Importance Of Adversity In Education

All the adversity I 've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you (Disney, 1957). This ideal, coupled with Tom Brokaw’s challenge of, “You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world,” are ideas I have embraced. I have been blessed to experience much adversity in the first half of my life, but have equally been blessed with little or no adversity in the second half. It never ceases to amaze me the depth of which this adversity coupled with educational and relationship

In going forward in my career and life it is my mission to continue to look beyond the surface of each child I encounter and into their soul to find the potential and promise of a bright future that each of us has. I accept the responsibility that I feel belongs to every educator, to be someone who values each and every child, and who inspires guides and enables them to become the person that they are intended to be. I also feel it is my responsibility to encourage this in the educators in my community. I feel learning and teaching is a community effort and that if I have a resource, an idea, a thought, a philosophy, that will promote growth and learning, I should share it for the common good of all. I believe as William Butler Yeats does when he says, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Through my life, my teachings, my parenting and grand parenting, I want to set the world on