In a TED Talk titled, Changing Education Paradigms, Sir Ken Robinson criticizes the

modern education system and its faults of isolating students that do not excel in the traditional

matter of education and learning. He states that modern education has shifted into a matter of

standardization, criticizing that it increases the risk of students not learning effectively. With this

in mind, in my own personal experiences as a student in the Ontario public education system, I

myself have felt isolated from standardized education system of today. Feeling as if I was being

taught what to learn, rather than learning how to criticize and question, I continuously felt I was

labeled as “non-academic” and that my genuine intellectual curiosity was anaesthetized to make

way for a standardized curriculum I could not easily connect to. For this reason, I hold a very

strong desire and ambition to change and abolish the standardized method of education, and

enforce the Ontario policy of “[Reaching] Every Student” in order to inspire creativity and

genuine curiosity in the future students of the twenty-first century.

I myself have taken advantage of various leadership opportunities both in school, and my

community. Starting with my role as peer mentor to Grade 9 students, which involved assisting

various Grade 9 students in becoming acquainted with secondary school, by building up a strong

personal relationship, in order to make the difficult transition from elementary to secondary

school less daunting. As a musician, I have held various leadership roles in both my school as a

peer tutor in Music Theory and History, and the Burlington YMCA as a volunteer in the

“Throwin’ the Horns” Music program, assisting in the organization for concerts, and teaching

informal lessons in Guitar and Bass. Through this, I have been able to develop many skills that

would benefit me as an educator, such as active listening, an aptitude for collaboration, and

professionalism, leading me to learning of the importance of building peer relationships, as well

as the importance of collaboration in developing a positive climate for academic curiosity and

maturity to flourish.