While discussing what it means to learn, I constantly find myself telling my family and friends about what I'm doing in my classes. While at home this weekend, I went in a bit of a rant to my mom about how I really appreciate being able to attend a university that encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning. I told her about how my current classes are phenomenal, and I'm eager to learn more while in my new major. She asked me, "So, are you happy?"
This simple question was answered with a quick response of "yes" but provoked me to actually think about if I am or am not happy in my day to day life. I actually researched the word, "happy" and came across a documentary about happiness, the science of being happy and how our new experiences promote growth and learning to become happier.
Learning isn't just about our A's on tests, our ability to carry out a conversation with a professor, or desire to know more. Our learning is about us. My desire to learn is centered around my passion to help others, which in turn makes me truly happy. Discovering new ways to become an impactful member of my community is a journey that is in no way limited to my classroom education. For example, my English class often discusses how an author of a comic book depicts a character in a particular way to represent how society views certain social groups. After class, I further researched stereotyping over the course of history, and how with new knowledge we acquire we can ensure that our stereotyping response is lessened.
My research and additional reflecting of my class discussion helped when talking to others about being respectful to our peers. The idea of making a community more educated in how to increase not only the happiness of ourselves, but of others as well has made me happy. The desire to learn outside of just a textbook is much more intense when the drive is powered by happiness.
No comments:
Post a Comment