The Classroom I Dream Of by Luisana

The Classroom I Dream Of by Luisana - September 2025 Scholarship Essay

What if teachers no longer worked as teachers but as active mentors for learners? What if students no longer had to stick to a regular and rigid schedule, but could instead figure out how to manage their own time? What if students no longer worked under a monotone arrangement of rules but were able to discuss, in different and creative ways, solutions?

Most of these ideas seem pretty basic, and even what should be the norm, but they are not. In classrooms today, most teachers are still reluctant to allow real student participation or interaction. Students, in turn, are often uninterested or even uncomfortable asking questions, because of the fear inflicted by teachers who make them feel bad or “dumb” just as they build up the courage to ask.

No brain or thought process works the same way. One student may recall most of the hardest topics, but forget some of the basics. That is normal and should never be the reason a teacher or a peer makes negative comments about that student.

As I explored high school, I realized that our education system simply didn’t work, at least not for me. In my junior year, I decided to take AP Calculus AB. Every single friend told me the class was hard and that I wouldn’t make it. They weren’t lying. It was hard, but not because of the subject itself, because of the teacher.

As someone who requires deep explanations and the “why” behind every problem, this class did not work for me. The teacher explained limits and derivatives as if we were supposed to already know all the answers, even though I had never seen problems like those before. While my friends understood thanks to taking Pre-AICE Math and Statistics, I had only taken Pre-Calculus over the summer. I felt stuck between tears and thoughts of “I will never be able to do this.” Still, I decided to work my way through.

In the middle of class, I would pull out my computer and watch AP Classroom videos, pausing and practicing extra problems, all while the teacher lectured. That meant I barely paid attention to his explanations, but I chose to take the risk. I would ask my friends what topic they were on, then look for videos and exercises until I caught up. By the end of the year, I noticed my friends struggling with missing knowledge and using complicated methods the teacher never properly explained.

When test results came back, I had earned a 5. Most of the class scored 4s and 3s, not bad, but I knew they could have done even better with the right support. That’s when I realized: what if we were allowed to take charge of our own learning time and schedule? What if, instead of feeling ashamed, I had been able to ask my teacher questions without fear, and not had to juggle everything on my own?

I also carry with me the perspective of where I come from. I immigrated from Venezuela, a place where education is often overlooked and even put aside. But if there was something that guided me through and inspired me to do better, it was how peers supported each other. I remember classrooms where everyone knew one another, and students helped without looking down on those who struggled. At exam time, we would explain concepts to anyone who needed it, even if they weren’t our closest friends. I would go up and explain every detail that was sometimes forgotten, quadratics, vectors, little grammar mistakes. We were a team. That sense of unity shaped how I see learning.

I hope one day, as I dream of becoming a teacher, whether in engineering or an Algebra 1 classroom, to build a united environment like that, where students are encouraged to ask questions and to support one another. I want to be one of the mentors who inspires greater change in education.

This personal experience connects to a larger problem: reading and math scores are now worse than ever, and students have lost much of their creativity. From elementary school onward, creative thinking begins to be discouraged. Students are not taught to find their own paths or develop different approaches to learning.

The change I want to see in the next 10 years is simple but powerful: classrooms where teachers guide as mentors, where students can take control of their learning, and where creativity is encouraged instead of silenced. If this change becomes reality, students will no longer feel ashamed to ask questions, fall behind without support, or lose their ability to think in unique and innovative ways.