asad1212
Dec 30, 2010
Undergraduate / "traditionally with Islam" - Bowdoin Supplement- Intellectual Engagement [2]
In an effort to understand your interests and aspirations for college, we ask you to select one of the three topics below and provide a response of
up to 250 words. Please include your name and birth date at the top of the page.
Bowdoin students and alumni often cite world-class faculty and opportunities for intellectual engagement, the College's commitment to the
Common Good, and the special quality of life on the coast of Maine as important aspects of the Bowdoin experience.
Reflecting on your own interests and experiences, please comment on one of the following:
1. Intellectual engagement
2. The Common Good
3. Connection to place
Intellectual Engagement
Having been brought up rather traditionally with Islam playing an important role in my upbringing, my faith in my beliefs was unshakable. However, in O2 (10th grade) I had an English teacher who had very strong opinions about how religon had to be kept away from the government in order for the government to be successful, and he was very vocal about his views in class. His opinions sparked rather heated arguments between him and his class, with his students mostly trying to prove his views wrong. But he was remarkably swift in striking down the opposition with a bevy of facts and figures from various sources to back his often controversial views. Even still, our class was a motivated bunch, every subsequent time, we too countered him with our own set of data. Although we never really got to win any of these debates, we did, however, inch closer and closer each time. Each time the arguments were more heated, more well-backed and more interesting than the last. And each time made me love arguments even more.
After this experience, I became hooked to arguments and debates (the ones situated away from a podium of any sort). Every time there was a discussion about a topic I knew in my home or in school, I would immediatly jump in. And even if I didn't posess enough knowledge to actively participate, I always stuck around to listen. For me, nothing says intellectual engagement than a good old-fashioned debate.
In an effort to understand your interests and aspirations for college, we ask you to select one of the three topics below and provide a response of
up to 250 words. Please include your name and birth date at the top of the page.
Bowdoin students and alumni often cite world-class faculty and opportunities for intellectual engagement, the College's commitment to the
Common Good, and the special quality of life on the coast of Maine as important aspects of the Bowdoin experience.
Reflecting on your own interests and experiences, please comment on one of the following:
1. Intellectual engagement
2. The Common Good
3. Connection to place
Intellectual Engagement
Having been brought up rather traditionally with Islam playing an important role in my upbringing, my faith in my beliefs was unshakable. However, in O2 (10th grade) I had an English teacher who had very strong opinions about how religon had to be kept away from the government in order for the government to be successful, and he was very vocal about his views in class. His opinions sparked rather heated arguments between him and his class, with his students mostly trying to prove his views wrong. But he was remarkably swift in striking down the opposition with a bevy of facts and figures from various sources to back his often controversial views. Even still, our class was a motivated bunch, every subsequent time, we too countered him with our own set of data. Although we never really got to win any of these debates, we did, however, inch closer and closer each time. Each time the arguments were more heated, more well-backed and more interesting than the last. And each time made me love arguments even more.
After this experience, I became hooked to arguments and debates (the ones situated away from a podium of any sort). Every time there was a discussion about a topic I knew in my home or in school, I would immediatly jump in. And even if I didn't posess enough knowledge to actively participate, I always stuck around to listen. For me, nothing says intellectual engagement than a good old-fashioned debate.