I have learned more about history and literature in one year
of this class than I learned in all four years of English and history in high
school. I have definitely read more books in this class than for all of my
English classes combined. Throughout the course of the year, I have become a
much faster and more effective reader and have also learned how to better
understand and analyze literature. Another thing I’ve improved on is writing.
In high school I took online Medical English and I could get away with writing
a paper the night before it was due…not in this class. Now, I have to spend a
good week editing my papers. Professor
Stark and Professor Serrata have taught me so much and helped me become a much
better student. They have challenged me to improve in all areas of study and
have given me skills that will help me succeed in the years to come. I am so
thankful for that.
This course has not only taught me how to read and analyze
literature, but it has also shown me history from a different perspective. I
did not really know much about Latin America before taking this class and some
of what I thought I knew was wrong. For example, I really did think that
Columbus discovered that the world is round and discovered the Americas. Now I know
that during his time, everyone knew that the world was round and the Americas had
already been discovered hundreds of years before. I learned a lot about the
role of the natives in the conquest and how the colonies gained their independence
and became nations. I learned the true meaning of a revolution. I also realized
that I don’t know as much about the history of the United States as I thought I
did. I didn’t know the extent of their involvement in Latin American economies
and politics. We never learned about it in US or even global history. It makes
me want to be more aware of the news and what is going on in the world today.
Overall, I enjoyed this class and met a lot of really great people and I’m glad
that I took it. Have a great summer everyone!
