"Engaged Pedagogy" Bell Hooks

Bell Hooks' essay "Engaged Pedagogy" struck me as an extremely important way for teachers to view education, but also for students, and their expectations for education. I really enjoyed reading this essay, One idea that Hooks talked about  in the essay stated "They (students)  do want knowledge that is meaningful. They rightfully expect that my colleagues and I will not offer them information without addressing the connection between what they are learning and their overall life experiences." (Hooks 71)

This idea spoke out to me. I don't know how many times that I have sat in a classroom, thinking, "Why is this important to me, and when am I ever going to use this?" Hooks speaks of the importance of students seeing a real-life connection to the subjects they are learning. Without these experiences, the information is meaningless to most. I think it's beneficial to both students and teachers to realize and see how important it is to make the information meaningful. When students can see why what they are learning is important to not only themselves, but to their own professors who are teaching them, they see the relevance of the things they are learning.

Not only does hearing how an idea became real-life to someone else render as important, it also shows that there is more to learning than just reading and writing papers to get a grade and a degree. I learn everyday, but the most meaningful lectures are the ones that I can apply to my own life. When I leave a lecture hall, I like walking out thinking, "Wow, so and so really explained why (blank) happened to me." Otherwise, like a meaningless lecture, I think we sometimes do things without caring why we do them. When teachers give real life experiences that relate the ideas they are teaching and show the importance of what we are learning, we get answers for the question "WHY" and that makes everything more interesting and meaningful. Otherwise, if it doesn't apply to real life in anyway, what is the significance? Who cares?