The education system without a doubt provides us with experiences
like no other; oportunites that otherwise wouldn't be available to us. Some
school's have students from many different backgrounds, whereas other places
don't. With both my primary and secondary education being in a small, coastal
town, I'd say that my experience culturally was quite boring in comparison to other's.
Identity, however, was something I struggled to come to term's with, and still
to this day can't really grasp who I am. My year was made up with a lot of
different groups, all of whom seemed to replicate and copy each other. Whether
this be to feel accepted, or whether it was truly who they were I will never
really know; but I do know that I didn't fit into any of these groups. One
group idolised boys and alcohols, whereas other's thought their live's revolved
around video games; something I couldn't really fake.
Identity is defined as the set of behavioral or
personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of
a group (TheFreeDictionary.com, 2013) and is something that seems almost vital
to be accepted in schools these days. This saddens me! I was a floater in
school, tried to talk to different people throughout our year and as a result
of that I was constantly left out or bullied by the 'cooler' crowds. Students
in class wouldn't even sit away from their groups, leaving me to feel quite
isolated and alone majority of the time. I've heard numerous people say the
best and most memorable thing about school was the social side, but I'd have to
argue with that. I remember getting one of the best educations and being
inspired by so many brilliant teachers who have ultimately made a massive mark
on my life now. Whether this constitutes me as a nerd, I don't care, but it
seems that there's so much attention on kids of a cultured background to fit in
that everyone forgets about the others. I personally don't think the colour of
your skin or your background renders a lonely schooling life; I think
struggling to understand who you are as a person does. As I previously
mentioned, we will all have different experiences and stories on this topic,
but being your average blue-eyed, blonde-haired teenager majority wouldn't
think I would struggle with identity.
As a positive, not being
sure of who I was or what group I belonged to I didn't have many distractions
and that paid off when I got my HSC results. Sure, I can say I did well in my
education, but I think there's a whole different level to education that is
often overlooked. When we think of education we think textbooks, classrooms and
studying hard for exams. What we fail to understand is that ultimately, our
identity will play a massive role in how we interact and learn in the
classroom. Now coming to a University two hours away from my home town, I've
met some of the greatest individual's I'll ever be exposed to. An array of
public, private, Asian, Indigenous, and white people who all went to different
schools than I. Our education won't create our identity, but our identity will
shape our education.
References
TheFreeDictionary.com. 2013. identity.
[online] Available at: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/identity [Accessed: 24
Oct 2013].
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ReplyDeleteI agree Savannah; all sub culture groups have their cultural practices, expectations and traditions (Phillips, 2006, p.6) . It is up to us to choose whether to conform or not. I was a floater as well; I am able to relate to your personal experiences. Although I did come from a very diverse high school with many groups, I still did not manage to find a sense of belonging. I refused to change my identity to assimilate into a group. I believe the group you do belong to also create your identity. Similarly, I did not find my friendship circle until I reached tertiary studies.
ReplyDeleteMy education did not create my identity but the way I approached and the person I am, forms the way education is created for myself. For example, I knew a group who were called the ‘Lads’ disregarded education, their identity of being rebellious shaped the way they rejected education.
References:
Phillips, A. (2006). What is culture? In Arneil, Barbara and Deveaux, Monique and Dhamoon, Rita and Eisenberg, Avigail, (eds.) Sexual justice / cultural justice. London, UK : Routledge, 2006, pp. 15-29.