Literacy Autobiography Blog

As I reflect upon my current educational experiences, I realize life has taught me more than what I expected it too. I’m getting better grades, in subjects that I struggled with while in high school, English being one of those classes. I struggled in high school with English because reading wasn’t one of my favorite things to do. I was more into sports and video games. I managed to get C’s and B’s in English without really trying too. I would read the books and do the reports because I had too, not because I wanted to read the books.

I find myself reading books now because I want to expand my mind and increase my knowledge. When I read now, I’m able to clear my mind and focus on what I’m reading, instead of thinking it is boring and wanting to do other things.

With this being my second college experience, I knew what to expect to some degree. However there is a huge difference between my two college experiences. My first experience was attending a trade school in the Kansas City area, studying drafting. Elective courses weren’t required, so I didn’t have to work on my reading and writing skills or any other core classes. The things I’ve learned in the past few months, I’m hoping will help me to be a better reader and writer, for future classes and career projects. I’ve gained insight into my literacy struggles that I’ve never been aware of, until now. Before this semester started, I thought my grammatical skills weren’t too bad, I was wrong. My skills have progressed in ways I never thought they would and I couldn’t be more proud of myself, than I am now.      

Experiences with Reading and Writing

Before this class I didn’t know what to expect. I had been out of the academic environment for 13 years. The only post high school learning environment I had been in, was a technical school I attended in 2002-03, studying in Computer Aided Drafting, which had nothing to do with developing my reading and writing skills. I was hoping this wasn’t going to be a class that we would have to read a book a week and do a report, similar to what I did in high school, I’m glad it isn’t. I was a little apprehensive at that beginning of this course because reading and writing weren’t my strong subjects in high school. Being a Non-Traditional student, my life experiences have paid off more than I ever thought they would. Apparently, being in a business environment on a daily basis and communicating professionally, I developed the skills I needed to be successful in this course. Over the past 8 weeks, I’ve developed my reading and writing skills that are going to benefit me for the rest of my life. Reading and writing are the two subjects that I struggled with as a teenager, during high school. That’s why I’m proud of the progress I’ve made during this course and I’m looking forward to improving my skills even more. The skills I’ve learned during this course have inspired me to finish a book that I started writing several years ago.        

Analysis Response to Baker's Essay

In the essay, "School vs. Education", Russell Baker explores the idea that children start learning the aspects of life at an early age and that the formal education process is for "telling testers what they want to hear." I somewhat agree with Baker; I do agree that children learn things at an early age from the people around them. I disagree with the way Baker views formal education. In my opinion, formal education is a twelve year process that develops essential life skills that a child will use forever. A child can't learn to read and write from the environment around them, there as to be some scholastic development.