is never easy, and for this reason I dreaded taking a college level writing class. In high school, I struggled to average similar grades in my english classes as other classes. While writing this paper first paper, I felt extremely nervous, and am stressed to receive feedback.

Sitting down to write, I tried to remember all of the tips and techniques I learned in high school, only to realize those are irrelevant now. College writing is totally different, and a standard template is no longer accepted. So I decided to write the initial rough draft straight through and see what came out of it. After tweaking, I went to the writing center and realized I had a lot of work to do. It took a lot of structuring and editing to complete the paper. Writing is definitely a personal experience because you put a good effort into writing about how you feel on a topic, only to realize it’s not good enough. Not the opinion, of course, but the resulting expression of that opinion through the writing. Since it is your own writing it is hard to review and pick apart the parts that aren’t good enough. Overall, this was a difficult task. I don’t know if it was the topic, or that writing proves to be a challenge for myself in general. 

Focusing was difficult while having to develop a topic/thesis. This is true for all unless the topic is something you are passionate about, and let’s be honest — who’s passionate about a college paper? Finding a groove, a way, or mood that works well to inspire writing was necessary. I don’t know how I did on this first paper, and I can’t even begin to guess. But I’m excited to improve and bring it up to standard to that of an educated college student.

My Education @ Liberty High School

Liberty High School is composed of a very diverse community. The school is unique in that it does not have obvious race or financial barriers. While some wear expensive clothes that others cannot afford, it does not affect the relationships between students. Those in the town sometimes talk about how rough the school is, or has gotten to be, with fights and so many students, but it really isn’t when compared to other schools surrounding, particularly in Allentown. Attending this school proved to be a good experience for myself, and the others who graduated, because it exposed us to many different cultures, classes, and above all, education styles.

Courses at Liberty varied in teaching methods and difficulty, with most of the regular classes fitting Paolo Freire’s banking concept. On the other hand, many of the higher level classes - Honors and AP - were set up as problem-posing atmospheres. These involved much discussion between the students and teacher, and encouraged students to think deeply on subjects. Perhaps the students in these classes valued their education highly, or they were influenced by the problem-posing education that caused our comprehension “to be increasingly critical and thus constantly less alienated” (Freire 373). This showed through students who were a part of the problem-posing classes attending college or trade schools after graduation. Albeit, students can attend secondary education whether or not they were in higher level classes, for myself the problem-posing classes made a difference in my choice of attending a 4-year college. By way of the teachers including critical discussion in the daily curriculum, “the world… [became] the object of the transformation which resulted in our humanization” (Freire 376). It caused myself to want to continue thinking critically and facing challenges. This may have influenced my decision to become a nurse as well because as a nurse you are constantly facing problems, although not worldly or political for the main part, problems abound in hospital settings.  

Experiencing both banking and problem-posing education, I understand, and agree with, Freire’s argument against the banking concept. It is an efficient way to have students memorize information needed in the moment. Problem-posing education aides in retaining information for the long run, and helped me to think more critically than other classes.

LHS, Bethlehem, PA

Interview with Sydney Hill

Sydney Hill is a freshman here at Cedar Crest College, aspiring to be a nursing major. Cedar Crest was an obvious choice for her, following her sister, who is an alumnus. Becoming a nurse seemed to be a safe field as well, considering many members in her family are nurses, including both parents. Moving to Allentown created a very different atmosphere, coming from a very remote town with a high school much smaller than Cedar Crest. This could be why her favorite place to visit is New York City, revealing a place opposite of her hometown of Minersville, PA. However, New York is just the first step in the many trips she hope to take, traveling many parts of the world before settling down somewhere new.

Sydney's graduating class (Minersville 2014)

One thing I noticed, and Sydney confirmed, is that she thoroughly enjoys conversing. Not only that, but she also enjoys being outdoors riding four-wheelers, and going to the beach. Being outgoing will certainly help her as she moves on to become a Nurse Practitioner. Along with that, she explained that she would like to become an entrepreneur of sorts by helping the needy in her community. She doesn’t want to do this by simply donating to a charity, but by being hands-on, or one-on-one, with those she is aiding, wether it’s helping clothe them or helping them find a job. This could be a result of Sydney being very family oriented, thus creating an innate capacity of wanting to help others who don’t seem to have a caring individual to help them. Another unique quality of Sydney’s, includes her ability to work on cars which helps her to be independent and self-supportive. I enjoyed interviewing Sydney and learning more about her unique personality.

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