Frank Bruni College's Priceless Value: Higher Education

Education, to me means the ability to obtain knowledge about the world and finding yourself through each learning experience. Through the media and the walls of a class room I have found myself being more educated in society and my self surrounds. Education is a chance for a brighter future and finding a better You. Frank Bruni’s opening question in his New York Times “Op-Ed” piece, “College’s Priceless Value: Higher Education, Liberal Arts and Shakespeare,” and James Baldwin’s “A Talk to Teachers” both relate to my own experiences in different ways. Bruni’s article gave me a goal on what I want to become and Baldwin’s passage gave a more thorough explanation on what I have learned and achieving an identity through the questions about society. Douglass and Freire made me rethink some of my past choices and I have I realized

that I like the choices I have made.
Media, especially social media is becoming the main source for people to advertise, meet new people, and learn. This generation is mostly consumed in technology and social media sites.

It is easier to examine the society and learn about social norms and the economy. I have gained a lot of knowledge through sites such as Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube and learned to find out what kind of person I want to be through each of the sites. Tumblr is a blogging website that an individual can create a post for discussions and share opinions with each other. For example, I have read a lot about feminism and gender roles through Tumblr and Twitter and been informed in the issues that would have not crossed my mind before. My younger self has not thought about the topic of gender equality as much as my current self has. Scrolling online, I came across a post mentioning how a little boy wore pink boots to school and was bullied for wearing “girl shoes.” That single post frustrated me a lot because colors should not define gender. Girls and boys should be able to wear and play with whatever that please and not have to be labeled as something else. Social media educated be a lot and shaped me into the individual that is not effected by the color of someone’s skin, sexuality, race, or gender. It made me realize who I

am as a person and also who I want to become. In a class room, not many people will realize when they are being stereotypical towards feminine traits and that their teaching styles may be causing problems. Teachers unconsciously expect the male in the classroom to be more loud and less focus than the females. They usually provide more attention to the boys than girls even though for some, the attention is unwanted. Today most teachers are more educated in these issues, but growing up the majority of the ones that taught me weren’t. I hope to be a future educator and to inform the future generation about issues I have learned. Bladwin’s quote “that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated..” gave me more of an opened view on how I achieved my identity and understood more about society through my experiences. I have become more socially aware about the gender equality and treating others the same and how it would affect someone if you don’t. I believe that I improved as a person through learning and being educated about issues on social media.
In Bruni’s expert, he explained how his professor, Anne Hall made himself a better citizen through her teachings. I some what can relate to Bruni because through the years of high school I had many great teachers that educated me and changed my views about certain topics. Sitting in a class room and observing my teachers being passionate about their jobs opened my eyes on a carrier in life. I want to become a teacher because I want to make a positive difference in someone’s life. To be able to stimulate the future generations’ mind and hopefully implanting import values in their head can be such an achievement. During my three years of high school, I was in the child development program where I got to teach a variety of four and five year olds. It was amazing to see how teaching lessons like recycling can change a child’s view on the world and how they treat it. Just a small lesson can make a difference on the environment. Education is such an important value to obtain. Someday, I hope be the Anne Hall for a Bruni. I think that Frank Bruni was lucky to have met a teacher that changed his life and I hope to become that teacher for someone else one day.
Fredrick Douglass’s experienced on how he learned to read in write transformed himself into a more aware individual. Although through the difficult challenges of being a slave, it did not stop his hopefulness of achieving to read and write. Education gives us the opportunity to identify ourselves and become the person we want to be. “I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own…There was no getting rid of it” (Douglass). He knew there was no getting rid of himself because a slave is who he is but toward the end Douglass looked at the positive and used his free time to learn to read and write. Douglass and I both had an educational lesson about society in opposite ways. Through my educational experience I knew I wanted to become a teacher and educate the children’s minds. Douglass unfortunately did not have the opportunity to have a teacher. I have gain knowledge from my experience and I hope to become a person someone looks up to.
“Problem-posing education bases itself on creativity and stimulates true reflections and action upon reality, thereby responding to the vocation of persons as beings only when engaged in inquiry and creative information” (Freire). Paulo Freire explain an important aspect when explaining the consequences of the banking education. He mentions that creativity is destroyed along with dialogue through banking. This limits the student’s chance to think for themselves and explore their own creativity. Freire states that if only the teacher-student dialogue can be overcome, then students won’t be not sitting down waiting for the information to be implanted in their minds for them. To resolve this conflict, the teachers should face the students with more challenges and critical thinking. Freire’s words empowered me more into the mindset of being a future educator and providing good teaching that will not only change a students’ life but also stimulate their creativity.
In conclusion, education is important to me because it made me realize who I want to be as a person and also what I want to do in the future. Through the power of social media, I have learned a lot certain issues that made a major impact on my life. Today I find myself being very passionate on gender equality; everyone should be treated as an equal and that does not just include gender, but race, nationality, and sexuality. I hope to be in front of a class room one day and have an effect on someone’s life and to make sure everyone is treated the same. Bruni’s article gave me more of a motivation to obtain my goals and Baldwin helped me understand what I have learned throughout the years. Douglass and Freire gave me an insight on what I should do to improve myself as and educator and tips on things that I should avoid.