Educational experience concepts and applications

¶ … Educational Experience

In getting an education, there are so many different experiences that take place. My favorite types of experiences, though, usually come from diversity and my differences with others. I think that, despite the fact that learning from a book and a classroom is important, learning from others through experience can be even more significant. When the two areas can be integrated into one, that is even more important. Some of these educational experiences will remain with people their entire lives, coming back to them at odd moments, comforting them, and making them understand that humanity's differences are important and can teach them much about life.

One of the largest differences seems to be with religion. Other big differences come from nationality and color. Language and culture also seem to affect how people feel about themselves and others, and how they react to people that are not like them. Those issues seem to be the most important when it comes to either understanding people or rejecting them. I have had the privilege of attending classes with and making friends with a diverse group of people throughout my educational experience, and what I have learned from them has helped me in my daily life so much that I feel it is very important to talk about.

My most important educational experience came in a class that looked at both psychology and religion. It may seem as though those two topics would not mix well, but there are ways that they can. Even in the ways that they do not mix, they provide the chance for lively discussion, which is what the class was looking for. One of the best things about that experience was that the class itself was very diverse. As we went around the room on the first day, telling a bit about ourselves, we found that we shared a few commonalities, but we had more differences. There were several different religions, people from various areas of the country, international students, both from English speaking and non-English speaking countries, and people from all walks of life.

Just looking around the room showed me many differences based on the style of dress, the way of life, and other beliefs and ideas. We were definitely a group that would have a lot to talk about, but could we do it without fighting? After all, most of society teaches us that people that are different from us are not as important and should not be trusted. It is unfortunate that so many people grow up, in this country and others, believing that their way is the best way and the only 'right' way of thinking, doing, and being. In many cases, this idea that their way is best might be true for them but not for others. In some cases, the idea is not even the best for them but they do not know this because they have not seen an idea that is better. Being in such a varied group made me think about what people think is right for themselves and for others, and how often they are actually wrong.

The importance of our diversity was brought home to us by our instructor, who at the end of our first class pointed out that, despite who we were, what we believed, what language we spoke at home, and where we came from, we were all right there, right then, to learn the same things. Knowing that made me really think about how different people are, but yet there are so many ways in which we are all the same. We all really have the same basic needs. We want to love and be loved, we need sleep, food, air, water, and a place to feel safe. We need a way to make a living or survive financially. Ultimately, even though many of us do not realize it, we really need each other.

Usually, people go through life without really thinking about that issue. It seems that most people do not really think about other people all that much, with the exception of their families and close friends. Because of this, they do not realize the differences that we have, the similarities that we enjoy, and how all of it makes up the wondrous experience of human life. For those that do realize this, however, there is often a deeper level of understanding and comfort that can be enjoyed and lived.

Throughout the first class, and throughout the rest of the classes, my educational experience continued to grow. The instructor that taught this particular class was much more interested in what we had to say about the material he presented to us than he was in the actual material. Because of that, we had discussions, read poetry that we or others had written which meant something to us, put on skits, tried various ethnic foods, took field trips, and participated in life. We learned why other cultures do things the way that they do and what it means to them. We learned why different beliefs and ideas were so important to so many people. We had guest speakers from different religions, cultures, philosophies, and backgrounds. Most importantly, though, we learned things about who we were and why we did things the way we did them. Sometimes, we discovered things that we had not even thought about before. The revelations kept coming.

Educational experiences like that class have remained with me every since, because of the depth of feeling and emotion that I felt, and that I saw others feeling, during our time together. One man brought in a poem that his father had written for him before he passed away. I know my father was a great person, but he was not the poetry-writing type, so I was not really sure what to think about that. However, by the time the poem - which was about time and how it flows like a river - had been read aloud, you literally could have heard a pin drop in the classroom. The poem was incredibly moving, unbelievably deep, very true, and yet still completely realistic and understandable. I was not the only person in the classroom fighting the sniffles - and wondering what kind of home that man grew up in and what our lives would have been like had we grown up that way.

It was not that I thought my life was bad, but only that I thought that there was something missing. I thought that education would fill what was empty in my life, and it did, but not in the way that I thought it would. I expected to learn from books, become knowledgeable, and through that knowledge find a career and a life. Instead, I found myself through the lives and experiences of others, and my realization of what humanity is really about and what is really important. I hope that I was able to give some of that to my fellow students, as well, as we shared our hopes and dreams with one another and with our instructor through writing, speaking, and once through song when another student brought his guitar in. I often wondered what other people thought of the goings-on in our classroom, but if anyone ever complained to the school, we never heard about it.

That class was unlike any other classes I have ever taken. Granted, the content of the class was somewhat unorthodox as well, but it was not really the content that was so different. It was not even the diversity, because there were many other classes I took where the other people that were attending it were often quite different from me. It was the dynamics that were at work, and that the instructor seemed to know how to utilize them in the best way possible. He knew what to say to make others interested in sharing their stories, and he knew how to put people at ease, so that they felt safe saying what they felt, instead of only what they thought others would want to hear.

Early on, it was established that anyone could give their opinion, good or bad, as long as they did not attack another person, color, culture, etc. It was all right to say that you grew up prejudiced about X because your parents told you Y, but not all right to say that you hate all people who are X because they are all alike. The ability to understand that everyone is different and unique was something that was addressed very often. It helped to remind people in the class that still had prejudices toward certain groups that not everyone in a certain classification acted a certain way. Stereotypes are only stereotypes, and people should not be branded by the color of their skin, what language they speak, or where they come from.