Transcriber: Josephine Wilson Reviewer: Peter Van de Ven
Good evening, everyone.
My name is Kyle Channell,
and I'm a sophomore here at Columbus Academy.
So, I would just like to ask for a little bit of audience participation.
Who here, at any time during your academic career,
was attending a private school?
Most of us.
Who here ever attended a public school?
Again, most of us.
Who here was ever homeschooled?
And there's no one.
I was forunate enough to be one of these individuals.
I was homeschooled by my mother for nine years,
all the way through seventh grade.
So, I want to raise the question to us:
'What is the best education system?'
Now, there is this stigma with homeschoolers
as being one of three things:
either super religious,
super conservative,
or just super awkward.
(Laughter)
Now yes, these are true sometimes.
But it's important to remember that this isn't always true.
So, homeschooling, why?
What did I get out of it?
What was the purpose?
So I want to judge
the different systems of education that I went through
in three criteria - not three criteria -
based upon what I ultimately gained and will continue to use
in the continuation of the rest of my life.
What did I gain from homeschooling?
In homeschooling,
I learned how to be creative,
how to explore,
how to try new things and not be afraid to fail.
But the main thing that I got out of it was learning how to think.
I learned how to observe and analyse,
and found the value of exploring my education.
So, what was my next step?
Well, like my siblings in the past, preceding before me,
I would begin public school in eighth grade.
This was terrifying.
I didn't believe that I was ready for this major change.
So I started attending public school,
and I immediately noticed
these massive social and cultural differences.
Now, socially I was able to do pretty well while I was homeschooled.
I made connections, I was involved in different areas,
I did a lot of extracurriculars.
So I had plenty of friends.
But culturally, there was still this disconnection.
I noticed this specifically in the very first class
that I had when I started attending Orange.
It was a science class,
and very early on in the class, the teacher told us,
'We're going to start to watch, today, an episode of Bill Nye.'
Now up to this point, I had no idea who Bill Nye was.
So you can imagine my reaction when students start chanting,
'Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill Nye, Bill, Bill!'
I was terrified!
(Laughter)
What is going on? How?
Bill Nye,
(Laughter)
one of the largest figures in social education
and an ultimate figure in all of public education.
Most students are familar with Bill Nye,
but up to this point, I had never been introduced to him.
Now this isn't to say that because I hadn't seen Bill Nye,
I didn't know how science worked or I wasn't able to learn.
I just learned differently.
So, I started attending Olentangy Orange.
The building on the left is the highschool,
and the building on the right is the middle school.
So, what did I gain?
Let's go back to our idea
of, What is something I'll use for the rest of my life?
Olentangy Orange taught me structure.
It taught me how to work with other individuals
and how to take their ideas and be able to continue.
But the most important thing that I got out of attending Orange
was a variety.
I met a wide range of individuals.
Up to this point, I was only introduced to my family's ideas or close relative's.
So I was able to experience different opinions.
Different people's ideas were now becoming an influence in mine.
So I loved it at Orange.
I learned a lot. I made a lot of friends.
But four months into the school year, my parents raised a possibility to me.
They said, 'You may be able to apply to Columbus Academy.'
Now I thought to myself, that's a smart person's school.
I'll never make it there.
But we ended up applying, just to try.
I ended up getting accepted,
and it worked out
that I was going to be able to attend the next year.
I was jubilant.
Honestly, I never imagined myself ever attending a school such as this.
So, I changed to Columbus Academy,
and the first time that I noticed
that this was going to be like nothing I had ever experienced before,
was, again, my first class.
Again, a science class.
Mr Davis' advanced bio course.
A lot of you know what I'm talking about.
(Laughter)
So, I asked Mr Davis a question,
and his answer
changed everything I believed about education up to this point.
It impacted me so deeply,
and it continues to influence me to this day.
I asked him the question, 'Can I go to the bathroom?'
(Laughter)
He responded with, 'Yeah sure, go ahead.'
Yeah sure, go ahead? Go ahead? Like, I can leave the class?
What?
This changed everything I believed about education.
I was used to having to ask the teacher,
get a pass, and have a timer set
that I can only be gone from class for three minutes.
So, everything I knew
about the way that school worked, up to this point, changed.
I realised in this simple moment, this simple, beautiful moment,
that this school is like nothing I've ever experienced before.
And I very soon began to realise exactly how different it was.
It was a combination of what I have enjoyed from homeschooling
and what I got from public school.
I was free.
I could explore and be creative and artistic,
yet be supported by the school.
They provided me with structure and guidance,
which I was able to use to further my studies.
So, let's return to our question.
What is the best education system?
Now, up to this point, you may respond: private school.
It's how it worked for him, and it seems to work for other people.
But my response to this question is a little bit different.
'What is the best system of education?' is not a very good question.
The thing we should be asking is,
What is the best education system for me?
Every individual's academic journey is different,
and we have to be aware of that.
So, what does this mean?
What is it all for?
The main thing that I noticed throughout my academic journey
were there were two very distinct paths that students tended to follow.
That of diversity -
which I ended up following,
changing schools multiple times
and being able to experience a variety of opinions and different ideas.
Or that of adversity.
So, what is adversity?
It's not a typical term that you'd expect for learning.
Adversity is remaining at one school for an extensive period of time.
So, why? Why is this adversity?
It's important to understand the concept of adversity
because if a student stays in a specific area,
let's say for 12 years of their life, they stay in a single area,
they are limited by the confines
of whatever that school district or school has in mind for those students.
Let's take an example of a student who attends public school.
Let's say they intend to explore the arts;
they want to be a writer or a composer or a musician.
Now, they have limitations in their school district,
they're required to take a specific number of courses in specific subjects.
In public school, there is a typical focus on STEM courses.
So, what if a student wants to continue their focus,
what if they've decided,
'This is what I want to do for the rest of my life'?
It is on the student to then explore,
to find out,
'How do I make this a reality?'
A student must do three primary things.
A student must, A: find time,
B: find connections, find the teachers that can help you in these focuses,
and C: work very hard
because there are limitations to what schools can provide to students.
This is the adversity.
If a student is able to go beyond the limitations
of whatever school they may be attending:
public, private, home or any other,
they are able to be successful through the path of adversity.
So, what does this mean?
We have our two paths: adversity and diversity.
So, let's go back over the primary points of what these two mean.
Adversity is a single system.
This is beneficial
in the way that it allows a student to be comfortable,
to be established and to be used to it.
But exploration is needed because there is limited exposure.
You are confined by the things that the school has provided to you.
Diversity: diversity provides exposure.
You are able to experience a variety of opinions and ideas,
but you need to be flexible.
It is important for a student experiencing diversity
to be able to adapt quickly
to whatever environment they are expected to change to.
So, what does this mean?
We have two paths
that most students end up following.
Granted, there are many other paths
that, frankly, there's not enough time to delve into.
But the important thing to take away is this:
no matter what system of education you follow
and no matter what path you end up taking,
every student has the potential to be successful.
Because each system has its own set of characteristics
that will guide the student along the way,
ultimately aiding the student in whatever their endeavours may be.
Thank you.
(Applause)