In order to answer this question, I am going to consider the paradigm of education.  I will use three different paradigms of education to justify how paradigms affect our place in the universe and how paradigms influence our conceptions.

The first paradigm is when students consider that their education is a matter of life or death. There are quite a few people who feel that not getting a 45 into IB or getting into a prestigious university like Harvard university, is the end of their life and career. Although this a narrow perspective of education, there are still people who have this paradigm. Especially, due to cultural influences and traditions. For instance, India and China are two of the countries where this paradigm is predominant because this paradigm has become a part of the Indian and Chinese culture over a period of time. For people with this paradigm, any sort of academic failure even the smallest of ones may convince them that they have failed in life.

The second paradigm is when students believe that education is important but there has to be a balance between education and social life. These students believe that performing well IB and getting into a university is important, but they also believe that they need to take part in activities, interact with new people and develop life skills essential for personal growth. When a student of paradigm 2 experiences failure, he will regret it for a short period of time. But then he will be able to cope with his failure due to the work-life balance and he will work based on his past failures to improve himself.

The third paradigm is when students believe that education is of no significance and that they only need to go to school because it is part of the world’s functional system. Students with paradigm 3 believe that they just need to pass their IB exams and they usually procrastinate all their work to the last minute. Therefore, people with such a paradigm will not put much effort into studying even though they are capable of working hard and achieving great things.

Therefore, I feel that paradigms affect our place in the universe and influence our conception of truth and knowledge.

Conceptual understanding: Our perception of reality depends on paradigms, which affect our place in the universe and our conception of truth and knowledge.