{"id":57,"date":"2013-10-04T05:11:34","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T05:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/?p=57"},"modified":"2013-11-22T01:43:13","modified_gmt":"2013-11-22T01:43:13","slug":"rediscovering-the-joy-and-power-of-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/rediscovering-the-joy-and-power-of-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Rediscovering the Joy and Power of Education"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Grade

Grade six students in Chikuni Parish sit attentively listening to their radio lesson, much like I eagerly soaked up my lessons at their age.<\/p><\/div>\n

When I was a little girl, I absolutely loved going to school. There was a certain thrill in arriving at school each morning and not knowing what incredible things I might learn. Whether it be trying to memorize Beethoven’s \u201cOde to Joy\u201d on the piano or learning about the extremes of Mt. Everest or reading accounts about the ancient civilizations of the Americas, I was constantly being challenged to become more aware of the world around me\u2014and I loved every minute of it.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t necessarily say the same is true of my academic life today. While I may not dread going to class every day, I also am not eagerly awaiting the start of each and every class period. And just why is that? What happened over the course of my education that made me loose that joy in the possibilities that can come with education? I don\u2019t think I can honestly answer that question. My first instinct is that the reality of life happen. But when I really think about it, I realize that it was, in fact, learning about the reality of life that had\u00a0brought me such great joy.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, I was blessed to be able to rediscover over the course of six weeks this summer the joy that can come with education. I was able to do this as I traveled to the seventeen radio schools in Chikuni Parish, Zambia and spoke with mentors and students about what education means to them.<\/p>\n

\"Lighting

The moon in Zambia shines so brightly in the night sky that you can’t help but stop to pause and think about it<\/p><\/div>\n

To give just a little bit of background, Zambia uses a radio program call\u00a0Learning at Taonga Market\u00a0<\/i>as a form of alternative education for students who otherwise would not have access to formal schools. In Chikuni, the\u00a0Learning at Taonga Market\u00a0<\/i>program\u00a0<\/i>begins playing the grade seven lesson at 12:15 every day during the school year. I remember hearing a particular lesson one day when we had stayed in Chikuni and I was helping to prepare lunch. The lesson was talking about the moon. It gave several facts about the moon, and then the radio teacher began to explain what a lunar eclipse is. I can just imagine one of the young seventh grade students\u2014or anyone in Chikuni near a radio during that lesson for that matter\u2014listening to this lesson about lunar eclipses and thinking about the moon that shines so brilliantly in the Zambian night sky. I can just picture all those students who would run out to greet me and welcome me into their classrooms, the same students who would boldly ask me questions in their non-native English, just so that they could fulfill that innate curiosity for information. Like me, these students were probably amazed at the moon that shines brightly above them and would want to learn more about it. I can just envision the joy on their faces the night after that lesson as they look at the sky and think about what they learned in class that day, and their excitement to go to school the next day to learn something else that interests and excites them.<\/p>\n

\"Grade

Teachers are just as important to the learning process as the material they are teaching.<\/p><\/div>\n

Knowledge, both formal and informal, helps us to make sense of the world around us. But perhaps more importantly, it challenges us and forces us to ask questions about the world around us. Formal education is a great starting place for young minds to start asking these questions, yet it is something that so many people around the world don\u2019t have access to\u2014something that so many Zambians don\u2019t have access to. Those who do really cherish and appreciate the opportunity they have. That\u2019s something I want to hold with me as I begin my last year at Santa Clara, as well as to find the same joy in learning that I saw in the students in Chikuni, particularly as I try to find how I can incorporate my belief in the importance of education with my vocation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a little girl, I absolutely loved going to school. There was a certain thrill in arriving at school each morning and not knowing what incredible things I might learn. Whether it be trying to memorize Beethoven’s \u201cOde … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"gutentor_comment":0,"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"lruggles","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/author\/lruggles\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"Uncategorized<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"When I was a little girl, I absolutely loved going to school. There was a certain thrill in arriving at school each morning and not knowing what incredible things I might learn. Whether it be trying to memorize Beethoven’s \u201cOde … Continue reading →","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lruggles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}