In the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, I got the unique opportunity to visit Seoul, South Korea, as part of an exchange program with the University of Texas at Austin. I took several courses there, so I was eligible for a college exchange program. My experience as a foreign student was one that I will never forget, and it has changed the way I view education today.
Before I went to Korea, I made decent grades and had really high SAT/PSAT scores. I was being considered for the National Merit Scholarship, and I was hoping to get into MIT. I used this when I pitched the study abroad program to my parents. It would be expensive, but I argued that it would let me stand out on an application and might even get me into MIT. They eventually relented, and I was off. However, after my first week there, my idea of what education meant was totally changed.
The courses were similar to any course I might take in America, except they were Korean related. I took a Beginning Korean Language course and an Introduction to Urban Sociology course. Both of my professors were native Korean but spoke good English. The courses were interesting, and I enjoyed learning more about the country I was so interested in. What was shocking, however, is that, for the first time since I was a baby (I presume), I did not only learn in a classroom. I learned every second of every day as I explored Seoul. In my opinion, when we are babies, we tend to learn based upon our surroundings. We experience new things every day, until eventually we are familiar with everything and must learn from secondhand experience, often by being taught things out of a schoolbook (and not through direct experience). In Korea, I was sent back to a time when I didn't understand the world around me. Everything was new and waiting to be experienced. I tried foods I never would have tried, such as dog meat and fried bugs (that was on a field trip to China). I did activities I never would have done, such as singing in Karaoke (called Norae-bong). I even went to places I never thought I would be able to go (the JSA and partially North Korea). I realized that throughout my life I thought I was "doomed" to only learn through textbooks and lectures. However, during my trip to Korea I realized there were plenty of things to learn from experience. The world was not yet done teaching me things.
To wrap it up, I think my discovery changed the way I view education. Here, in America, I believe it still has applications. I believe in the power of experience though labs in chemistry, experiments in physics, and project-based learning. Doing is a much more powerful vessel for education that simply telling. I understand the importance of book-learning. Some information was discovered through experiments that can't (or shouldn't) be repeated. However, I believe there is lost potential in the students that lose interest in book-learning because they see no way that the information applies in the world.
Your post presents an insightful inquiry into book learning vs. active learning. I think you are right - students may not appreciate the information if they don't see how it is applicable in their lives. In some writing classes this is more obvious than others. For example, students certainly see the value in writing a resume and cover letter, but it becomes more difficult to impart the significance of studying literature. Perhaps we should further emphasize that the analysis involved in this writing is an important skill?
ReplyDeleteLiving in Korea and Germany prominently during my high school career, I can relate and understand the vigor and insightfulness they have with their understanding of the education. It truly is a valuable experience to think of education as a life applicable skill.
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