What I have learned from Roong Aroon School

My name is Rachata Pongsachamnankit. I am the alumnus (RA15) of this school. Now I am studying in the faculty of medicine, Siriraj hospital, Mahidol university. Having studied is this school for 15 years. I learned 3 beneficial things.

The first is Endurance & Adaptability. I assure that every student graduating from this school has gone on field study at least once. Teachers usually bring students to the place where they can gain more knowledge about the topic they learned. However, the locations of the field study are never comfortable for most people: no air conditioner, bed, and even proper toilet. Students go to rural communities to learn lifestyle of the people in communities. They have to adapt to the new environments they are in, and have to be patient. They might have to eat some food they are not familiar with. I remember I have eaten squirrel meat on the field study somewhere. During the time in the school, I have gone to many uncomfortable places throughout Thailand. I have experienced the life without amenity, so now I can live anywhere without it. Since Life is about changes and things around us are changing, adaptability is very important skill everyone should have. It is simply the law of nature: if you cannot adapt, you will suffer or die. I have to thank the school for the field study. If I were not in this school, I would not willingly go to those uncomfortable places and would not learn this skill.

The second is the Problem solving through Project- based learning. In project-based learning, students will choose the topic, which they are interested, and de researches about it. The ultimate goal of project-based learning is not the physical outcomes bike machine, book, or something else. It is the learning process that students will get along the time they do their projects, from choosing the topic to presenting the project. Project-based learning is one of the uniqueness of Roong Aroon school. From primary school to secondary school, all the teaching and the learning are project-based. I think the most tangible outcome of the learning process is the presentation. When I was in the school, the teachers never let anyone bring scripts up during the presentation; that means students have to prepare for the presentation quite well, and that is what supposed to be. I think this is a very good thing because it makes students know how to present professionally and confidently. Although the project-based learning might not be very influential in the school, students will know how to work on the proper ways when they grow up. I am studying in university, and there are projects as well. I can do it with ease whereas most of my friends from other schools do not know where to start or what should they do next. Thanks to the school, I have practiced this skill which now I am good at it.

The last is the learning how to learn. Learning how to learn might sound awkward, but it is the most important skill that I got when I was in the school. Nowadays, technology has been developed rapidly. We have internet that is very fast and stores multitude of information. If you want to know something, you will simply search it on the internet. Moreover, with advanced technology, new researches are proposed frequently about things around us. Some knowledge that we know in the past is obsolete now. We have to unlearn and relearn new things all the times. The point is that the educational system must aim for the new goal. Because teachers cannot teach everything on the internet or even in the books, they should teach the way to get the information, not the information itself. Students have the potential to team something they are interested. If they are interested in something, they will eagerly seek for it in various ways such as searching on the internet, consulting the teachers, and reading from the books. Therefore, we do not have to worry about the knowledge students will get as long as they know where to find it. Frankly speaking, I did not get much academic knowledge from the teacher’s lectures in the school. The teachers in Rong Aroon school do not teach academic knowledge much; they let the students explore by themselves. Facilitating the student’s learning, the teachers merely give advices to the students when they need one or show them the right way when they go on the wrong path.

In conclusion, I have learned 3 skills: Endurance & adaptability, Problem solving, and Learning how to learn. These skills greatly help me perform impressively in the medical school. I believe that I would maintain the level of my performance throughout the rest of the medical study program. I would like to thank the school for providing the opportunity to learn such skills. If I did not have these skills, I would not come this far.