Author: Tariq (Page 3 of 4)

It was September 10th,2019 the first day of my freshman year of high school. After second period ended it was time for me to attend my government class which was on the other side of the building, and it was very difficult to navigate as the halls were crowded with students. Everyone trying to adjust and adapt eventually though I made it to class. The teacher had a bright smile on his face and was excited to see the students that he would grow to love over the next four years although he expressed some sadness over the seniors who were in their final year. The room itself seemed to reflect the overall attitude of the entire class. Bright with light coming from all directions the sun, the projector which had the teacher’s computer screen illuminated onto the wall, and the ceiling itself where the lightbulbs were. 21 tables set into 7 groups of 3 almost all but one group was complete. There was two people who would later become my closest friends and down the line introduces me to other people whom I eventually became close with. Finally, after I sat down all of the tables were filled with students and the teacher happy ready to present the topic about how the government created cereal to advertise milk while potentially exposing the benefits of milk as a lie. The floor itself was messy after class ended however the teacher was happy that the students left retaining some interesting information.

When it comes to education, one incident that changed the way I viewed education overall was in 7th grade. I was in 7th grade during the school year of 2017-2018 and as prerequisite for most schools as well as students we need to have a social studies/US history class. I remember my teacher at the time her name was Ms. Julien, and I would say that she was an excellent teacher. During late January and early February of that year we started to learn about Black History Month which meant the usual known black people who made a huge contribution to society never the lesser-known ones. This class in particular is what satisfied my curiosity and at the same time made it pique even more. Ms. Julien said, ” I know this might go against the curriculum but at the same time it might not, but the truth is what is being taught is what they want you to know.” The class overall was shocked yet confused but when Ms. Julien elaborated on what she said it started to make sense. Of course, when it comes to teaching about the U.S history the education system wanted to avoid making white people look like the bad guy but rather the savior. Certain things were omitted from the curriculum, so no one knew the truth however Julien did her research and told us about some hidden figures of society who were black and made huge advancements for society.  Jerry Lawson was the man who paved the way for modern day gaming by inventing the first interchangeable cartridge for the video game home system. I didn’t know that until she mentioned it. But it wouldn’t just end in 7th grade as I soon found out as I entered high school that when it comes to the government and all the wrong doings would be uncovered sooner or later.

In 2019 I started my freshman year of high school and again I had to take a government class. This time my teacher was Mr. Fletcher who was a pretty chill dude however it said that in the real world it is important for you to remain enlighten and that is exactly what he did. He showed a video that discussed health across the US and when it came to milk and dairy I was rather interested. People who are lactose intolerant is more of a natural occurrence rather than people who are not lactose intolerant. This is because lactose intolerance is natural as humans are not allowed to drink milk from other species or in this case, cows. People who can tolerate cow’s milk or just not affected by it actually have a genetic mutation. This was cool in my opinion as it discussed how cereal was created solely for the purpose of distributing milk and getting people to purchase it. The video also talked about how when it comes to obesity it is more common in black people and this is true because when it comes to black people not many of us would engage in physical activities while on the other hand some of us would. Even on TikTok and YouTube there is more to discover about the government and what don’t want you to know. This was good for me as I was glad to always question things as a child even till now, I question things until I can find an answer that would make sense to me. Critical thinking is a good thing that we should continue to practice especially when it comes to US education because not everything adds up.

From what I have seen so far, the “ingredients” for an educational narrative has to do with perspective, experience, and power. When I mention perspective I mean from different points of view as everyone who would each have their own perspective about a topic could form different opinions. The opinions about a topic could then be shared which could enlighten people in different ways even me. Experience could be seen as either first hand or second hand meaning I could’ve have experienced something on a personal level or in the case of second hand knew someone who did experience something that I could possibly relate to without having to experience it. The reason I say experience is because you could share what you learned from it with others who could either to do what you did or how to avoid experiencing what you did although it does depend on the situation. I said power because I’m talking about knowledge which comes from experience and perspective. By using what you learned from a situation whether it is good or bad allows you to also form an opinion around that which could that shape your perspective on the situation for future reference. Now with the knowledge gained from the situation you have the power to enlighten others or keep it for yourself and in some cases possess the power to create fear and panic by spreading misinformation or twisting the knowledge of what you learned. A place that I think would be good to start my own educational narrative would probably be a place where you grew up because watching as things change for better or worse a small part of you might want to help people out by educating them about the world around and ways they could contribute.