Education - Part 1

Education is a gift to some individuals, and an oppressive institution to others.  Whether it is one or the other depends on the personality and circumstances of the individual in question.  For some it brings freedom of action and thought, and for others, it restricts these freedom.  Here are my personal thoughts and experiences.

The Positives of Education - My Personal Experience

I loved K-12 education in public school.  School gave me an opportunity to: learn math, history, and chemistry; meet and spend time with friends; play sports and run in gym class (which I would have not done otherwise).

The first 2 years of undergrad at a public university were also wonderful.  I got a chance to date my future husband, which is the best thing to come out of it.  I got freedom to live life as I liked, to follow my principles without worrying how they may affect others, to meet amazing friends (who I still count as my best friends) and to go on adventures with them.  I am certain that none of these things would have happened had I not gone to college.

Those were the non-academic benefits, but the academic ones were large as well.  The first four semesters of courses  were phenomenal.  The courses gently introduced us to very novel (for me) concepts, made us think hard about how to approach certain problems, and gave us lots of chances for practice and application.  Working through problems helped us fine-tune our understanding of the theory.