First Entry

How do we learn?

What does it mean for us to think, to discover, is there a right or wrong way?

I don’t really know how to approach this question. We were all taught to learn and approach new ideas in certain ways. I thought it would be interesting to record a sort of documentation of how I remember learning.

Kindergarten-2nd Grade: Catholic Private School

Catholic School was a super strict, conservative environment. We were taught not to ask questions or try new things, but to absorb and accept everything we were told. We all learned our times' tables the same way, and any deviation in our cursive lettering would ensure we had points deducted. For children at such a young age, these things would be engrained in our learning adventures. Another large part of schooling at Catholic school was shame and classism. You suffered socially if you didn't have the newest materials or couldn’t afford to get things for the book store. This really affected me once I transferred to public school.

3rd Grade-5th Grade: Public Elementary School

Transferring to public school was like culture shock. My uniform wasn’t as strict, we could read whatever we wanted, and there was definitely no parent drama or classist shaming in the same way Catholic school had. When I entered 3rd grade, everyone was learning what I already learned in second grade. Because of this, I spent most of the third-grade reading books. When the class was going over cursive strokes or learning multiplication, I would sit at the back reading the newest chapter book my teacher had recommended me. I also participated in student government in 4th and 5th grade which helped develop my social skills and love for public speaking. It was a lot more freeing to be a student at public school, and with orchestra and art classes that were completely free, it was extremely helpful to explore my creativity.

6th Grade-8th Grade: Magnet Middle School

Middle school was sort of the same way as elementary school. At such a big school with different people in each class, I made a lot of friends from all over LA. Since a lot of us were being bussed into this fancy neighborhood from other cities, it was another culture shock to see how nice all these houses were and how the students who were local to here lived in contrast to the rest of us. I fell in love with chemistry and history in middle school. With loads o different projects and joining the Math Engineering and Science Achieving club, I learned that there is never one way to do anything. It cemented the fact that we all had our own ways of learning and doing and it didn't necessarily mean that that was a bad thing.

9th Grade-12th Grade: Dual Enrollment High School (with a brief stint in a Public HS)