Emphasis on Education, Essay Example

The first step to engaging students in the learning process is to incite a passion for learning and a thirst for knowledge. In order to accomplish this, there need to be opportunities for students to explore subjects that have interested them in the past. In addition to the opportunity to explore a wide range of subjects, including the familiar and the foreign, it is important to schedule time for hands-on learning. This is an essential opportunity to allow students to use their previous knowledge to conduct experiments and research in order to increase their knowledge, while being engaged and seeing how information can be used to reap new findings. Being exposed to non-traditional methods of teaching and research allows students to thrive in the academic areas they find invigorating, and to see the many uses of education.

In addition to encouraging students to explore and deepen their understanding of both the topics that interest them and those they have yet to delve into, it is essential to ask the students to question what they already know. By posing the question of the nature of knowledge; of what they know and how they know it. Students may find fault with concepts they previously regarded as truth, or they may deepen their understanding in a way that will challenge them to look outside of their comfort zone, their previous frame of reference, and into the greater world. In this way, students are able to test their knowledge, explore hypotheses, and reflect on the world and the nature of knowledge.

Finally, it is essential to stress to students that the memorization of clean-cut facts is not a method of learning that is often conducive to future advancements. When students memorize lists and concrete facts, they soon forget or disregard what they have learned. Courses that require only basic memorization suggest to students that knowledge is only as useful as the grade it earns; when in reality, by breaking out of the box of traditional education, they can learn so much more about the topics that matter to them and increase their worldviews.