Final Quiz

Final Quiz

            Before this course I had taken US history, California history, and the history and culture of San Francisco. I can honestly say that history had never really been my subject and has not been something that I found very interesting. Maybe it was the teachers or the way the teachers implemented their curriculums; but after this course it has given me a deeper understanding and appreciation for our history. This course was taught in a variety of ways to keep us motivated to learn an entire semester worth of work, 756 pages of information, and thousands of years’ worth of history in just 10 weeks. Although at times it seemed like there was endless amount of reading, blogging, and writing papers, in the end it was all worth it. I can now say that I have a vast amount of knowledge that I would not have had if it were not for this course. It is hard to believe that the human evolution from the ancient Stone Age to now all the way up until now being in the Post Modern World is filled with so much history and change. The one thing that has stuck and that I remembered the instructor saying is that history does not change, the only things that change it are people’s interpretations.

            Through reading assigned chapters and all the blogs that we had to write I can see why that Professor Andrews had us do all that work. Doing the blogs really prepared me for class and allowed me to participate in class discussions or ask questions on things that I may not have understood. The two exercises that I enjoyed the most was the debate and the segregation of men and women simulation. Doing the debate really made me realize how much I knew. The debate that I had participated in was whether or not the Mongols were a true empire. In my group we defended that the Mongols in fact were a true empire. Although they did not have a place to call their original home, they migrated according to season and had the communication all though not written communication, they still had a strong military that allowed them to conquer major empires. The second exercise I liked was the where the men and women were separated and had to answer questions. I am so proud that our class was the first where the girls actually won!!!! It is amazing how so much has changed over time in the roles of men and women. Women are now not seen as being oppressed, but rather free to do whatever they please and participate in activities outside the home.

            My understanding on how religion plays such a major role in history has greatly increased. The thing that stood out to me most was the discussion on Muslims had how they enforced religion enough that if you did not follow that religion you had to pay taxes. Another was when Europeans came to the Americas and took over the Natives land and had them conform and convert to euro lifestyles and Christianity as their religion.

            With this short amount of time to write on everything I learned, I am so overwhelmed in deciding which things I liked and learned from this course. Although depressing, I enjoyed learning on the Great dying and the unrecognized genocide. It is always nice to be able to learn things about our past even if they do not shed a good light on certain people, for example Hitler and the holocaust.

            Over all I just want to say how much I appreciated this course and everything we learned. I definitely recommend others to take this. I will warn you that it is a lot of work and takes up a lot of your time but in the end to see how much you can learn and accomplish it is all worth it. Thank you Professor Andrews for everything you taught me.