“Between life and death, there is a library.” I saw this statement at the back of the book Midnight Library by Matt Haig and felt that peace of knowing I had the ability to read. Learning how to read, write and count had a lot to do with going to school, getting an education. My uncle was a teacher and that’s where education started for me, at home. “Letter U looks like a cup,” he would say, and it was so satisfying to see his red inked pen checking my childhood scribbles and doodles. I lived for that red mark. Familiar with some letters and numbers, I remember my early days at school not being as scary. In primary school, my grades were excellent which made me competitive. I worked hard to finish homework, sacrificed some play time to be ahead of my classmates, waking up the night before a test to go through my notes one more time. I thought that was the goal of education, it’s either an A+ on the upper right corner of my paper or it’s nothing.
In high school however, the meaning of education changed. I felt conflicted in that I did well in my classes but saw myself as a failure in other areas that were just as important: relationships with family, friends and myself. I opened books to learn how the heart pumped blood but didn’t bother to learn how it could love. Someone even told me that I did great in school but not so well in life, which was a disturbing statement. I felt if I did good in school, the rest of life would comply with these achievements and be as good. Well……. it doesn’t work that way.
It was not a pleasant experience, but it redirected me. Before high school, grade “A” is all that mattered, but what if life was more than grades? This is what high school made me consider. The school that I attended contributed much to my shift of perspective in education. Here, I found that someone who could fill in the right digits after an equal sign and another who could effortlessly make a ball fly into the ring, were equally recognized and awarded. I studied about the mechanics of breathing in my biology class, practiced that breathing when we went for long walks, and was reminded of its sacredness through an “examen” prayer.
but what if life was more than grades? This is what high school made me consider.
From these experiences, I learned that education is meant to make one’s life better; more than an intellectual fulfilment, it is a deeper connection to yourself and the world. It was a Jesuit school and we had values that I held onto in meaningful ways. My favorite ones were “Magis” which means more and “Cura personalis” meaning care for the whole person. Embracing this changed my ways of thinking and living. I found intention just by learning something new, even if it was out of what was required for class. Apart from studying, I was inspired to seek more growth and lessons in body, spirit and mind. And for the first time my best felt like enough. In a win or loss, I felt grace.
And for the first time my best felt like enough. In a win or loss, I felt grace.
Now that I am in college, the same values and lessons continue to guide me in discovering more. I know education can’t be confined to my professor’s briefcase or the varnished cream walls of my classroom. I have allowed myself to learn by observing the seemingly ordinary everyday life, trying my best to live in its fullness by engaging the whole of me. Education has been an extension from merely having knowledge to having rich and lively experiences. In her memoir, Educated, Tara Westover writes, “An education is not so much about making a living as making a person,” and I totally agree. A person, mind, body, soul.
.
Just u got different mind✌