HSS 275

            Now that I am about to complete my last English course, English 214 I can only reminisce on all of my previous English classes and think, “it is over.” I can honestly say that I am going to miss English class because unlike math where you have to work with numbers I enjoyed writing working with words. But in reality it is not quite over since reading and writing is essential in your every day life. I feel that I have acquired the important fundamentals of college writing from my First Year Composition “stretch” course English 104/105 and this last one English 214.

            English 214 was certainly different than my previous English classes. In my First Year Composition class we were given a syllabus written by the professor that included all the assignments with exact deadlines to follow along with its points worth. If we did not turned these assignments in on time our grade would drop. I was so used to following these guidelines for a whole year that coming to English 214 was difficult at first for me.  Since the beginning of the class we were given the freedom to create our own syllabus and decide on community grading which sounded like the coolest thing ever. I immediately thought this was an “easy class.” I had skipped some of the readings as time went by and therefore made the class confusing because I did not know what was being discussed. I remember that day when Caitlin got freaked out because no one had read the reading assigned. I felt guilty and since then I decided to get my head back in the game. 

 Once I started to get it together in the class I found out about my grade. It was low because I did not complete some work such as blog one. I saw no point of blogs but I know appreciate them because it is a space where you can write and express how you feel without the need to write using proper English. Even right now, I am writing with the flow.  

            For the diagnostic essay, which was our first assignment, we were told to talk about our greatest belief. The belief I wrote about was “never give up until you have given your very best, it is better to fail trying than wondering what could have happened if you tried.” While this is something I believe it did not correlate with the material we were going to learn after which was invisible narratives that shape our judgments. One of the ideologies that I do carry inside of me is my religion, which is my faith that I obstinately refuse to change. Now that I am in college I have heard many opinions about God and religion by professors in my classes that it has gotten me to question my religion for a second but ultimately I held on to it. I believe in the bible and I think that just like many professionals are open minded about different ideas they should also consider God. Science can tell us how but they can’t tell us why.  

            This class has gotten me to think with less judgment and be more aware of all these metaphors that we implement on each other including ourselves.  That is why there is a lot of discrimination and racism in society because we easily judge people creating ideologies on the way people look and are such as their race and sexual preference. Then they soon start believing these ideologies and act upon them. Being Latina in college I want to succeed breaking all the stereotypes and create my new story. I am leaving this class with a different perspective about the world and hopefully it can help me in my criminal justice career where many of these metaphors exist.  Racial profiling for example is a big issue in the criminal justice system and if I get the chance to work in that field I would not judge people based on their looks.