Reflection on my Education
Part I: Reflection on my Education
Work hard, study hard, play hard- this is a fairly common attitude in today’s busy world. With this type of mantra, it makes even much-needed relaxation seem lazy. In an era where go-getting is the common denominator, a question that pops up at a young age is, “What am I going to do with my life?” This question first hit me in my freshman year of high school, and at the time, I had no idea.
I remember creating a poster for the career fair at my high school. We presented elaborate posters that displayed a career we thought we might be interested in sometime after high school. My poster was about Cosmetology. I had always loved expressing myself through makeup, and I was the go-to girl for dyeing my friends’ hair. Despite this, I had an inkling this was not my calling career-wise. My junior year of high school was when I experienced firsthand the life-changing impact nutrition had on the mind and body. I witnessed a transformation that nutrition made on a medical condition, which was truly life changing for me. After experiencing this transformation, I slowly applied more positive health practices into my own life and developed a sense of self-awareness that I had never felt before. Many might consider the benefits of nutrition in a strictly physical sense, such as how a person fits into their jean size, but the benefits extend far beyond that. From there on out, I became a true believer in nutrition, balance and personal wellness. After this realization, I knew nutrition and wellness was something I could expand my knowledge on and teach others about for the rest of my life.
Health and wellness are far more than just nutrition and fitness, I could write an entire different paper on that. My point is, when I saw how much my life changed when I cared for my health, it became a passion of mine to spread my philosophy by example. When the time came to sign up for school, I visited every college in the area with a Dietetics major to find the one that best suited me. Listening to my body and treating it in the best way I can has made a change so big I can’t begin to describe it. This is why teaching it to others as a dietetics professional would be an honor and a privilege to me.
General Education Requirements and My Field
Of course, enrolling in school with a major in dietetics meant that I would be taking many courses that I knew I’d love (food labs, hello!), but it also meant roughing-it through some less-than-thrilling classes. That being said, when taking courses such as mathematics, science, social science, history, English, art, and technology, I kept the big picture in mind, and thought, “In what ways will this help me reach my goals?” What I found was, each subject had a benefit for my field of study.
Mathematics is a necessary evil. I neither love it, nor hate it, but it undoubtedly plays a role in everyone’s lives. Dietitians use calories, fat grams, protein grams, and levels of vitamins and minerals to assess patients and clients and as a guide for them to increase or decrease these numbers accordingly. Likewise, math has helped me in class when I am required to calculate caloric needs Community Nutrition or recipe conversions in Food Management. Dietitians also might choose to use graphs to compare distribution of macronutrients to clients. For example, a patient or client might be eating the right amount of calories, but a majority of those calories are carbohydrates; a graph could easily help the client visualize what the dietitian is explaining. Mathematics is vital for dietitians to distinguish whether or not their patients or clients are healthy, malnourished, or at risk of malnourishment.
Those who know little about what dietitians do for a living may think dietetics is all about cooking and making menus for others, but this is not the case. Dietitians rely on a heavy background in scientific subjects such as biology, anatomy, physiology, chemistry, microbiology, and biochemistry. These subjects help to understand topics such as food safety, food chemistry, and metabolism. Science has helped me tremendously over the years to understand how to cook safely in the kitchen, understand the mechanics of metabolism, and the importance of essential nutrients for a normal functioning body. Even basic human anatomy has helped me understand internal and external parts and functions of that body, which is needed for recognizing health concerns in future patients. Without this background of science I could not properly assess my future client’s nutritional needs or explain how or why they need specific foods or nutrients.
When a friend or family member asks me to explain what a dietitian does, I like to explain that a dietitian can be somewhat of a “nutrition psychologist”. For example, if someone with type II diabetes comes to see a dietitian, there is more to them than just the disease. Were they raised in a family that used food to express affection? Are they depressed or anxious? Do they want to be healthy but they lack nutritional education? These are all possibilities. The same concept goes for any client that would come to me in the future. I came face to face with this issue in Community Nutrition, when my standardized patient was extremely depressed, and wouldn’t even look me in the eye! My reaction had to be empathic and understanding, or else my counseling session was not going to be successful for my client or myself. Social Sciences are important to understand before becoming a dietitian because you need to be able to understand the barriers your client may have on an emotional, social, or educational level.
History, Religion, and Philosophy may seem to be opposing subjects to nutrition, but truly, they go hand in hand. Food based traditions stem from the history of one’s family and can also come from any religious affiliations or lack thereof. For example, Christmas ham and Thanksgiving turkey. These traditions began so long, that most families hardly know why they continue them so avidly, yet they continue them year after year. Religion and philosophy were also very important for me to learn about because now I am able to recognize that if someone follows a certain religion, or has certain philosophical beliefs such as animal-rights, I must work with their beliefs when I consider meal planning and etiquette. Religious and philosophical beliefs are important to consider for a dietitian because these are the foundation of food traditions and preferences.
In any language, reading, writing, and communication are important as a general requirement for skills such as expression, education, and maintaining relationships. In my field of study, having this basic literary skill set will strengthen all forms of communication I have with students or clients. English is important as part of a dietetics curriculum because future dietitians are able to learn how to create lesson plans, eye-catching newsletters, and learning material that fits a particular audience’s age and/or education level. If I never learned how to fit my audience’s needs through writing or verbal communication then, as a dietitian, I would never be able to educate or capture my listeners. If there is no flexibility to different styles of communication or education level, then my job to help others is not complete.
Although I admit to having little experience in performing arts, and therefore cannot say how performing arts have helped me in my journey to be a dietitian, fine arts play a more personal role to me. When I think of fine arts, I picture art made for the purpose of viewing and appreciation. In relationship to my future as a dietitian, I see the aesthetic appeal of cooking, meal presentation, and picking out items from a grocery store as skills that I have acquired from an expanded knowledge of fine arts. I have learned strategies such as color-blocking and creation of fun patterns that makes meal presentation more fun. After learning ways to appreciate how aesthetic appeal impacts the likelihood of trying colorful food groups such as fruits and vegetables, I decided to focus my Instagram on healthy, colorful food creations from my own kitchen, while displaying the recipe underneath. In the future, I would love to start a food blog of my own with the same type of concept in mind.
In correlation with nutrition blogging and food art, technology plays a huge role in spreading these forms of art, recipe sharing, and nutrition education. If most people where asked what they had glued to their hip 24/7, I bet that a majority would say their smartphones. When people aren’t using their smartphones, they’re typically on their computers or laptops! If my college curriculum did not at least provide introductory course to computers and web software devices, I would have missed out on basic computer skills that would help me reach out to more viewers.
Part II: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Comprehension
Not long ago, segregation was common place and racism reared its ugly head against African Americans in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr., famous for leading the movement against segregation and discrimination, integrated liberal arts within his 1964 speech, The American Dream, to persuade Americans to love their brothers of all colors and religions. He began his speech by reciting lines from the Declaration of Independence to show his listeners all Americans are equally deserving of freedom and happiness. The Declaration of Independence claims that all men are equal and have rights that cannot be taken away from them, which include “…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” (as cited in King, 1964) King compares America to a “schizophrenic personality” (1964), illustrating that although the Declaration of Independence claims America stands on the belief that all men should be treated as equals, it was being contradicted by the way African Americans were being treated (1964). This was Martin Luther King Jr.’s creative way of using a psychological disease to describe America as a whole. King went on to say that American needs to begin thinking in a “world perspective”, as opposed to bonding only with those who share the same skin color. As science and technology were continuously changing, King believed would create a starting point for developing brotherhood between diverse cultures (1964). King used airplanes as an example of new technological advances (1964). In a time where travel was becoming more and more accessible and common, it gave ability to Americans to see new people, new places, and new cultures. King knew that science and technology paved the way for freedom to come, but that was merely part of the picture (1964).
Although science and technology had the potential to bring the United States closer to becoming educated and acceptant of other cultures, King warned that education alone would not solve the problem (1964). In addition to education, there had to be legislation changing the laws to protect every man equally (King, 1964). It was important for King to bring up the subject of legislation in his speech because legislation would protect African Americans from being harassed and discriminated against. “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me…” (1964) King proclaimed to his audience.
As Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech came to a close, he spoke about love in an artistic sense, pulling from his liberal arts point of view. He used examples such as Plato, Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, and Eros, to tell the discuss friendship and love to his audience (1964). To me, it seemed that King chose this timing for a reason. He threw in politics, science, and religion, but he also wanted to get sentimental with his audience. Every man and woman can relate to love and artistic expression in some way or form. It seemed to me that King wanted to make sure his audience as a whole was captured by the end of his speech. By timing this topic at the end of his speech, he left the audience with a warm feeling in their hearts, and a need for love, brotherhood, and change.
King used his liberal arts perspective to relate to each and every diverse person in his audience. If he had not spoken in a way that reached such a vast number of people, he may not have been as successful in leading such an enormous movement of change. Religion, politics, science, technology, philosophy, and forms of art were all part of how King chose to convey his message that America needed to spread the word of brotherhood locally, nationally, and universally (1964). This meant that anyone, from any background, with any color of skin, or any religion, could have a place in their heart for these words.
Part III: Impact on Future Student Learning
Liberal Arts Helps Strengthen Knowledge in My Field
I could not be a successful dietitian without having a strong and well-rounded liberal arts background. It would not be possible for me to succeed in my junior and senior level dietetics courses without first having a solid background in math, science, social science, history, English, art, and technology. As a dietitian, I will need to prepare for meeting individuals from a variety of different backgrounds. A liberal arts background will help me be on the top of my game in situations, ranging from how to make writing a healthy handout for a client, to understanding differences between food preferences in certain cultures.
College-bound students look to specialize in areas to which they feel some type of connection with. Whatever that field may be, the strongest students will be the individuals with a good foundation in all liberal arts. To understand a specialty to its fullest, you must understand a little bit of everything first. Individuals with these basic liberal arts skills will be able to connect with people of differing strengths and weaknesses due to their heightened understanding of a wide variety of subjects.
Liberal Arts Helps Better Reach Listeners
If liberal arts means having a stronger background in all important subjects, a liberal arts perspective on teaching helps reach students of diverse interests and learning capabilities. For example, If my teaching philosophy was strictly to teach textbook-material and list nutritional facts, the average person looking to learn more about how to form a well-balanced diet might clam up to my seemingly closed-minded approach to nutrition education. This approach lacks empathy and concern for the learner, which as a result does not provide a good teacher-student relationship and discourages learners from the start. This week I had a personal experience relating to liberal arts helping reach learners. I was reading a book that contained information on flexible-vegetarian eating, conditions in factory farms in the United States, and how eating less meat has benefits on a personal and universal level. In the meantime, a family member became interested in reading the book after I explained some of the book’s main concept in simple terms. When the family member began the book, they came back to me within two days and said they weren’t sure they could continue the book because it was too science-oriented for them, and they didn’t understand it. In other words, I must have done a decent job explaining the book in layman’s terms, because I understood the science mumbo-jumbo. If I would have come at the family member with the same science mumbo-jumbo as the book, it is doubtful that family member would have even attempted reading the book! Everyone has the ability to learn, but it can’t be expected that everyone begins their nutritional knowledge as an expert, in fact, no one does!
Strengthening My Teaching in a Liberal Arts Perspective
Teaching from a liberal arts perspective takes a lot of patience and willingness for the continuation of learning as the teacher. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s The American Dream, he connected to the audience through his vast global knowledge, while also relating to the discrimination that African Americans faced on a daily basis. He used the great amount of liberal arts knowledge he acquired to explain racial discrimination in words that touched his listeners personally. The best way I can strengthen my liberal arts teaching perspective is by keeping an open mind to new cultures, technology, religions, lifestyles, and ideas. Through keeping this open-minded perspective, I can then teach my audience in a way that they will best learn.
References
King, M.L. (1964). The American Dream. Speech presented at Drew University, Madison, NJ.