1

 
                                       

          Educational Experiences

Ari Marshall

Student, LIU Global 

GCOS 130: Foundations to Global Studies  

Sarah Morgan 

September 28, 2020 

 2

I truly don’t remember many activities or classes from high school. I do remember that I disliked

high school with a passion. I was top of my class, but I never socially fit in, I was an athlete with

a lot of talent but with no idea how to inspire a team, I was a misfit who was confined within the

walls of one place. Often in class I thought more than I worked and I ended up roaming around

the halls of my claustrophobic high school feeling that I didn’t belong in a classroom.  It wasn’t

that I was too smart for the classroom, or to dumb, my mind simply could not be confined to the

walls of a classroom. My road to LIU Global was rocky and filled with detours not to mention

the current global pandemic, but above all it was my dissatisfaction with the current education

system that brought me to Global. 

In a reading titled, “The Friends World Program at Long Island University,

Southampton: A faculty handbook,” the book examines different approaches to education as laid

out by individual philosophers, John Dewey and Freire, and the Quakers. In regards to education

the, “The Friends World Program at Long Island University, Southampton: A faculty handbook”

states the following:

 “That education must be intimately related to a person's life if it is to have any

meaning; and that since the lives of all people are inextricably bound together,

education must lead us beyond our own individual concerns into lives based upon

service to others” (p 13). 

This quote is exactly the reason why I ended up roaming the hallways of my high school so

often. I sat in class and listened to lectures, to guest speakers, and to my teachers, but then it was

another assignment. Then it was another test. I learned early that the goal of school was to be

better than my peers. It did not matter if I cared what was spoken about in lectures or from guest

teachers if I knew the correct answer on a test; that was enough to gain success in school. As I
 3

grew in high school a thought came to mind that I couldn’t shake, I began to ask myself daily, 

“What am I doing here?” I was learning about the world as if I wasn’t a part of it and I hated it. I

didn’t have the faintest idea of how to take my good test scores and translate that into helping

and inspiring people in the real world. The Faculty Handbook relates quotes from Howard

Brinton, author of Quaker education: in theory and practice, who says, “What kind of life is it

most worthwhile to live and what constitutes the best preparation for it" (The Friends World

Program… p 14). I realize now that the traditional classroom scene of high school isn’t it.

Quakers strive to unite education and morality and I believe that the education system in

America is greatly flawed and is not conducive to fostering morality and tolerance but is rather

structured to fit certain types of people while leaving others with different learning styles

behind. 

The next prominent philosopher “The Friends World Program at Long Island

University, Southampton: A faculty handbook” examines is John Dewey. Dewey was extremely

influential in reforming the education system. He argued that, “Learning is not just a technical

process of “mastering” some body of material. Nor is it neutral. Education, experience and the

development of a moral sense are all intricately bound” (The Friends World Program… p 18). I

believe this quote sums up the main principle that LIU Global was founded on. I love this quote

because I believe this is how education should be taught and measured. In my life, the most

educated people I have encountered and learned from are the people who care deeply about the

world. The most educated people in my life who have guided me to where I am today measure

their success on morals and manners rather than money and greed. I wish that this is how success

was measured in school and in society; by the amount of compassion, love and equality humans

treat each other with rather than the amount of wealth or success one can gain at the expense of
 4

others. I believe that one day in America, Dewey’s educational philosophy will be reality.

Additionally, a quote from Dewey that deeply resonated with me is “Teachers, in his opinion,

also have the duty of raising the moral issues implicit in acting in the world” (The Friends World

Program… p18). Although I strongly disliked high school and its overall competitive structure, I

loved my teachers. My town is small and so were my class sizes, I had a graduating class of

about 85 students. This meant that teachers knew us personally and genuinely cared for us as

people. When I had my most frustrating and insecure moments in high school I found comfort in

my teachers who helped me channel my sadness and anger into writing and meaningful personal

conversations about how to overcome and conquer obstacles. I spent hours speaking with my

English teachers about loss, love, and my future goals, not as part of a test or an assignment but

because they understood that I had so much passion and energy to do something in regards to

current events but I just needed guidance. Even without being political, teachers throughout my

educational experience have been hugely influential in shaping who I am as a person and the

values and morals I have. I chose LIU Global because I could keep the small class size and the

close friendships with my classmates and teachers while exploring the world. I want to form

close relationships with my classmates and teachers while not being physically confined.

A theme throughout “The Friends World Program at Long Island University,

Southampton: A faculty handbook,” is that education is never neutral. Education either serves to

maintain the current educational system or to reform it. “The Friends World Program at Long

Island University, Southampton: A faculty handbook,” examines a Brazillian philosopher Paulo

Freire who discusses this concept of how all education has an ideology. This is incredibly true in

my experience of education and that is the false narrative that the Western World is normal. 
 5

“The Friends World Program at Long Island University, Southampton: A faculty handbook,”

states the following: 

“Values of democracy, individualism, patriotism, a certain respect for religion, middle-

class morality systems and many others may be considered so “normal” and

fundamental by middle-class white Americans that they are considered as universally

agreed-upon, but in a global, multicultural perspective they constitute as clear and

ideology as any other" (p25). 

This quote sums up my high school education and also exactly what I disliked about my high

school education. It wasn’t until I began traveling that I saw how one-sided education was. I

chose LIU Global because I don’t desire to continue pursuing the educational track that my high

school wanted me to. I aspire to have a Global education with multiple perspectives and cultures

that will let me decide my own ideology. 

References 

The Friends World Program at Long Island University, Southampton: A faculty handbook.

(1993). The Friends World Program at Long Island University Southampton. 

6