Confronting Personal Biases 

One personal bias I have that I have started to address more recently is my bias against English classes. Growing up, I was really bad at reading. In elementary school, I was always at after school reading academies and math tutoring because I was behind grade level. While math was difficult at the time, reading for me was far worse. With all the extra help I had the privilege of having, math and science became my strong suits and reading still remained an area of weakness. In middle school my reading was fine, I just read significantly slower than my peers– at least that's how it felt to me. My math teacher in 7th grade was what changed my attitude about school, she made me feel confident for once. From then on I dismissed my english classes and grew fond of the validation I got in math. 

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In high school, I had bad experiences with my English classes. I never felt smart, and that was when I struggled the most, which in turn made me not care for it or about it. The negative attitude I had towards the subject of English made it impossible for me to actually apply myself. Towards the end of high school up to now, I have realized that English is more relevant and important to learn when previously I dismissed it. To undo my bias against the subject, I had to be more comfortable with doing something I do not feel good at, comfortable with something that cannot just be a formula or memorization of facts. I had to put aside what I had led myself to believe about the subject due to my own insecurities, and that is when I began to put more effort into my education and the skills that I have the potential to learn.