One influence which has helped in forming my opinion on education is the time I have spent traveling. Through spending time in other countries, I have realized that the education system has missed a lot of valuable lessons which I believe everyone should learn. A few of these experiences which have stood out in my mind include the importance of embracing other cultures, learning different languages and recognizing the human impact on the earth.

For example, being exposed to other cultures and ways of living have opened my eyes to the diversity of the world in a positive way. I think classrooms, more specifically for younger children, should positively teach about other cultures to decrease prejudice and discrimination. While teaching about different cultures, it should be shown that preserving and celebration these cultures is essential to continuing the diversity of earth. The difference in culture is one of the reasons why traveling is so exciting as there as so many different ways of living. Historically speaking, misunderstanding cultures has resulted in a tremendous amount of violence, so I hope that by including positive representations of other cultures into classrooms fear and discrimination against cultures which are not familiar can end.

Through travel, I have also learned the importance of knowing different languages. While it is not possible to speak every language, it is essential to recognize that at least trying and attempting to communicate in the native language is something seen as considerate and polite. I think our education system is lacking in regards to emphasizing the importance of learning other languages. In other countries, such as many european countries, citizens speak multiple languages. However, in Canada, which is a bilingual country, many people do not speak a language outside of English. It seems in North America there is a considerable push for English to be the dominant language, however Spanish and Cantonese are said to be the fastest growing languages in the world. So, I think it is essential for there to be an emphasis on learning other languages within our schools as it helps people connect other individuals outside of their own culture and language and teach students to embrace diversity and other cultures.

Through my time traveling, I have witnessed a lot of pollution and destruction of the natural environment. Through witnessing whitewashing of the coral and destruction of the oceans as well as an immense amount of garbage both in and out of the oceans, I believe schools should teach more about sustainability and the impact our actions have on the planet. I believe this can be supported through the integrated use of outdoor education as by immersing students into the outdoors they can directly see the impact of human activity on the environment. By witnessing the destruction of local environments, this experience can then be used in relation to learning about environmental issues in other parts of the world. They hope that this would foster a concern in regards to the environment which would then create more earth conscious students. Furthermore, the use of outdoor education and learning within classrooms can provide students with a range of skills useful to life which are not found in the traditional classroom setting.