The REAL Question Is...

It has been interesting to see how the way I structure my education has evolved over time. Over the past year, I have become less concerned about just "getting the grades" and more focused toward integrating, connecting, and applying my learning in meaningful contexts. So, as you might imagine, my goals for this semester revolve not around GPA, but involve some questions that have come to the forefront for me in recent weeks. So here are my big-picture questions, and my goal this semester is to begin to find some answers to them.

1. What does it mean to be a woman, especially an LDS woman, in the 21st century?
2.  How can we help people in our fragmented culture achieve wholeness? How can we achieve wholeness ourselves? (Based on the studies of Carl Jung and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ)
3. What is principled use of technology in both academic and personal settings, and what can I do to become a principled user? What are the best ways to use technology?
4. How can I use the knowledge I gain in the way that will be of the most use in the Lord's kingdom? What is my role in Heavenly Father's plan?

This last one, of course, is the big one; it encompasses all the rest of the questions, and it may take me my entire life and beyond to answer. But that's okay. I believe that that making progress toward answering these sorts of questions--questions that are real and that we have a real stake in--should be the goal of students for their education at BYU and the goal of education at large, and too many students don't grasp this. Let's be serious--I didn't even grasp it until this past year, and I still wrestle with this in some aspects today.

I've decided that pieces of knowledge are like pieces of a never-ending puzzle--as you gain pieces, you are able to fit them in and see how they relate to the pieces around them and the picture of the whole. You would never, once you found where a puzzle piece went, take it out and throw it away because you've already used it and you're done, but I think that's what we do sometimes with knowledge--we throw it away or disregard it because we're "done with it" and fail to recognize its full value.

Finding where each piece fits takes mental effort, of course, but it is worth it because as we do, every piece of knowledge becomes meaningful, and we find more purpose to our learning and our lives. We begin to see where we fit into the grand scheme of things, and as we do this, we gain a better understanding of who we are. We become more whole.

What are your questions? What do you want to answer for yourself this year?

Photo credits: jhritz on Flickr