Friday, January 4, 2008

What It's All About

My mom just had me read an article by John Gardner about the secret to happiness in life is not money or luck, but a desire to learn at all stages of life. Sometimes we meet with sucess and others failure, but the key is to take the knowledge that we gain and apply it for future use. For me, that is what the Peace Corps is all about, being able to use what I have learned as a student and teacher and being able to apply that knowledge to help out other teachers and students in need (the best part is that I will be learning some things right with them). I am realistic enought to know that I'm not going to reform the English educational system in Nicaragua, but I am optimistic that I can make a difference in the curriculum and instruction at the high schools that I'll be working with directly. I know that it will not be easy, especially since the students in Nicaragua and the United States are similar in that they both have difficulty looking 3 or 4 years into the future and seeing what a difference knowing a foreign language can make in their chosen career field. I am looking forward to learning a lot over the next 2 years and hopefully coming closer to a decision about what to do after the Peace Corps. I'll keep you posted along the way.

If you want to read the article, it is titled "The Road to Self-Renewal" and was written by John W. Gardner. It can be downloaded in pdf format from http://www.aligningthestars.com/aligningthestars/gardner.pdf.

No comments: