Personal Essay: My Journey Through Academic Life

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My journey through academic life has been an unusual one, full of what many would call “educational taboos.” From first grade all the way through ninth, I was homeschooled, taught in my home in the countryside and far away from most any human interaction besides that of my family and my church. My educational experiences were unique to say the least, but I believe that without them, I wouldn’t be at Colgate University today. Meritocracy, the “myth that the system distributes resources—especially wealth and income—according to the merit of individuals (McNamee)”, and its basis in exceptional abilities, was non-essential for most of my life and I believe it gave me an advantage: I was not learning for advancement or awards, but for my own satisfaction and to satiate my hunger for knowledge. …show more content…

My parents’ end game was always to put my brother and me into the public school system when we reached ninth grade, but both of us began school a year before we were “supposed” to. In such a case as usually occurs in homeschooling, a busy life meant I was very much left to learn to teach myself, despite my mother’s attempts to corral me. From the time I was very young I always had a thirst for knowledge and learning. My family became my class and I was the teacher who knew the scientific names of dinosaurs A through Z and could recite the meaning of the Latin roots. By loving what I was learning and having the freedom of time, I was able to formulate a habit of hard-work. This would encourage me and push me forward in everything I did and helped instill the practices I still carry with me today. My belief in filling every moment with purpose is a non-meritocratic factor that I pride myself in having. It would most certainly influence how my life would move forward when it came to the public school

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