Week 15 Gen. Ed. Review

Please describe your experience with the General Education experience at OU overall and with Humanities Gen. Ed. in particular

• Gen. Eds seemed like a pain, but it was only because I was excited to start my major's coursework. That being said, I think it was a good thing overall, particularly the humanities gen. eds. This is because I took fun courses that taught me about other cultures and countries which I think is important for students, especially if they cannot study abroad and/or have never been abroad before. 

Has Gen. Ed. been an important part of your education at OU?

• Gen. Ed. has been a huge part of my education at OU. It took up all of my freshman year, a chunk of sophomore year, and a few electives following. 

What have you liked best/least about your Gen. Ed. experience?

• I liked the humanities courses (Revenge Tragedy, Indian Epics, Peoples of the World, Intro to Native American Studies, Intro to Non-Western Dance Forms, Mythology & Folklore, and Intro to Religious Studies). These classes were interesting and kept me engaged. I enjoyed the classes and felt connected to my coursework. However, English I, Geology, American Federal Gov't, and Biology sucked. I know the government class was important, but i've heard it so many times! English I sucked only because it was so boring. Biology should have been cool, because I enjoyed Biology in high school and find the typical bio content interesting. However, this class seemed to spend an unnecessary amount of time on corn and how it's all around us. It seemed like we were in a political class about the problems our country is experiencing because of our reliance on corn, a substance our bodies cannot break down. 

What do you think you will remember most from your Gen. Ed. classes?

• I will remember the stories and dances from non-western countries the most. I love learning about other cultures and feel like I would have been more into other humanities courses if my professors had been passionate, knowledgeable, and engaging. 

Also, you might want to take a look at the OU Gen. Ed. website, especially if you have not done that before!  The website is new-ish, and rumor has it that OU is considering a big revision to the Gen. Ed. program.

• I wish I had known about this freshman year! Or really any year before I was about to graduate! It seemed like a pain to find classes that counted. It's a simple site, and I see no real problem with it, but the design is lack-luster. 

If you were to design a Gen. Ed. program, what would it look like?

• It would be a program designed to "take you on a journey around the world." It would talk about world cultures and each unit would center on a certain part of the world. The assignments would be aimed at showing society, values, culture, and the arts in various regions. It would be an into-level class that would be an introduction to world cultures and would not heavily focus on one area or "weird" cultures, but give a little information about a lot of them! 

This just made me laugh, hopefully it makes you laugh too!

Uptown Funk You Up

found on Tumblr 

Here's the song it made me think of:

Uptown Funk ft. Bruno Mars

by Mark Ronson, found on YouTube