Statement Of Purpose

I have been a history enthusiast since childhood. I can attribute this fascination to my history teacher in England, Mr. Garlington, who first introduced me to the discipline. I remember studying the Tudor Period at the time and since, have never stopped indulging myself in the research of past events. In many ways Mr. Garlington was sort of the perfect teacher, since he did not teach how to readbut went one step beyond by pointing out what was worth reading. More important, Mr. Garlington achieved to amplify the windows of how I saw the world through a new passion: history.
When the time to decide which career to pursue I decided to study law. This was more of a pragmatic decision since at the time I thought this was the correct path for me to earn a living. Nonetheless, fascinationfor history lingered deep inside. As soon as I started my second year in University, I started working as an intern in a corporate law firm with one of my teachers from my University. Two years were enough for me before I decided to move on to the public sector. I first started working in the Ministry of Finance before I was relocated to a government-owned entity which looked to to createpartnerships with the private sector in order to generate public infrastructure. I believe my past experience working in a private law firm provided me with the necessary tools to manage to cope with responsibility that being the legal director in this public company required. Later on, I was invited by the Comptroller General of the Federal District to work for him as his personal assistant. I have beenworking there ever since where I have had the opportunity to learn from numerous government officials in a variety of high impact projects concerning water utility, energy, transportation, fiscal policy among others. This experience has helped me grasp an idea of how complex it is to administrate a city such as Mexico City. I quickly realized that my decision to shift from the private sector to thepublic sector was very much gratifying, since I had the opportunity to work for the community rather than for individuals.
I firmly believe that my passion for history, which has remained ever since, can profoundly enhance my career in Government. Historians often try to relate knowledge of the past to present-day situations or problems. I reckon studying history can very much help me developqualities of perception and judgement as well as to develop research methods that can thoroughly enhance my aptitudes to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems or even prove new ideas on a wide variety of topics. Furthermore, I firmly believe history can develop skills such as conceptual and thematic thinking which can enhance my perception and judgment. I could not agree more with Dr.Heather Jones, Admissions Advisor at LSE, who points out that “history can provide me with a surprising number of insights into present day political, social and cultural perspectives.” For the above mentioned reasons, I think history, apart from being extremely pleasing to study, can provide me with the necessary tools to comprehend many patterns we see today. I believe it was Lord Byron whoonce said that “the best prophet of the future is the past”. I couldn´t agree more with the premise.
Apart from being able to apply the afore mentioned characteristics into public policies, I also look to teach at any kind of level. I have always loved to teach and, as I said before, I have constantly been engaged in the practice of learning. I reckon there is no better gift in life than to engendera love for the study of the past to a person just like Mr. Garlington achieved with me. Also, I believe there are few things as important for a community than to receive education since it enables us to develop the skills of converting information into knowledge. Having been born and raised in a socially-conflicted country such as Mexico, I strongly believe education is a crucial component for...