Back to School Contest
With students returning to the classroom this month, we wanted to focus this month’s contest around education.
Education is the cornerstone to professional success and if you continue to invest in education over the course of a lifetime, constantly improving your skills, the heights you will reach personally and professionally are limitless.
So, the question to answer for this month’s contest is:
What is the most important concept you learned in school and why?
This could be anything that you learned in grades K-12. It could be a particular subject that has served you in adulthood, a life’s lesson a teacher taught you or a kernel of knowledge that has always stuck with you.
I, with help from the Freedom Team, will select winners and will base our judgments on how well the value of the concept was presented as well as the “why” behind the answer.
Prizes:
- First Place
The Student’s Winning Edge – Memory Training – AND -
The Student’s Winning Edge – Goal Setting and Attitude - Second Place:
The Student’s Winning Edge – Memory Training – OR -
The Student’s Winning Edge – Goal Setting and Attitude - Third Place
Freedom Personal Development Water Bottle
All winners will also receive a Freedom Personal Development Calculator, Blue Light-up Pen and Be Free Sticker.
Deadline:
The deadline to enter is Sunday, September 27, 2009.
Winners Announced:
Winners will be announced on the blog and emailed on Wednesday, September 30, 2009.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Gandhi
Be Free!
David Shoup
Instructor
Interestingly I do not think about the subject lessons I learnt at school at all. But many, many times I have thought of the one o the first few pages of my school diary which had the line: “Remember that please, sorry and thank you are most beautiful words of the english language.”
That line always touches a chord with me.
Comment by Meghashyam Chirravoori — September 3, 2009 @ 6:35 am
The most important concept I learned in school is to understand! To understand what is being asked of me — after that, it’s just a matter of doing it right!
Comment by Gina Massie — September 3, 2009 @ 9:50 am
The most important concept I learned while in school was and has been that school has been designed to train a technician. Here you are given basic skills and ideas that allow one to often regurgitate information at a later date to proof proficiency. Life on the other hand teaches us to be practitioners. It is outside the walls of formalized education that we actually learn to be who we are and do what we do, through the trials and tribulations of experience. The greatest example I can offer to illustrate my point is that school often focuses on pure memorization and the idea that there is a problem and then a singular right answer. Life however, rarely requires pure memorization and often encourages us to look things up and most certainly teaches us that there is always more than one way to accomplish a task, creating at least for me the reality that there are no rights and wrongs, but rather life is what it is and we en d up with more or less desirable solutions to obstacles in our paths.
Comment by Jeremy Gilsoul — September 3, 2009 @ 10:52 am
The most important skill I learned in school was the concept of getting organized each day. In my senior year of HS, one of my teachers told us all about using daily “to-do” lists when we get to college. It helped me then and it still does now. I think most jobs require us to handle a variety of tasks every day. It can be a lot to keep straight and remember. A simple to-do list helps me look at things and prioritize so my time is used most effectively.
Comment by George Stewart — September 3, 2009 @ 12:45 pm
My High School had this motto: “Character Before Career.” That basically says it all.
First, it is a great principle to live one’s life by, that, if I have the opportunity to lay on my death bed and look back over my life, I’ll be glad I followed–as opposed to compromising my intergriy or other character traits in order to make money or somehow get ahead.
Secondly, “Character Before Career” is excellent business advice in the long run–it will usually help me get farther ahead.
Lastly, “Character Before Career” is excellent advice for personal relations since, if the principle is internalized at work, it will filter over into one’s personal life as well.
Comment by Douglas Alexander — September 3, 2009 @ 1:43 pm
That school is simply preparing you for the next step of life. It’s all about the person you’re becoming, and the information you learn is secondary.
Comment by David — September 3, 2009 @ 2:47 pm
One must never stop learning. The classroom is simply the warmup lap; life is a marathon and you should be learning every step of the way.
Comment by Peter Young — September 3, 2009 @ 7:48 pm
The most profound and beautiful concept that I learned from school, is the concept of seeking and gaining more knowledge by Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), he says : “Acquire knowledge. It enables its possessor to distinguish right from wrong. It lights the way to heaven. It is our friend in the desert, our society in solitude, our compassion when friendless. It guides us to happiness. It sustains us in misery. It is an ornament among friends and an armor against enemies.” Hearing these words from my English teacher motivating me and my fellow classmates to strive hard this school term and to be the best we can be in ourselves, really impacted me. It caused me to understand that knowledge must be sought from the birth to the death or as the noble Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) puts it “Knowledge should be sought from the cradle to the grave”. As my fellow classmates and me continued to listen to our instructor, the words, ideas, and new concepts we learned impacted us and helped us understand that this is just the beginning. Knowledge must be sought for there is much to be discovered and much to learn.
Comment by Samee Muhammad — September 3, 2009 @ 11:17 pm
Hello,
Interesting, I`ll quote it on my site later.
Comment by Rufor — September 4, 2009 @ 7:00 am
The most important thing I learned this week was to be open to change and to use the information you learn. With use you will be practicing and with practice you become comfortable.
I will use what I learnd….I willusewhat I learned…..I will use what I learned…
Comment by Mary Beasley — September 4, 2009 @ 7:56 pm
The most important concept I learned in school was that reading is a skill that can open up the world for you. I learned to read and became a voracious reader and found the world to be an amazing place!
Comment by Cheryl M. Anderson — September 4, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
Not sure that this is true:), but thanks for a post.
Saurooon
Comment by Saurooon — September 5, 2009 @ 10:13 am
The most important thing I learned in school was the importance of working as a team. In college there were classes that involved team projects. You worked on these projects with people with different backgrounds and personalities. The projects always came together in the end. The same applies in the workforce. You need to work in an environment that works as a team in order to be successful.
Comment by Shauna Simpson — September 5, 2009 @ 2:46 pm
The most important thing I learned in school is that learning is a life-long process. We learn something new everyday if we are willing to change and learn from our experiences.
Comment by JFMasiko — September 9, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
best subject math because if you understand profit and loss you know when to holdem and know when to foldem. Its less expensive to hire people that can write you a letter if you know what I mean.
Comment by brian b — September 10, 2009 @ 9:51 am
The best lesson I learned in school was to Listen. Really Listen. If you are talking and not listening, then you will miss out on what is going on around you. Now it wasn’t easy for me to do that. Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE to talk. And at times I still struggle with it, however the skill of listening to others and paying attention to what is going on around you, is an amazing tool. It allows you to understand and help you make the right decisions in business and at home.
Comment by Eve Tovar-Karoses — September 10, 2009 @ 11:25 am
The most valuable lesson I learned in school is that education is yours and it is up to you what you do with it. Most things can be taken away from a person, but education is the one thing that once you have it no one can take it from you. I kept saying this through my college years.
Comment by Alissa — September 22, 2009 @ 11:27 am
The most important concept I learned in school is to question everything. Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean the current method is the best way to accomplish a task. Just because your conclusion doesn’t agree with the current theory doesn’t mean that your theory is wrong. Both Copernicus and Galileo proposed that the earth orbited the sun challenging the then current theory that the earth was the center of the universe. It is okay to disagree with a teacher or professor, but support your argument by naming your source(s). When naming your source(s) know that original sources are preferable.
Comment by Paul Wyles — September 22, 2009 @ 11:53 am
I am sure many people will say the most important thing they learned in school would be how to structure a sentence or add numbers. I learned a totally different concept that far outweighs head knowledge. I would have to say learning how to work with people of all abilities to be the greatest concept around. One person may excel at writing a great paper, another at making numbers work for him/her and another at art or science. It takes working together to bring out the best of each, combining them to create a great finished product or project for which we can all take pride. This is a concept I use everyday in my workplace and at home and the one I am most thankful to have learned.
Comment by Rhondella Morgan — September 22, 2009 @ 2:47 pm
The most important thing I learned in school is that you can never learn enough.
Every day in 5th grade Mrs. Hodges had our class recite:
I use to think I knew I knew but now I must confess, the more I know I know I know, I know I know the less.
I am in my 40’s now and still recall it perfectly. This sentence taught me that you can never learn enough. When you have a question and find the answer, guess what? It usually creates a new question. Learing is never ending. It is the process of continually asking questions and seeking answers. Learning is finding better and more efficient ways to do things and never sitting stagnet. Learning is FUN!
If every child was taught how to ask questions and they were in an enviroment that allowed for and answered those questions….think about how much our children could learn!
If you have an encounter with a child today and they ask you a question, think about your answer carefully. If you don’t know the answer then take the opportunity to learn together, ask questions together and find answers together. After all, Mrs. Hodges and myself believe you can never learn enough.
Comment by Katina Asbell — September 24, 2009 @ 8:35 am
I feel that Mathmatics is the most used in your adult life.
Comment by Tammy Stromberg — September 25, 2009 @ 8:25 am