Education in Politcs

    While reading the article "Education in Politics", three quotes stuck out to me. The first quote stated, "People are naturally curious. They are born learners. Education can either develop or stille their inclination to ask why and to learn." This quote reminded me of all the stories I have been hearing about my peers experiences teaching in their classrooms. Many of us have encountered teachers saying not to worry about a certain student because they are a waste of time and will not succeed. This student is going to realize that no one cares about their education so why should they. They will not want to learn and this will effect their education for the rest of their lives.

     The second quote that stuck out to me stated, "If the students' task is to memorize rules and existing knowledge, without questioning the subject matter or the learning process, their potential for critical thought and action will be restricted." This reminded me of a history teacher I had in high school. He would stand at his podium in the front of the room and read from his notes and you had to copy the notes word for word and in the format he had. He had his notes in an outline form and that is how he taught his class. "Roman numeral one... Letter A... etc" Then we got tested on these notes. All this class consisted of was memorization and I hated it. It was either you knew the material or you did not. There was no room for question or even creativity.

    The third quote that I liked stated, "To take participation into an empowering terrain, I would add that the more involved the student, the more he or she wrestles with meaning in the study." This quote reminded me of myself in school. The subjects that I actually enjoyed, I would participate, ask questions, and answer questions. In these classes, compared to classes I would just sit in and take up space, I would do so much better in.