During my freshman year, I was taking Honors Algebra 1. I often found myself asking “When the heck will I need this in my life?” My teacher would just reply saying “You might not need it, but you may need it.” I would just nod my head and continue working. Now I realize that I will never get that time back that was wasted teaching me something I would never use or understand. I would prefer to take something like mechanical math if this school offered it. I feel that each student should have a personalized education. People might “You can that in college”. However, not every student will be attending college. I would love to be taking classes in high school that help prepare for the career of my choice.

“But genuine education as Sorcrates knew more than two thousand years ago, is not inserting the stuffing of information into a person, but rather elicting knowledge from him; it is the drawing out of what is in the mind.” (Harris, 9) This quote explains that education should draw out from a student what they are talented at. This would help personalizing education further because everyone is good at different things. Instead of trying to explain to a student something they don’t understand, an educator should find out what each student is good at. All though many students may have the same talents, these students would be in the same class. Class sizes may vary greatly.

“Reading great literature, it has long been averred, enlarges and improves us as human beings.” (Paul, 15) This quote shows that no matter what you are studying to become, literature will always have a place in your education. Literature can help students develop a greater sense of understanding the world around them, past and current. Literature can be used to even further personalize a student’s education. This can be done by letting students read literature that they personally enjoy instead of everyone just reading the same exact thing. Instead, students should do independent novels in English class.

Even though my education has not worked for me, I would like future students to have some kind of education that will actually take them somewhere in life. A lot of the stuff that we learn in school would only be helpful if we wanted to become a teacher. Instead of just learning about dates of battles, in history class, we should learn how we can prevent and improve our lives by what we have read.