"Teaching to Learn; Learning to Share"

August 15, 2009 the Spelman College Class of 2013 started their journey on becoming “Free Thinking Women.” We entered a course called African Diaspora and the World where we started reading and analyzing the Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere. In this article Friere discussed how these days many students have become trash receptacles which take in information without recycling and using it again to change their environment. I found it most interesting that Christina Mcvay says, “I learn from my students. I’m never going to pretend to be an expert on Blackness. And they appreciate that. They get to be a co-teacher, you know?” (McVay and Kilgour Dowdy pg 91). This particular fact caught my attention because she learned so much from her students and what she learned she was able to apply to her life which made her teaching experience an even better one.
When it comes to education it is always important to apply what you have learned and to use that information to motivate others. This reminds me of what. Joanne Kilgour said and that is that, “Black women find themselves seeking ways to share their knowledge and widen the degree of agency that they exercise in this society!” The way that McVay taught her students allowed them to become positive, knowledgeable people in our society. The teachings required them to accept who they are and to share that part of them with their surroundings.
My mentor Evangelist Bridgette Wright once told me. “that when you find out who you are in Jesus, embrace it and walk in who you are!” Looking at education in a different perspective is always important in life. McVay’s student’s were taught to look at English with a fresh perspective as opposed to only following others opinion of English. This life changing perspective not only allows an individual to learn to appreciate something for themselves, but it allows them to appreciate what they have to share with the world.
All in all, it is important to remember that everyone has a particular purpose in life, and when you live out this particular purpose you will enjoy life even the more.