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Melvin Moreno September 28, 2013 Dr. Kuroki STACC English 100 Mon. /Wed. 12-2PM Essay #2: My Educational Biography When I came to college, I had an idea of what I wanted to study and do in life as a career. I wanted to become a dentist. During the first couple days at school, I got to meet other classmates; they all had an idea of what they wanted to study, but for some of them, they had wrong intentions. Choosing a major is not the easiest thing to do. I knew it was only natural for students to change their majors constantly because it wasnt what they expected or they realized that they didnt fully enjoy the subject, but it should never be picked because its an easier approach to graduate. Education plays a major role in society. Many students graduate, but dont fully grasp the idea of what they can really accomplish and what they are capable of learning in life. Going to school is one way that helps students academically, but also helps build students character by making mistakes and learning from them. Overall, in my educational history, it has brought me rough and inspiring experiences that have taught me lessons on how to become a better individual and develop myself to be an ambitious student. One particular good experience I have had in my past education was when I was an altar sever. An altar server is an assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian religious service. When I was about ten years old, I was longing to receive my first Eucharist (Holy

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Communion) at St. Elisabeth Church, because I wanted to become an altar server. At this age, it was a cool thing to be an altar server: hang out with the other kids during mass, and dress up in albs like the priest. For me, I thought it would be awesome to help out around the altar, but the main reason I wanted to be an altar server, like everyone else, was because it was better than just sitting on the pews and almost falling asleep of boredom listening to sermons. Once I became an altar server, I was responsible for serving to at least one weekday mass, one weekend (Sunday) mass, and Wednesday trainings. Trainings were cool the first couple of minutes: talking with friends, catching up on the latest news, until Peter would show up. Peter was our instructor, trainer, whatever you wanted to call him. He was really into the church thing; kneeling everywhere and being really respectful towards the center of the church-because that was where God was. Peter looks really intimidating with his eyes staring down on you through his sophisticated dark eyeglasses, but when he started to talk, everyones eyes started to giggle instead of their mouths, because they were still daunted by his frigid looks. His voice sounded like a mouse; not menacing whatsoever. Every Wednesday, he would open up discussion; talking to us about God. He would walk down the row asking every single one of us a question, and he would expect us to answer it correct, because if not, he would give us one of those long looks that prickle the hairs that we didnt even know we had in our arms. These meetings would get boring. He would always just verbally quiz us and routinely make us pray the same prayers all the time towards the end of the meeting. Years later, when I had seniority, I would always ditch: go to the liquor store across the street and be with my other church friends acting cool. The few days that I would go, I would roll my eyes in my mind; because I wouldnt be able to see him straight in his eyes afterwards if I were to really do it. I would constantly ask him: Can we leave early?, We already know how to do this!, and even offer Can we do something new or

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different?, but he wouldnt even respond, Peter will just gleam his dark eyes at us for the longest seconds of our lives and move on with his routine. Finally, when I did decide to quit years after, I started to compare myself to others going into church. I felt different. I started to sit up straight; because Peter tormented us have good posture. When it came time to pray during mass, I somehow remembered all of the prayers that I Peter made us repeat every Wednesday. When mass ended, I knelt down and showed respect to God when I walked past him because I learned to be respectful; I knew how, when, where, and most importantly why I was supposed to do so: all because of Peter. Without him, I would not have learned all the small prayers he made us recite, all answers he questioned us about religion, and why it is important to be respectful. I can relate a lot to how Brad Benioff felt in the article Rick, when he was taunted by his new water polo coach, Rick Rezinas. Benioffs failure was brought down by [Rezinass] full wrath every time he didnt do something right (52). It was a little like Peter, when he would ask us questions, and haze us with his eyes if we didnt answer it correctly. Coach Rezinas would punish him by making him do push-ups, sprints, and would not sympathize with how Benioff felt at all. As a result, Benioff realized that coach Rezinas was only pushing him to his fullest because he wanted him to excel in his first water polo game of the season. Benioff described how [coach Rezinas] had brought out the best of him (54). Today, I still hold this experience close to my heart. I learned that sometimes, the most unexpected things in life will come back around and teach us things that we might take for granted. It showed me how to be respectful and acquire manners that many take for granted. I dont have one particular bad experience in my past education, I have tons! I think that the reason why I have had one too many bad experiences with my past is due to the bad habits I have gotten use to since I was in elementary school. Yes, I still remember them! I was a latchkey

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student when I went to Tarzana Elementary school. Both of my parents had to work full time and werent able to pick me up every day right afterschool like everyone elses parents did. I was put into a latchkey program because my parents didnt want me strolling around school campus without constant adult supervision. So every day after my last class, I would walk to Latchkey; where I would be with other classmates: playing board games, doing arts and crafts, watching movies, having snack time, and lastly, homework time. It wasnt in this specific order of course. Homework came first. It is was just the order of what I enjoyed doing; homework being the last of all possible things! Who likes to do homework? I didnt, I was ten; I wanted to go play outside. But since I didnt have my parents on top of me, asking me: Did you finish your homework?, or most importantly, Can I see your finished homework?, I was diagnosed with the p word; Procrastination. I would just lie to my parents and tell them I did do my homework-they werent going to check anyways. In Critical Thinking, by Bell Hooks, it describes how childrens passion for thinking often ends when they encounter a world that seeks to educate them for conformity and obedience only.(1) My experience seems to counter Hooks argument in a way because it talks about educating children to conform and not to think critically, but in my case, I was never educated or disciplined, I taught myself bad habits on my own that made my learning difficult. Carol S. Dweck, author of The Perils and Promises of Praise, defines how bad habits are also known as a fixed mindset that affects students in their education. When students with a fixed mind-set make mistakes or reveal deficiencies, rather than correct them, they try to hide them (Dweck 2). When I was young, I had a fixed mindset that I can get away with doing anything that I wanted in elementary school because my parents where never proactive in my education. I would always do my leisure activities first and if I had time, I would open my backpack and do some homework. This little scheme worked out when I

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would have fun and enjoy myself, but in the long run, Im paying the consequences as a college student, and as an individual. I dont blame my parents for my faulty ways, but I would have like to have learned discipline and consequences when I was at a younger stage in my life. Yet again, I feel determined and proud that I, myself, was able to see what Im was doing wrong and what needed to change. Its still a working process. My past experiences with academic writing have always been a struggle for me. I always found myself thinking too hard and would let my perfectionist ego get the best of me. I would end up not turning in my assignments because they were either not that good or I simply didnt complete them. I find it really hard to be expressive on something that I didnt have any sort of interest to write about. However, when I do have time for myself, I like to write in my personal journal, so I think free writing is probably what I enjoy doing the most. When I started free writing, it was in my English class in 7th grade, where my teacher would give us a topic to write about during the first fifteen minutes of class. He would always remind us to never stop writing and if we were stuck at some point in our writing, we would just continue to write about anything that our heart pleased. When I did write for a period of time during class, I found that I really did enjoy writing and being creative. Reading Freewriting by Peter Elbow allowed me to remember what I once grew fond of and gave me a little oomph of inspiration that I need to get back on track. Essays are always hard but when I think about free writing it sound pleasing and inviting. Elbow describes how many people constantly think about spelling and grammar as they try to write and dont realize that they are cutting down the essays content to make it look satisfactory by editing while writing.(1) Free writing help me write an essay more smoothly and helps me write more effectively. As a result, I always free write as a brainstorming method before I start an essay so I can then go back to my draft to correct and split up

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paragraphs. Its an ongoing process. All that everyone one needs is that push to get the motors running. Sometimes people need to eat, go for a jog, or even solve a mathematical problem, but I found what really work best for me to get into my zone is free writing! In Sherman Alexies The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me, it describes how he found his growing love for books and how books helped him surpass into success. His love for books echoed how free writing helps me enjoy writing and at the same time motivates me to become a better writer. Alexie had a rough childhood growing up as a Native American in an Anglo community. He expressed in his article how he was always expected to conform and not aim high because of the racial background he came from. Society told him that if hed been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy.(Alexie 47) However, Alexie was too smart enough to think about what other people had to say about his future and held strong toward educating himself with books and became successful. I hold the same motivation Alexie had when he was exposed to criticism and being put into stereotypes. In my case, I am my own critic; I always second guess myself and think negatively when thing dont go my way. I learned that I was responsible for my own action and I take full control of my future. So instead of being a victim, I had to learn how to become a creator; take full responsibility for my actions and change my bad habits. When many students think of learning, they think of the obvious reasons of what they are expected to learn as the outcome, but forget that there are always other teachings in disguise. In Benioffs Rick, Brad was astonished of how Rick, his water polo coach, came through with all his tough coaching to discover that he was only pushing him to his fullest potential. The Perils and Promises of Praise, written by Carol S. Deck and Critical Thinking, by Bell Hooks derives the meaning of a fixed mindset, and how students are discouraged by many variants in

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the environment that create a harder learning involvement at a young age. Eventually, students mindsets change by a bad experience in education, that impulses them that there needs to be some sort of change in their bad habits. Freewriting, by Peter Elbow is a personal motivator for myself and for other students; who struggle in writing and are discouraged. Elbow says, Maybe you dont like your voice; maybe people have made fun of it. But its the only voice youve got.(1) The same way that Elbow motivates inspiring writers not to give up, Sherman Alexies The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me uncovers how his passion for books led him to become motivated individual, despite all of the undermining doubt people around him had because of his Native American background. Good experiences aim to help students be proud of what they can achieve, but bad experiences are also needed as well because they teach student on what needs to be changed in order to get to where they want to be in life and stride.

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Works Cited Alexie, Sherman. The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me. The Prose Reader. Ed. Kim Flachmann and Michael Flachmann. Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. 445-449. Print. Benioff, Brad. Rick. Reading Critically Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. Ed. Rise B. Axelrod, Charles R. Cooper, and Alison M. Warriner. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 56-61. Print. Dweck, Carol S. The Perils and Promises of Praise. Educational Leadership. 65.2 (2007): 34-39. Web. Elbow, Peter. Freewriting. Writing Without Teachers. New York: Oxford UP, 1973. 1-7. Print. Hooks, Bell. Critical Thinking. Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. New York: Routledge, 2009. 7-12. Print.