Wednesday December, 17th marks the end of my first semester of college...how time flies! This past Saturday marked the official end of my FYS Class, "Talking About Freedom." This is the class that I created this blog for initially; however, as the semester progressed, I began to view the blog less as an assignment and more as a learning opportunity, an opportunity to do something that I should've been doing all along on my own according...becoming a better informed American citizen by reading up on the world news several times a week. When choosing which articles to blog about, I tried to select topics that were relevant specifically to the First Amendment aspect of the course, or topics that correlated with what we were discussing in class.
The course itself taught me much more than simply how to blog about news...it taught me several key skills that I know will certainly carry over into my other courses. I have to admit, on the first day, the class intimidated me. I was scared; I thought to myself "this is the real deal, this is what a college lecture course is really like. What if I can't keep up? God forbid...what if I fail?" These little doubts in my mind didn't stay for long thanks to my teacher, Professor Smith. I knew from the get-go that Professor Smith had high expectations for everyone in the class, and that the only way to meet them was through good old fashion hard work. Professor Smith definitely went the extra mile to create a class blog that kept the class informed as well as summarized what we were discussing in class (he even went the extra mile to provide snacks every day for us starving college students! ); his blog quickly became a resource for me the second I became confused about anything we discussed in class. Professor Smith also taught me how to elevate my writing to the next level, the collegiate level. He assigned us two major essays that would weigh heavily on our grades. I have to say, the thought of a 2,000 word final essay definitely intimidated me, at first I had absolutely no idea where to begin, but Professor Smith created an outline to guide our thinking and without it, my essay very well might've been a disaster.
The class itself also taught me the importance of teamwork. Many of our assignments were team based. Professor Smith created teams, where we would work with our designated team to participate in moot court or to work on a difficult assignment together. Through these exercises, I learned the importance of responsibility, in order for the assignment to be a success, every member had to do their part. Also, working with a group can make an assignment far less daunting and even enjoyable. I would say that I definitely had fun learning and developing my academic skills in the class. I will miss the fun court case reenactments and the riveting discussions and debates, but I know that I will undoubtably use the skills that I've learned in my future courses!
Recently in class, we viewed the film "White Like Me." The basic theme of the movie was racism and racial inequality in American society. The film was largely in contingence with what we've been discussing in class throughout the course of the semester. Throughout the semester, we've discussed observed, and even debated about events and topics in history that all are all connected to one central issue that unfortunately still plagues American society today, that is, racism. As we learned in class, racism has origins dating back to as early as the 1600's with the beginning of the institution of slavery. In class, we've observed the way in which racism and racial inequality have played integral roles in several key historical events. Recently, I completed an essay that was based off the Civil Rights Movement, a push for equality ignited by African Americans. The movement received a great amount of back-lash from white Americans who still inherently believed that African Americans were inferior to whites.
Although society has progressed greatly in terms of acceptance and tolerance of others, racism and racial prejudice are still very much a part of American Society. As seen in the movie "White Like Me", many whites in society still continue to stereotype African Americans; for example, many believe that African Americans are the only individuals who commit crimes, or African Americans are the only ones who struggle...as seen through the film, this simply isn't realty. The unfortunate reality of the world we live in today is that every race has some sort of struggle. When the economy took a turn for the worst back in 2008, numerous amounts of Americans lost their jobs and thus turned to governmental aid just to support their families while the economy limped along. Also, society has a pre-concieved notion that perhaps the only successful high-earning are whites, and that perhaps whites are the only ones who have the opportunity to truly enjoy the fruits of success. This relates to the concept of "white privilege" addressed in the film. White privilege is the idea that white members of society received more or better privileges than minority; often times, white privilege is followed by an inherent sense of entitlement that has existed for centuries.
When President Barack Obama was elected as the very first African American president, it seemed as though America had turned a corner; as though the American public had finally put their biases and prejudices aside for the good of the nation. However, many members of society were outraged at the idea of an African American leading the nation, they simply couldn't fathom how Obama was elected. Several white simply voted for McCain for the sole fact that they couldn't stand the idea of a black president, whereas many African Americans voted for Obama because of his race, perhaps in hopes that his election would bring about the eventual elimination of racism in society.
At the end of the day, I learned from the movie that an American is an American, regardless of the color of his or her skin. It saddens me that many members of society fail to echo this sentiment. I firmly believe that racism in America will end when people begin to view others as equals; when the values, beliefs, or work ethic that a person holds becomes more important than the color of their skin. "White Like Me" seeks to bring awareness to this very concept, the concept that even though society is completely integrated by law, we truly cannot become "integrated" until all members of society learn to give the same level of respect and tolerance to all, regardless of race.
photo sources:
1. http://www.timwise.org/books-and-dvds/white-like-me/
2. http://www.thezooom.com/2012/11/8233/
