A_Springboard_for_Maturity

Essay A springboard for maturity Education is a lifelong process: we study from our birth till our death. And of course it is not just disciplinary knowledge that we get in school and university. These are mostly wisdom and skills that we need in our everyday life. However, the knowledge that we get in school and university is as different as chalk and cheese: schoolchildren are usually unaware of the reasons they study for and they only do it because their parents want them to, while the university is a kind of a springboard for maturity. At least it was for me and most of my friends. When entering university I could not definitely say what I was going to be. In fact, the main motivation was love for the process of studying foreign languages. So, what have changed by now' First of all, university helped me to formulate my long-term goals. Moreover, it was only two years ago when I realized that I wanted to teach and not just to apply my language skills to work. May be it happened because university also gave me the ability to see the process of studying from its inner side, to understand and to appreciate it. So it is a secret that must be shared. But that’s not the half of it. Studying at university enabled me to leave all my complexes behind and to speak freely in public, let alone bridging the language divide. It made me organized and rational: the more I study, the better I manage my time and my thoughts. Staying calm in stressful situations is another useful skill I have gained within the university walls. Exams is a good chance to get ready for any job interview, and after a number of them I realized that hardly any stress can make me nervous. There is always room for development, and I’m not the exclusion to the rule. For instance, at the very moment I am aimed at improving my speech habits and at getting more information about teaching. Of course, there are a lot of things to improve and skills to acquire, and I can say with certainty, that my university still gives me such opportunity. All I have to do is to grasp and enjoy.