Socrates believed there were two different kinds of knowledge- important and trivial. I came out of high school believing I don’t need higher education, because to a developing teenage mind drenched in sass the mere existence of school is trivial. And let’s face it, most of the world's greatest were dropouts- Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Oprah, Lady Gaga, John Lennon, Al Pacino, Walt Disney, Abraham Lincoln, Einstein! But the fact that they succeeded to accomplish the great doesn’t make you… anything, really, it remains just a fact that, by the way, is not necessarily owning up to leaving school. However, it is my belief that educational systems across the world are deeply flawed, primarily because of the inaccurate distribution of the information between the truly important and unessential.

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We learn by receiving information and either confirming or disproving it. And it is somewhere in between, during that process of searching, that your mind expands. And what drives this subsuming Sherlockian engine is curiosity. Now, Einstein said  “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”  I say it is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken the curiosity for creativity and exploration of the unknown. And if the master is not passionate about what he is passing on (which is most of them in schools) - the student not only won’t be either, but he will also cease to believe passion, in regards to anything, is existent. So it is up to a teacher to either hone or destroy the gooey uncertainty of an augmented being we call the student.

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“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

A. Einstein 

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As I mentioned earlier I started college with an idea of unnecessary education. Have I stayed true to that philosophy? Not entirely. Is education important? - Extremely. Does it have to come from an accredited institution- not necessarily. Do you change under the influence of the lifestyle in development- immensely. Do you progress even if some aspects of your curriculum are not necessarily related to your interest- absolutely. Will it get you where you want to go- depends. So if you are not ready to hit the road running right after high school, and I guarantee that most won’t be, you do need more education- in terms of experience and exposure. Whenever that rudimentary training is sufficient enough for your next step on the world’s stairway of turmoil- you can move on. Does it have to be after a gown ceremony- not for everybody. But however long this step may be- take that chance.

 

Right after school I have worked for an online magazine for about a year. I learned some editorial techniques and regulations that served me very well in this course, but my analytical hand lacked experience in the writing craft. So having to give up the conceit of being a splendid writer, I was forced to spend long hours learning the painstaking particularities of research.

 

Challenge should be an adjective of learning. As long as the process is challenging it’s advancive. And advancement is the goal of learning. Thinking creatively is an ability. Daring to think critically without judgement or prejudice is a skill. So when a creative mind with critical thinking meets a challenge great ideas are born. Dr. Boesch made sure to give us enough challenge to be able to articulate those ideas eloquently and syntactically.

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However the biggest challenge for me personally wasn’t that- it was discipline. Another aspect in learning. Here’s a thing though, it is habitual for a creative mind to be inattentive and negligent. But I wouldn’t change that, lower in a degree perhaps, but not change. Because whilst my mind is roaming I do manage to accomplish quite a bit with the diversity of tasks and manifestations. I guess It is just my particularity of learning.

 

I chose an Art Portfolio for the Critical Thinking section because it is a detailed analysis, a kind of dissection into simplicity of a rather complex entity. Such as in painting we begin the analysis by noticing the color pallette, the materials and their usage, the skill of an artist and slowly move towards the meaning of these specific choices and the possibilities of stories and goals associated with these unique selections. It is a series of steps starting from the mundanely apparent, socially accepted and routinely familiar and ending with individually interpreted, character specific and diversely vague aspects. Much alike the process of critical thinking. The Reading Journal is a perfect example for this as well- it is my direct understanding of the ideas presented in the textbook. (Lewis- Willims “What is Art”)

 

Research Paper going into the Communication Section was specifically requested in the assignment. If it was up to me, I would probably place it into Critical Thinking, primarily because it was an individual project. It did require quite a bit of communication with Dr. Boesch however. Fall Final Creative Project applies perhaps a tad more for this section. For re- creating the likes of first human art, using the materials of that time period and inspiring the feel of that prehistoric era, I chose to depict strange images that I saw in the shadows and folds of the roughly creased unprocessed paper. I traced them with charcoal and ochre in dry, wet and pressed mediums. While doing this I felt like I gained a grain of a feel of why a human brain just might be creative by default.

 

For the Diversity Of Human Experience the Pussy Riot article in addition to the entire Web Magazine was a highly collaborative effort. We had a group of four girls, me included, and the opinions of the entire class as well the the massive history and cultural background needed for the research. The subject of feminism in Russia frankly did not excite me at all at first, but it proved to be so much broader than that. We divided the theme into four subgroups that interested each of us specifically- Russian Governmental Structure and Women's History, Pussy Riot’s Radicalism, their Music and the Drama and Effectiveness of Guerilla Performance. We later presented these to class while completing our teaching week assignment. Ideas shared with us were exceptionally unique since feedback on such subject depend greatly on cultural inheritance.

In addition to Communication page, 100 Yen Love was a first authentic experience of Japanese Film for me. From the many ways in which Portland wins over most of the best cities in America, the revenance for diversity is the essential feature. 

And from the multitude of social events held here in honor of that, International Film Festival is amongst my favorite. It wasn’t just the film that made an impression on me- it’s the people attending the screening. The audience ws very culture specific but it was the most interesting thing conversing with them.

 

Social Responsibility includes Garden Project because I believe it benefits the environment as well as urban diversification. Take The Chinese Garden for example, it is in the middle of our downtown- Chinatown- Portland's big Apple that never sleeps, and yet inside it, if I couldn’t see the modern buildings towering above I would swear I was in Lingering Garden.

I consider this reflection being a part of Diversity because that’s what this class did to my worldview- it diversified and broadened it by all means.

 

Thus you can see how intensely educating is just this single course that with the first glance you would perhaps hasten to classify simply as another boring academically required writing class. Now imagine finding out new things about something you are actually interested in and in that accepting environment being praised for what you truly are, every day uncovering layers of uniqueness within yourself you didn’t even know existed. Take that chance.

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