Retrospect
As the semester draws to a close, I'm looking back on my American Government and Society class and trying to sum up what I've learned. In all actuality, 10 years from now I probably won't remember a whole lot about the information that was presented. Dates will become skewed in my mind, the names of authors will be forgotten, and information will fade.
I think that, overall, the main point that I got out of this class was the need to be a good citizen. Now, I realize that this is very broad, so I'll try to catagorize.
We need to be good citizens in that we must accept our heritage, the good and the bad, as unchangable. We shouldn't censure those who lived back then for their inability to see as we can with the benefit of 200 years worth of hindsight. Instead, we should recognize that we, too, have flaws that our descendants will condemn, and we will make decisions that lead to poor outcomes. Instead, we should learn from the lessons of history in order to create a better future through our ancestor's experience.
We need to be good citizens in that we must be tolerant of opinion. I once heard someone say that one of the hardest lessons to learn is that people who are just as smart, or smarter, than you can have completely opposite opinions. Demonizing or belittling others' political stances are not productive; the facts should speak for themselves. Unfortunately, this usually results in a lot of gray areas with no clear way of proceeding. This is where debate and compromise are the effective tools.
These two main points are, in general, what I am most likely to remember about this class.
I think that, overall, the main point that I got out of this class was the need to be a good citizen. Now, I realize that this is very broad, so I'll try to catagorize.
We need to be good citizens in that we must accept our heritage, the good and the bad, as unchangable. We shouldn't censure those who lived back then for their inability to see as we can with the benefit of 200 years worth of hindsight. Instead, we should recognize that we, too, have flaws that our descendants will condemn, and we will make decisions that lead to poor outcomes. Instead, we should learn from the lessons of history in order to create a better future through our ancestor's experience.
We need to be good citizens in that we must be tolerant of opinion. I once heard someone say that one of the hardest lessons to learn is that people who are just as smart, or smarter, than you can have completely opposite opinions. Demonizing or belittling others' political stances are not productive; the facts should speak for themselves. Unfortunately, this usually results in a lot of gray areas with no clear way of proceeding. This is where debate and compromise are the effective tools.
These two main points are, in general, what I am most likely to remember about this class.
posted by The Maestro | 8:05 PM
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