Johnston County Middle College
245 College Road
Smithfield, NC 27577
November 29, 2012
Dear Judges,
For the first eighteen years of an individual’s life, education plays an active, formal role in shaping his personality. The type of education system that he is in heavily influences his character, his social skills, as well as his academic performance. I have always been interested in how the different education systems compared. My family and I moved a lot as I was growing up. I have never been to the same school for more than two years. As a senior in high school, I have already been to eleven schools. I have attended several public schools, two private schools, and a few different home school programs. Throughout my school years, I noticed distinct differences in those who had grown up in one type of school their whole lives. I chose the topic of comparing the different education systems because I could relate to the three main educational settings. I wanted to find out which educational plan would be optimal for a student and what accounted for the differences that I had observed in my classmates growing up. The research process for my paper was a very personal and enlightening journey that not only taught me more about the education system as a whole, but also taught me more about myself.
While completing this project, I learned that my suspicions were correct: the education system that a person grows up with does influence them academically, socially, and culturally. I had always wondered if my unique upbringing may have hindered my growth or given me a disadvantage among my peers. This project taught me that it may not have been such a disadvantage, but on the contrary, it may have allowed me to reap the benefits from each type of education system.
One of the easiest aspects of this project was the research. Most of the research completely backed up what I had observed in my own experienced in different schools. One of the more difficult areas of the product was finding students who were willing to take the test I had created. Given the limited number of people who were willing to participate, it was hard to create a test group for each education system that was similar in age and number. I predict this whole experience will benefit me in the future because it has given me more confidence in myself and my unusual educational history and it has shown me that I can be a leader and invoke a crowd’s participation in an activity that would have otherwise seemed unappealing. This project has been a challenging but rewarding learning experience.
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to review my work. I hope you enjoy the presentation.
Sincerely,
Amanda Harman
