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Lucubrate Magazine, February 11th, 2023
Everyone should evaluate their potential, inner fears or weaknesses, personal targets, and the right pathways to get them independently. Anyone has their own educational story.
Everyone, at some point or other, makes a plan to boost their skills. They set about identifying their strengths and weaknesses to find ways to learn more and develop. Such methods necessarily vary from individual to individual, but making a plan can help one focus on the positives. I was born and grew up in Iran, where I studied. So my first language is Farsi (Persian). All my learning was in Farsi and within the various restrictions of Iranian culture when I grew up.
This article is the second article I’ve written about my education. The previous article was “My Real Story about Childhood and Education.” There I wrote about my educational path, its challenges, and the solutions I came up with to overcome some of the difficulties I faced. Here, I want to take that story further by focusing on my higher education and professional development from 18-26 years old.
A university student
When I started studying at university, I was surprised to find that I had some of the same problems I’d had at school, e.g. perfectionism. For example, when a professor referred to a book translated from English, I instantly set about finding the original, believing a translation was inadequate. But I quickly realized that such a strategy was not feasible.
Learning English
I realized that learning English had to be my first objective, so I set about making a plan to learn English by self-study. This English training involved me spending a lot of time in the university library rather than attending lectures. At first, reading in English was very difficult. To get better results, I tested myself.
Also, I started developing internet skills and learning metacognition methods to identify the pros and cons of learning professionally. This knowledge was a practical approach that proved extremely helpful. Later, I used a similar way to help students who learnt more slowly than others.
The link between life and learning
Although there were some negative consequences of not attending course lectures, I scored well in some subjects and achieved a good degree. Spending much time in the library allowed me to search for key texts and communicate with people from other countries. Developing my English language skills enabled me to make new friends from different countries, and I enjoyed getting to know people brought up in other cultures.
It also awakened my interest in some scientific subjects and gave me crucial insight into what professional opportunities I might pursue. I started a local journal and learnt to edit papers quickly, both in English and Persian.
A young PhD student
I was accepted as a PhD student when I was 26 years old. I studied in a first-semester doctoral course and worked as a faculty member at the university. Also, according to my high degree in science and my resume, I was simultaneously employed as a faculty member.
If I want to summarize the essential components in my academic development between ages 20-25, I would say:
- meta-analysis of social science data
- becoming empowered by developing my writing skills,
- testing, and researcher-based questions,
- learning quantitative and qualitative research strategies,
- working as a research assistant on the topic of abused children,
- working as an associate researcher investigating delinquent girls, collaborating with an intervention centre for children in crisis by working as a psychologist (education and supervision), working as an administrator at a crisis centre for women and girls (victims of rape), researching and designing effective educational programs in 8 non-profit high schools in Tehran, psychological assessment of artwork by children of the divorced parent,
- assistant researcher in the study of ministry education,
- working on metacognition and self-assessment,
- writing and translating research and descriptive articles in student journals and local magazines,
Use Your Potential
I will write about my teaching experience later. I comprehend that ignoring self-needs can lead to major complexities at a later time.
Everyone should evaluate their potential, inner fears or weaknesses, personal targets, and the right pathways to get them independently. Anyone will only be able to percept our requests and dreams if ourselves!
What must be recognized correctly for grasping opportunities is everywhere, or geographic areas have some constraints opposing our wishes.
Absolutely If we won’t grow in our current geography, changing of geography change of geography will be the best option at the same time! Our primary responsibility is to discover potential barriers and transform them into excellent tools. Therefore, our main preference is inner needs.
Lucubrate Magazine February 2023
The photo on the top of the article: Adobe Stock
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