Making the Transiition

Try to learn-you will see how much your knowledge can increase!

“The power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already; and… just as the eye [is] unable to turn from darkness to light without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being” (52).

~Plato. “The Allegory of the Cave.” Plato’s Heirs. Ed. James Lester. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC Publishing, 1995. 3-10. Print.

The quote is from an essay called “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato. The essay is about some imaginary prisoners who were born and raised in a cave. (No, they are not cavemen) They are chained to a wall, and the only way they can see is what is directly in front of them. (Fun life right?) The only light in the cave is the fire behind them. When an object or a person walks in front of the fire, its shadow is portrayed on the wall. Since this is all the prisoners can see, they try to guess what the object is. One prisoner manages to escape and experiences the real world. At first, he has difficulty adjusting himself to the bright light because all his life he lived in the darkness, but eventually his eyes adapted to the light. After being enlightened by the real world, and being able to face the light without a problem, he is reminded that he must return to the cave and pass his knowledge to the chained prisoners. He needs to teach them what the real world is, because to the prisoners, the real world is the shadows on the wall. The prisoners however, refuse to learn from the escapee. They do not want to face the light and accept the new knowledge even though they have the capacity to learn. The prisoners are too stubborn to change themselves even after they saw how much the escapee, who at one point was just like them, changed. (They are missing out) The lesson learned from this essay: When you gain knowledge, you shouldn’t be greedy and keep it to yourself, you should pass it on too people who are unaware of this knowledge. On the other hand, if you have the opportunity to learn, you should accept it because you never know when it can help you in life.

All of us are intelligent people and have the capacity to learn. However, it might be hard for some of us to make the transition from Gemini to Maine East, kind of like changing from dark to light. As high school students, we need to pick up the slack and adjust ourselves to more homework and tougher classes. Furthermore, we need to open ourselves up and be ready to receive education and educate ourselves because that is how it’s going to be for the next seven months. I had trouble adjusting myself to high school. I had no homework almost every day in Gemini and all my classes were easy. My freshman year in high school, my classes got tougher and I got a lot more homework. My grades dropped, but I eventually adjusted myself and got them back up, I was able to turn myself to the light so I can learn. I’m happy now that I was able to manage myself back then because as a reward this year, I don’t need to take as many classes because I passed all my previous classes. In fact, I only have three actual classes compared to eight my freshman year. Just something to keep in mind as you go through the years of high school, it will all eventually pay off in the future.