How education shapes identity in different cultures

Adi Doanis

My legendary Ms. Daisy

I never really liked English classes until I met Ms. Daisy…

Everyone has that one teacher that was their favorite because of how inspiring they were, or because they made the student look at things in a more positive way.

Throughout my school experience, the most inspiring teacher to me was Ms. Daisy. Ms. Daisy was our English teacher at elementary school. She never failed to amaze me and she was always there for students when they needed.

Ms. Daisy was an old lady, she had a lot of teaching experience and you could easily see that she really liked kids and she also liked teaching and not only sharing her knowledge but also sharing her deep wisdom and life experience with the students. From the first day to the last, she always gave great advice on different things. She would stress the subject of following your dreams and staying focused on what is best for you. If she noticed someone was upset, she would address them and try her best to help. Ms. Daisy wanted everyone to be happy and to help each other out at tough times. Not only did she want people to be happy, but she wanted them to be adventurous too.

Traveling interested her a lot and she would always tell us about these outrageous places she has been to. She wanted us to experience new things and places. Making friends and getting comfortable with people from various cultures was another thing she stressed. She encouraged us to get out of our comfort zones and gain more self confidence.

All of these things taught me how to be a happier person with myself. She helped me a lot with overcoming my shyness. Traveling has never interested me until I heard about all of the trips she went on. She made me look at things differently and in a more positive way. Ms. Daisy made me want to live my life to the fullest and to try new things. Moreover, thanks to her, English turned to be my favorite class and I even became an English teacher myself…

It is pretty amazing, Ms. Daisy only taught me through one school year as she had to retire the following year, but her impact and her inspiration will stay with me for the rest of my life.

For me she will always be legendary Ms. Daisy

Safa Hamoud

The English language is my favorite subject since I was a little girl. but when I was at high school some things have changed. My teacher she was literally the worst teacher ever! In Israel the final exams called “Bagrout” and we have to make a huge effort to success in it. I was the first on my class and she presented me in the most difficult stage of the “Bagrout” and it called “5 points literature”. At the same time she was teaching my other classmates but in the easiest stage not mine.

She was not treating me right, she would’ve ignore me all the time. At first I didn’t give a huge reaction to that I’ve just tell myself that she has a lot of pressure but the thing is that this situation lasted so long, every time I confronted her, she would run away from me or fabricate some lies. I tried to talk with other teachers to speak with her but there was no response!

This would’ve last forever until I have decided that I should only count on myself and study all the wanted materials. so I started, i have entered the main site of the exams, downloaded everything was in there. at the first I faced a little bit of troubles but after training I started to get used to. I continued solving different exams until the big exam “Bagrout”.

I have entered the exam room terrified and scared, I was afraid of failure and that my effort was not good enough! the surprise was when the result came out I had a full mark (100) I was never proud of myself like this once.

After that I faced her and told her that my success only returns to my personal effort. I’ve learned a lot of stuff from this special experience such as I should never give up, I should always keep going and give the best even at my weakness times at the end all the things will be alright.

Réka Guba

School was a very sharing experience for me. I always went to church school, so it played a key role in shaping my faith. When I was in secundary school, I didn’t like going to school. I only had 1-2 teachers who could forget this feeling with me. I had quite a few Christian-related classes and also expectations with the practice of faith, which resulted in me hating Christian institutions as much as I could. However, I also went to high school to a Catholic school.

In our country, it is even dictated by the government, that from which textbook can the teachers teach. They have no easy rule. Especially that in many places in these textbooks the facts are distorted or the delicate topics are written and omitted from the government’s own view.

When the world started to open up for me when I was in high school and I was first confronted with this, I was very outraged. Then my youthful rebellion came to an end. I couldn’t accept being politically controlled linearly. You can’t think because it’s harmful. You can’t think any other way because it’s even more harmful. The ecclesiastical nature of the school greatly confirmed that I really did not want to be a Catholic. Since many things were taught from a church perspective, faith, history, etc.… and by then I had already read about things from other sources, the hypocrisy of hypocrisy and the influence that characterized our education was very striking.

It made me kind of disgusted. At the time, my mother always said that I had to complete this now, and then I could learn what I really want in college. I believe I have been a victim of the entrenched Catholicism of my mother and especially my father for 12 years.

While we live in a system where somebody can learn the “truth” from a particular book, I have had to make it an even more extreme form of it for years. It was helpful, of course, as I learned a lot about how I didn’t want to live. Also about what I don’t want for my child and about how I dare to think and doubt the truth of others. Because false knowledge is more harmful than ignorance.

Panni Nemecsek

Three teachers who had impact on my life

According to my concept of education the school system did not provide me with it. At 9 years of age I attented in one of the most elite schools of Hungary. There was no tuition fee, but children were carefully selected upon their cognitive potential. To stay among the ones, who are considered the most talented, the only way is to prove it as frequently as you can, by getting the best scores in the tests. This requires a competitive state of mind. I spent 7 years there.

At 12 years of age I closed all my textbooks, I stopped caring about whether I am the best at literature tests or not, and I’ve decided to read for myself only from now on, and never again according to the syllabus. The school system betrayed me, no one noticed what happened to me that time. I never spoke about it. This happens to most of the girls and some boys, I am well aware. But nothing like that should happen to any child ever.

The shocking fear tore down the thrill of learning new things. At 16 I dropped out of school. I left the school with things I’ve learned – traumas elegantly wrapped in erudition – and started to carry them with me for the rest of my life.

According to my concept of education the school system did not provide me with it. As I understand the notion of education, I didn’t experience receiving it until the age 22. I was feeding my 1 year old son then, and saw a television programme about an elderly music pedagogue and music psychologist Klára Kokas who centered her pedagogical concept on children’s creativity, human relations, acceptance and complete attention to others. That is the meaning of the word; education. Klára’s world view and ideology was constructed around a child-centered sensitivity, music being her primary pedagogical resource. It was shown in the programme how her pedagogical concept develops socialization, association, communication, coordination skills and abilities, aesthetic sense, empathy and concentration. As I was watching her, listening to her words, I felt that I’ve met someone who shares my feelings towards pedagogy and education, how it should be. She helped me to articulate my thoughts on this matter. She was the teacher who has had the first big impact on my life.

According to my concept of education the school system almost did not provide me with it. Almost, until I’ve met Klára Kokas, and years later I’ve attended the University, where I experienced something quite unique, that I was never take part in before. There was a course, where the professor concentrated on the individuals, and helped each student to find their own way to the subject we learn. He just didn’t stress us, and it was an inspiring sensation. The moment when most of us felt; I have space, I matter, I am not a grade but a unique person, and my thoughts and voice are worth being heard. He just simply didn’t use his degree or title to hold power over the students. His opinion was that the ideal form of teaching and learning was like the Peripatetic gatherings, as these were probably conducted less formally than the term “school” suggests: there was likely no set curriculum or requirements for students or even fees for membership. The aim of this school was not to further a specific doctrine, but rather to explore philosophical and scientific theories; those who ran the school worked as equal partners.

Unfortunately many people in Hungary still don’t dare to let themselves liberated, and they are suspicious about participatory learning, group work and they rely on lecture-style instructions. But for those, who let it, our professor opened a window to see and think outside the box. It was life-changing to meet him for many reasons.

Years later, he became my husband.