I am going to use this blog to discuss what I feel that I have gain from Humanities 2001 and what I feel lacked in the course. Overall I feel that Humanities is a great course for everyone to take. It really broadens the understanding of other cultures, and allows for students to more fully understand cultures (especially Eastern culture) that they do not fully understand. I really feel that I gained a great deal from that area of the course. I appreciated the pieces covered in class as well. It is essential, especially if a student is not familiar with the liberal arts, to study all disciplines. I feel that having knowledge in areas such as literature, art, and music is essential to becoming a well rounded human being. Of course I feel that same about the importance of math and science; however I feel that American culture really lacks that appreciation of the arts, which could potentially result in a society of people who do not know how to think abstractly (although I know that math is an abstract idea, so I guess a better word would be creatively?) Regardless, I feel that overall Humanities is a very useful course.
In regards to our particular Humanities class, the one area where I felt that it may have been weak was in the way in which all three professors interacted with one another. I am not going to name names or point fingers. During class certain classes (especially labs) I felt that there was a general lack of communication amongst the professors. While studying for the final I found it relatively difficult to find pieces that related to one another under a universal theme of sorts. If this same group is working together in the future, I believe that it might be helpful to discuss as a group what pieces each professor is covering during a particular unit. It might also help to cover more art and music pieces so that the students get a better idea of the in which the art and music actually can relate quite well to literature. Another thing that I think could be improved, but is not necessarily a weakness, is the lecturing from slides. It really made the class… boring, for lack of a better word. Don’t get me wrong, I found the lectures very interesting, but I also found it hard to make myself take notes when I knew that the majority of the information would be on the slides. Besides that I felt that the class was a success, and I really did enjoy the literature portion very much.
PS. I apologize for calling you out about saying that the people in the art department were high. It was actually really funny, and I completely understand the joke. I really didn’t find it offensive, but I guess I just felt the need to defend the art students. I don’t like that the other majors perceive art students as slackers because in reality, it is a very rigorous track. So when I called you out I guess I was just defending the intelligence of art students in comparison to other students (not that one is better than the other). So like I said, I am really sorry. I hope have a really nice break, and I really did enjoy your portion of the class!!
