Reflection

It comes to the end of the semester, and we are supposed to write about what we thought about the course and what we learned.  Now, there are many positives that came out of this semester.  I was able to increase my vocabulary, and I am reading more.  However, it still seems that I am struggling to write at the level I am at quantitatively.  I am taking the final essay exam in a week, and I am scared of taking it knowing that I have to do very well in order to get the grade I would like to get.  It is just really tough to write a great paper with lots of detail when you write in a method to leave out all lots of detail in other subjects.  Hope I do well.

The class has been great.  It is just another class of how Augusta State takes care of their students and encourages them to learn.  It was interesting learning about all these new cultures and being able to connect them back to the knowledge we already know.  We can connect why things are the way they are because of the culture.  With the Middle Ages, we see art evolve and become more complex.  We see the competition of artwork throughout the Renaissance, and we even get to learn about other religions that are much different than the Christianity we are used to.  We learned about other religions as well such as Hinduism and Islam.  This begins to question your understanding of the world in which we live in as each religion has a valid point into the reason the world spins as it does.  It is interesting how Europe has evolved over the course of time, but I think it would be even more interesting to have a history class to go along with it so that we understand some of the outside reasons of why the art, literature, and music are evolving in the way that they are.

Now time to vent.  I think the class should be a core requirement as we need an appreciation of the cultures around the world.  However as a core requirement, every major has to go through the class in order to graduate.  I do not have a problem in every student taking the class.  The problem I have with the class is that you are primarily graded through the way you write about each culture.  With someone who is not great in language arts and is in a major where writing is not a necessity, this class has been very difficult for me.  I think that it would be more fair if the department graded in a test taking manner instead of using essay exams. I know that writing this will cause no change, but I feel that students who are majoring in writing or literature have a huge upperhand in taking a class where the ultimate goal is to not improve your writing but to improve the knowledge you have of humankind.  I understand that people should be able to write well after taking your English core, but it seems to still be very difficult for me in these essays.  We will see how the final goes, but I am sure that I will not perform as well on it as I have in other classes.  Just seems like there are other ways to test a class on learning about mankind than an essay exam where a great writer has a huge upperhand, even if someone else has a better grasp of the cultures.  Just venting because the class has been hard for me since I have avoided every major and class that has to do with writing being a math major.