REFLECTIVE ESSAY

Education is life: a reflection on passion and learning

Education is not about teaching or learning academically only. For me, Education is

about how we overcome difficulties and learn from them. You don’t hear about the

pressures that are on teachers; you don’t hear about the child who sits in the corner

refusing to be engaged by anything and those moments when we’re just not sure what

to do or who to turn to. These moments are definitely a challenge of education. We

should remember that without suffering they’ll be no compassion. So, those times that

we experienced how hard, how frustrating, how stressful education is, is just an

example of how we become passionate about what we do.

John Dewey, the great American philosopher, said "education is not preparation for life;

education is life itself”. This concept truly emphasizes the importance of education in

one's life, and that they are interrelated, not separate. I believe he was expressing the

idea that education should serve us throughout our lives, helping us to realize our full

potential through self-realization.

Learning is a lifelong process in which we all seek meaning by reflecting on our

experiences in order to make sense of and better understand the world in which we live.

I'm humble enough to admit that I'm still a student, not just in the academic sense, but in

life as well. As a future educator, I feel that it is our obligation as teachers to give an

educational experience that inspires our students to explore their hidden potentials and

hopefully, attain self-realization. This is especially true for young children because it is
only through the combination of their natural learning aptitude and the impact of

exceptional instructors that they may reach their full potential.

Learning starts with one's attitude toward oneself, others, and the world in which we

live. Our attitudes have a significant role in creating our experiences, which in turn

influences how we learn. To understand something completely new, we must first be

able to interpret the environment using the information we currently have.

We tell kids to follow their passions, and we give them strategies for coping when the

less interesting stuff is necessary. As a teacher, we need to be a facilitator of not only

learning but also a provider of ways and strategies they need as a students. Personally,

I want that kind of passionate professor who helped shape the type of teacher I would

like to be. They found ways to talk to me in a manner that motivated me to want to

improve, all while honoring the work that I have already done. I would like to bring this

same moral into my classroom, when a child is motivated, passionate, and self-aware of

their needs, strengths, and weaknesses, they can and will push themselves to improve.

Students do not solely care about how much knowledge an educator has, but they care

about how much these educators truly care. We shouldn't judge a person on how

educated they are based only on test scores. The most educated person may not be the

most suitable person to teach children. I may lack the test scores, however, I do not lack

the passion and motivation needed to be a great teacher. If we cannot celebrate small

successes, the final outcome is less weighted.