How Learning Was Like in My School - Essay Sample

Introduction

Learning is very important in the growth of a person. The school has helped in opening up my mind. Through school, I have learned about so many things that are helpful in life. I have gained a lot of skills that help me in the day to day activities. I went to an elementary school that was privately owned. At first, elementary school was hard as I didn't know how to read and write and it was my first experience to interact with many kids from different ethnicity. In elementary school, I had to learn to cope with many people around as well as being challenged by different language barriers. I was taught to read and write as well as getting exposed to new languages, like the introduction of the English language. In elementary school, I developed a liking in mathematics and the English class. I was interested in learning the English language because my parents encouraged me and told me that it is a metropolitan language and by being able to speak and understand English I can converse with almost every person in the world.

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At the age of twelve, I joined a junior middle school which is a public school. Life was different from the elementary school but better as my mind was already open. I had developed a liking in the football game and this was the best platform to develop my talent. From junior school to senior middle school I had already realized what I wanted in life and school was fun for me. I improved a lot in my favorite subjects though challenges got bigger because the syllabus continued to broaden. Teachers in these three stages were very nice and wanted the best for every student. Because of them, I have achieved a lot of academically. These three stages were very important in my life up to the stage I am at now. I'm better in comparison to those who didn't pass through these stages.

Background Information From My Classmates

Most of my classmates were Han Chinese (Hanzu), which is the largest ethnic group in the word and from the southern part of Asia. I come from that group too. Throughout my schooling, I have attended a lesson with students from other ethnic groups. It was fun to learn about different cultures and make friends with students from other origins and religions. I come from a Christian family but in school, there were students from various denominations like Islam and Buddhists. In the location where my schools were located most people were Buddhists hence making the largest student population of that religion. Different life aspects and beliefs were very different between us Christians and the Buddhists as we believe in totally different aspects. For the Muslims, Christianity has some similarities as the Bible and the Quran has some similar scriptures and we pray to the same God. Most of my classmates came from an average economic group so it was easy relating to one other, but we usually differed on matters of religion though we were always taught and told to respect other people's beliefs, cultural practices, and economic abilities. The language was not a barrier in school because we had English lessons, though it took different lengths to learn to different students, it was easy to converse with all the students from different linguistic groups. Gender was diverse and this helped me understand ladies better, how they behave, their expectations and how they like to be treated. It also helped me in building up my courage by interacting in group work.

How Being a Member of the Dominant and Non-Dominant Group Affected my School Experience?

In school, I was from the largest ethnic group being a Chinese, while also came from the smallest religious group in the school. I was a Christian while most of the Chinese students were Buddhists. These two factors affected me in different ways. We respected everybody's opinion and right to religion but sometimes it felt awkward when everybody was doing a certain practice that was not common in my religion or was termed as a sin. Some students expected all other students to be from their dominant religion and sometimes they would try to convert us. Religious challenges were very common as the largest religious group felt superior and right. The culture was also different because it is affected by religion. There are some activities that my culture didn't allow but other religions allowed and the vice versa. With time I came to get used to them but they bothered me in a big way at first. Some cultures were similar; an example is most Chinese like the same type of food which doesn't matter which religion one comes from. Being a member of these two groups has helped me a lot in life as I have learned to respect other people's religion. I also learned that no one is perfect no one should judge as everyone thinks he is on the right. These differences didn't affect my education in any way as everyone attended the religious class of their choice.

Tracking Experience

In middle school, I experience tracking. We were grouped according to our performances and there were for our own benefit to improve academically and achieve the best. In my opinion, these demotivated and motivated various student according to how individuals interpreted the process. The tracking categorized students as some were seen to be better than others. These also led to being allocated different teachers and different tasks. I was lucky to be a better performer hence being tracked in the high track. We were given high challenges that boosted our thinking capacity and helped us to work harder. The tracks also helped in motivating serious learning because performance determined if you stay in the same track after evaluation. Placement gave me the perspective that you have to be the best in any field to get the best opportunities and chances. Being in the high track I viewed myself as a good performer and other students viewed me in the same way because that was the nature of our school. I felt challenged to stay among the top because it was humiliating to be demoted to the low rank. The ability of a student was the ticket to one of the two ranks. Tasks were given differently in the two ranks and the qualification of the teachers was different which I think is not fair. Students should be on the same track in order to get the same exposure. I felt that some students in the low rank tried their best and this process made them feel inferior.

Critical Experiences in Schooling

School has turned out to be of very importance to my life. Through school, I have learned a lot. I have learned how to live peacefully with people from different ethnic groups, cultures, and religion. I have learned about very many different cultures and improved my communications skills by practicing with better students. The only negative issue was people practicing religious beliefs that were sinful to my culture but I later got used to it but never accepted them. The dominant religion tried to force their beliefs on me at certain levels which were bad but I proved resistance which stopped and everything became normal as respect was achieved.

My love for mathematics and English lessons motivated me to go to school every day. Learning different concepts and the desire to be top in my class pushed me to work hard. I had the desire to gain skills that would help in achieving my future dreams and go to a good college. Understanding how to cope with different students from different ethnicities made my learning easier. Understanding the English language also made my learning easier as I can do my research easier learning from materials from other top schools. My love for football also encouraged me to be in school because I get the chance to show cast my skills at different levels of competition. Respecting other people's beliefs got me going into schools as I did not bother about other people's beliefs hence focusing on my own beliefs and education alone. The instruction that learning and passing make one to be respected in school and in the community and it is also a ticket for the top jobs in the society.