A History of Education

My grandmother never had the same opportunities me, my brother or our parents had growing up. But we tell her story with great pride. Growing up in rural Poland she was only able to complete a few grades of elementary school. But she wanted to learn. She loved knowledge so much that, unable to further educate herself, she famously attended her last grade three years in a row. This is how much she didn't want to give up on it. She later taught herself how to run a business, which involved a pretty good understanding of accounting, businessplan and economics. And she made sure all of her children  graduated from universities with advanced degrees. She couldn't really help them academically, but she did watch them to make sure they did their work. Although my mom now admits that as her mother wasn't as involved in their schoolwork to thoroughly investigate, they did sneak off at times. My uncle is a physicist- he designed airplanes. My aunt is a chemist that worked with the Polish National Research Committee. My mother is an accountant. After talking a 14 year break to raise me she took courses to be up to speed and went back to work- or I should say- got a successful career in her 40's. I don't know if she does it still, but I have an image of her reading on the latest taxation laws in her spare time at night. After work. For fun. But even before that I grew up with my older brother as an example. Perfect scores, contests, an Olympiad in Biology- I remember seing his diploma every day as I exercised in his room. Luckily, there was a seven year age gap between us. And we liked different things. He liked math and science, while I was very much into Polish, writing and languages. But I always grew up with a strong conviction that good grades are important. I also remember flipping through my mother's old university grade book (although my grades many years later, were much better) thinking that college must be a truly magical experience. Of course I was perhaps nine at the time. But for me, school, particularly when I was younger- was the one field where I could compete with my classmates as an equal. Where my physicality didn't matter. Often they didn't like me, because I would volunteer with an answer or raise my hand before anyone else finished. I couldn't run, play, do sports, defend myself, but this, this I could do. And I will freely admit I was not always very gracious about it. Yes, we have a history of passion for education in my family. A legacy that I carried on not only when I graduated summa cum laude from Warsaw University Law, but  also when I moved to America for my LL.M and Juris Doctor. And yes, I've gotten a few awards for it over here as well. I have a great respect for people who are accomplished academically, because I know what it means to me- a drive ro learn and understand new things. Hard work, dedication and ambition. And I can only hope that my brother's children will carry this family tradition as well