I grew up going to a Catholic Elementary and Middle school, and for quite some time my views were quite narrow. I was taught religion, religious duties, and the perspective of the Catholic/Christian. In High School this changed, but with working at a Bible Camp in the summer, my views were continually justified for quite some time. I reaffirmed my taught narrow point of view by staying heavily involved in religion and its practices. It was only in my last year of High School where I began questioning what it was that I believed and questioning my own perspectives.
University further challenged my perspectives, and at this point in my life, I would no longer consider myself religious, conservative, or traditionalist, which is the perspective I had for most of my life. What I have learned through my studies, either for class or personal, have changed my mind on where I used to sit on my personal beliefs. My single story has now become two, which I greatly value and hope that it can be utilized in my classrooms.
I am a major proponent on challenging one’s beliefs, as once my beliefs were challenged, I was able to go through tremendous amounts of personal growth. By challenging your own beliefs, you are able to dig deeper into why you believe the things you do and understand why you believe them or if you ever did believe them in the first place. If a student can generate this personal growth and create understandings, then I believe one of my roles as an educator would be completed. For myself, my growth came from an understanding of history, and I would very much so like to pass this process on to others so they are able to find their own path in life, just as I have done.