So why UT? I saw UT as filled with HUGE (literally) opportunities. I love college sports and UT could offer some of the best college sports in the country. I knew research could eventually be a very important part of my life (for a pre-med path) and I know that UT has excellent resources as far as research goes. I also found that too small of a community (whether college campus or number of students) could be a little suffocating. Knowing my way so well around high school and always seeing the same faces felt all too familiar after a while and I longed for the change of a big city and a big setting to live in. UT also gave me the chance to stay close to home. To be honest, I love the comfort of my family too much to go away so soon. I like my parents and like having the ability to go home on the weekend if I've had a rough week. However, these things could not be enough for me to pass up the wonderful liberal arts colleges I had been accepted into. So why UT?
Plan II was really the one that sealed the deal. It was no lightning spark--it took long consideration and agonizing to decide what school to go to and in the end, I still worried constantly over making the right decision. But Plan II gave me just what I was looking for in every other school, so I worried needlessly. Plan II gave me small discussion based learning, intellectual and interesting subjects, and plenty of teacher attention that I knew would be scarce in the bigger picture at UT. Now, after being at UT for a month, I feel good about my decision and feel like I definitely got a good deal with this choice: big school and little school combined!
Before reading this, I was already interested in seeking a well-rounded education. However, after reading the part about "Well-rounded Docs," I am even more thankful for the education I'll be getting at UT. Not only will I be getting the ideas of a "specific trade or profession, or study or science," (Course Anthology 169) but I will be gaining the ability to be "at home in any society" (Course Anthology 170). Those words truly reached out to me from Newman's The Idea of a University. I took a step back to consider these words. They tell me that I can be at home in different cultural settings, with people of different backgrounds and races, with young people and old people, with people coming from different political views, and everything else. I feel like this school is preparing me to have an open mind when I step out into society, a graduated UT student who will have a clear perspective of the world she lives in. I feel like UT will prepare to go to a foreign country and not allow the language barriers to get in the way of making relationships with those around me. UT is preparing me to have an open mind when I look at my dinner with fear and skepticism in China (which I definitely did before). That is what I see in the phrase "summoning the resources of heart and spirit can create that shared life of aspiration and achievement that we call civilization" (Course Anthology 173A). This shared life is not only among us at UT, but among the people of the world. From these readings, I feel ready to plunge into the knowledge and learning that it will take to "cultivate" me into a true member of society.
I was also interested in a well-rounded education for the sake of being engaged as well. Even though I have ambitions to be a doctor someday, I don't for a second kid myself in pretending I want to only take math and science based classes. I am interested in foreign languages, music, history, and literature. My ideas for majors have switched from Music to Biochemistry to History to Anthropology. And for this, I am thankful that med schools are no longer looking for purely science based backgrounds in their students. I agree with the people at med schools in their wanting well-rounded people. I want my doctor to be educated in various subjects that aren't limited to their profession. I would embrace a doctor who had hobbies on the side that were not in the least bit medical based. My dad, for instance, is a surgeon, but he enjoys golf and reading history books (particularly in American history) in his spare time. He also plays the piano a bit, fishes, and climbs 14,000 foot mountains.
I'm glad that I have such a good role model that I can set my standards to. I feel comfortable in pursuing what I love and taking classes that will not just prepare me for medical school, but make me a well-rounded and interesting person to talk to.
As for experiential learning, I am 100% for it! I love getting my nose out of books and participating in experiential learning. In fact, I have participated in one of the best examples of experiential learning I think I have ever heard of in 3rd grade. My teacher was hugely interested in theater and history, so as a result, much of our 3rd grade curriculum was centered around the passing of history. Our six weeks schedules followed an outline of the the big events of world history: Stone Ages, Ancient Rome/Egypt, Medieval Times, the Renaissance Period, Developing Countries, and Modern Times (particularly in science). Every six weeks we prepared a sort of museum to honor the time period we were studying. We would decorate the classroom and research a certain topic and we (the students) got to dress up as people from those times and educate visitors on important people from these times and day-to-day life. It was one of the most wonderful classes I'd ever (and will ever) take. My teacher brought to life the very subject that had been ingrained in our heads to be dull, long-winded, and uninteresting. He flipped it backwards to make it one of my favorite subjects and something I looked forward to every day. No class has ever come close to the experience I got from this one. We brought to life the very material we were studying and that made all the difference in what we took from that class. Instead of sitting prim and proper in our desks taking notes over history, we were becoming decorators, actors, and specialists in whatever we happened to be learning about. This teacher taught me everything about how learning "can be dynamic, engaging, and fun" and it certainly made the "value of education more obvious" by "connecting information" (literally) "to the 'real world'" (Course Anthology 184). Parents and teachers came every six weeks to see the museum and I still love going back to visit and see what the new students have come up with. The class was rewarding and beneficial to my education and I thought of it immediately upon reading this experiential learning page.
He dressed up as Napoleon for one of out discussions and told us about Napoleon's life with a French accent.
I feel so grateful for my opportunities in life. I am glad that I don't have to be tethered down by the demands of what job I want to have someday and that I can learn not only in books, but in an active setting that I can engage in. I feel fulfilled already by the education that I have received in the past as well as the education I will get here at UT (specifically in Plan II). The readings The Idea of a University and Experiential Learning have opened my eyes to how lucky I am to be at UT and how excited I should be about the years to come.
Pictures (in order):
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Emily Richardson
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