1

Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What encouraged you to act? Would you
make the same decision again?

Altering my parents' incorrect understanding of education has been one of the most influential
events in my life. As they received their degrees in China, they held the view that education is
supposed to be restrictive and rote style in order to develop students' academic and nonacademic
skills. However, in Canada, the progressive pedagogy and varied structures encouraged me to
explore my academic interests, understanding, and questioning, and thus availed to me
interactive and critical thinking. My fantastic experiences enabled them to realize the
attractiveness of learning and the essence of education, which also marked the beginning of my
self-transformation.

I took initiatives to adopt various perspectives and approaches towards analysis and creativity
and learn to appreciate provocative ideas from different cultures. Before fully comprehending
Canadian education, my parents tended to considering the relationship between students and
their teacher as rigid and alienated/ estranged, and they had never thought a close relationship
could be beneficial for students. However, the results readily subverted their opinion. Interacting
with both my fellow students and teachers fueled my voracious thirst for knowledge and offered
me more paths than one to problems and solutions. Communicating with teachers frequently and
friendly, I successfully got perfect scores in English, French, and Germany, which let me realize
my competence of achieving higher academic goals. Furthermore, distinct from the my parents'
view of education that only students' academic accomplishments are valuable and considerable,
Canadian education also pays attention to students' physical health, and participating in
swimming, fitness as well as table tennis not only enriched my life, but also assisted me in
finding the genuine meaning and ecstasy beyond study .

Furthermore, contrast with my parents' point that education regarding leadership skills should be
useless and helpless, I seized the opportunity to improve my leadership by enrolling in
meaningful and colourful activities. Moreover, I was given an chance to do volunteer work in
Argentina and join the Duke of Edinburgh program to better understand intrinsic and external
values of giving. All these impressive and remarkable experiences refined my leadership and
assisted me in becoming a person concerned about my community and the world.
 2

Altering my parents' belief of education, my Canadian study experiences have equipped me with
what I need to explore further afield and tap my potential in future, and I would make the same
decision again if I am asked about my opinion regarding studying in Cnada.

1. Challenge:
Encounter a more powerful and older student/volunteer who I believe makes wrong decision.
For ex: Temagami or any other group experience
I believe that I have the right to state my opinion and contribute my opinions that could possibly
make the situation better.
I would make the same decision again if I find that the outcome is positive, and that my opinion
have successfully benefitted.

我知道这题很傻逼
我也意识到了 lol