What students think

Included below are student comments reflecting on and evaluating the class and my teaching. Any identifying information has been removed (e.g. references to jobs, majors, etc.). To further protect student’s identities.I have also chosen not to categorize and label these by institution, semester, or course.

Discussions

  • “I really didn’t know what to expect when I first walked into class but I really enjoyed how much the class was heavily discussion based. I like these kinds of classes because I can hear what other students’ perspectives are and gain greater knowledge from them… Generally in a class it is difficult to break the ice, but by the third class I felt very comfortable to express any opinion I had… Lastly I wanted to address the time early on in class when one of the students unknowingly made a racist remark without realizing. An intense discussion ensued afterwards for nearly twenty minutes. This was something I have never seen before in a class setting, let alone in my life. It is a moment I don’t think I will ever forget.”
  • “I feel as a class we let everyone state their opinions with out judgment. While we all grew up in different areas and even with different social norms of what was acceptable, we were still able to listen without taking what was being said as rude, derogatory or with malicious intent.”
  • “Discussion based helped me relate and learn”
  • “Discussions on relevant topics affecting our world today.”
  • “I believe that this class was very informative, as well as enjoyable to go to, especially due to the other students in class and the professor being so receptive to discussions… I found this class very interesting to have discussions in due to the fact that almost everyone contributed when it was an interesting topic, especially in our last class.”
  • “Now that the semester has come to an end, I feel as though I have developed a good grasp on not only the topics we discussed in class, but the different types of sociological perspective. In the beginning I would sometimes a little taken back by what topics we were discussing, but now I have learned to embrace the uncomfortableness of controversial topics and discuss them. I have learned to embrace the severity of the topics that we discuss and appreciate how I can benefit from them in the long run.”
  • “As far as being an active student in the class, I feel as though that has completely come full circle since the beginning of the year. Even though I do not speak up as often as others in the class, every time I do speak up it is a very relatable story and I usually bring up a point that many people aren’t thinking of at that time. In my opinion it took me longer to warm up to speaking up in class than I had liked it to but I’m happy that I finally became comfortable to open up and share such personal stories. I am a very vocal person who doesn’t mind sharing personal stories if they relate to the topic, but I am guarded in the sense as well. I’m relieved that I felt comfortable within the class that I can share these stories without fear or someone looking at me differently or unminding my intelligence because they view me differently.”
  • “What I really liked about the course was the open class discussion. Hearing what my other classmates thought about certain topics and their ideas on how we can change things in our society got me to see from others perspectives. It was interesting to see how people from different backgrounds can think similarly or differently on different matters.”
  • “The constant group discussion was very nice to have. I wasn’t sitting taking notes at a desk the entire time but I was still retaining information. It was a very nice change in classroom behavior to have student lead discussion. Especially when you aloud and followed the group discussion to take educational tangents that opened more discussion.”
  • “I really liked the way the class was setup and the way you instructed it, I learned a lot that way because of… the discussions we had, even though I didn’t participate in. Though I didn’t because I am not as confident in myself in a large group setting were as when you made us talk amongst each other at our tables I was capable of expressing how I felt about the issues you made us discuss. So hopefully one day I will be able to talk confidently to a classroom, though I don’t think it will be anytime too soon.”
  • “I liked that my classmates shared (and in some cases were made to share) their thoughts. I already know my perspective. I’m in a class like that to hear other’s thoughts. I also enjoyed that we were made to intermingle and discuss things with each other. For the same reason I just mentioned, but also because actively engaging people helps me clarify my own thoughts, too.”
  • “I found the class to be very open with discussion and it didn’t seem like people held back with opinions or feelings. You made the class very welcoming and I think made people open to discussing things… I thought it was good that we had diversity in the class and instead of discussing what we think people may feel we could instead hear life experiences and hear the person that it is affecting. I liked the variety of topics we touched on and we discussed things that I was not expecting to discuss which was refreshing. I also enjoyed that you discussed your professional experience as well.”

Overall

  • “I would like to start off by saying that I really enjoyed this class.”
  • “I thought that you instructed the course incredibly well both in terms of the required curriculum and in light of your own individual views… Thank you again, and I wish you the very best for the long future that you have in front of you.”
  • “I can’t think of anything to improve, frankly. This was the most well crafted and laid out course I’ve ever taken. He did an amazing job”
  • “it was awesome”
  • “I enjoyed this class very much”
  • “Overall, I really enjoyed the class. The skill of taking things apart to fully understand them was not something that I learned in this class, but the class did allow me to put it into practice more often.”
  • “Overall I thought this class was very interesting and I liked it…. The content of the course was also really interesting to me.:
  • “In the end, this was an extremely enjoyable class, and I think I would definitely take another class taught by Ezra… I learned a lot throughout this course, definitely much more than I had learned during my high school sociology course… Thank you for the awesome class this semester!”
  • “I first would like to start with this, I found this class not only very interactive, inspiring and motivating, but… With many techniques used in this course such as different assignments that pulled together the class topics into reading investigations, bringing out a more deeper meaning to the topics. With these assignments I actually was able to engage mentally and even emotionally on many levels, not only in my own life experiences but those experiences of different people from different cultures, social norms, and even socio economically different. I felt this class has reinforced why I love sociology because I feel it is not opinionated, so to speak like for example a recent reading about how religion is not looked at sociologically as a judgment rather a way to look into the many aspects of religion. This class has brought me to a point in my education to realize I not only want to reach my goal of [], but I want to tie them both in together to gain an even higher understanding to better prepare me for my ultimate goal, and that is to [], but to have a better insight into the fact that once I reach that goal having a sociology background in my education I will be have a more clear understanding of people as individuals and as groups and how society views many topics. Going back to this particular class I gained a better understanding of many things about myself, one being I am still even, at [] years old, naive about all the norms versus what should and shouldn’t be done to make this a better world, and how I can contribute, even as one person to change. I spent a lot of time this semester going over assignments and reading the particular ones that were under reading investigation and learned so much the last readings really were deep readings but brought so much meaning to almost any aspects of life and humans and how we interact and think, and how we achieve goals, how we think and process things…Over all this class was amazing and there are a few topics I am taking from this class to do further research be it on my own or incorporating the topics in later research academically. I will eventually be attending a university for [] and will definitely be taking more sociology classes along my journey. Many thanks for a very inspiring class, a motivating class for me personally, and for taking the time to work with me to achieve my ultimate goals long time.”
  • “Thank you for making the semester enjoyable, and helping me understand so many new concepts, as well as opening the door further into my understanding of society.”
  • “Overall, I really liked this class and enjoyed taking it”
  • “Prior to this class, I really didn’t have many opinions on things like welfare because I really didn’t know much about it but now I have learned the background to these social issues and I am able to make my own educated opinions. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this class and I am glad to have finished and gained new education on the modern world.”
  • “It is impossible to approximate the exact time, but at some point during the semester I realized that social problems, their implications, possible solutions and the study thereof are all disciplines within my person realm of interest, and therefore might be an indicator of possible career/major choices. When I first came to college, I had no idea what I wanted to be for the rest of my life nor what degree I was going to need in order to get me there…. In summary, it can be said that my recognition of the reality that social problems are extremely prevalent within our world paired with my desire to correct such problems has influenced what career path I will choose.”
  • “During this class I not only learned about myself but also learned a lot about my classmates. I enjoyed this class which made it easier to be a part of. I may not have been very vocal but I took a lot away from it. I enjoyed the feedback from all perspectives. It made me think about things in a different light and to look at things from all perspectives even I don’t understand or agree with them… I enjoyed the additional readings and the videos. One video that really stuck with me was the Ted talk on the Middle East. With the tragedy that happened with 911 I think it may be hard to look at things from their viewpoint especially for those who lost someone in the tragedy or have lost those in the military fighting the war. I know it was from me but was a great video and definitely one that I think you should continue to show. I also enjoyed the video on the prison experiment how people acted in a way they didn’t think they could or would. This class teaches you to think outside the box and to look at the bigger picture and ask important questions as how or why? What are contributing factors?… I think what I took most form this class is how important it is be open minded and try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes which is helpful in all aspects of life.”
  • “I really did love this course, I am also impressed that I actually got in I think all of the homework in. I usually have a lot of issues completing homework. But since I was actually interested in the subjects it was easier to complete the homework… I have always liked paying attention to behavior and trying to connect it to situations in people’s lives. I also like learning about different ways to study and think about all different perspectives. I’ve always liked that there are so many aspects to our societies. Now with this class I can use terms and theories in my own thoughts, socializing, and even future schooling.”
  • “Sociology has helped me see people now in a whole, not just individually. In all situations in my life, I find this will help when trying to understand different societies. I learned more about how groups of people can interpret things differently than one person might. How they live, work, and associate with each other has become a new concept for me… It was interesting to learn about the different cultures. Not just in race or religion, but a set society that we associated with in general.”
  • “I would have to say that I really enjoyed this course. This course got me to think about different social phenomena and what matters to me in our society. It also got me to start thinking in a broader spectrum (taking the bigger picture and looking at the parts that make it).”
  • “I enjoyed this class very much, and have learned many new things as well as refreshed some information that I have learned in past sociology classes… I truly believe that if more people took this class the world would be a better place, maybe there would be less racism, sexism and less homophobic individuals. The world would be a much better place… I think everything that we have learned throughout the semester will be useful in the future and for everyday life.”

Caring for Students, Caring about the Content

  • “I would like to personally thank you Ezra for your time, your knowledge and your genuine interest in my education.”
  • “I also found my instructor Ezra to have enthusiasm in teaching sociology and very on point with so many topics that involve many sociological aspects not only in life but academically.”
  • “I thank you, Ezra for challenging me to do my best and pushing my limits as a learner.”
  • “He took my thoughts into consideration.”
  • “A ready instructor, who is constantly available through e-mail and discussions”
  • “The ability of the instructor to relate and clarify topics well”
  • “I think overall you did a really good job this semester. You put in a lot of time and effort into this class and it shows.”
  • “I want to take this time as closing to thank you for all your hard work. I have enjoyed your class.”
  • “I also really liked how fair the grading system was and how understanding you were when I had to miss a class for a medical appointment.”
  • “As a teacher I thought that you were great. You catered well to our needs and were understanding throughout the semester.”
  • “Thank you for actually taking the time to listen to feedback.”

Research project

  • “The final testimonies for this class were my favorite part. Even if it did take long and was a lot of waiting around, I loved sitting there and listening to other students take action, and stands to creating change at the local, national or even global level. It showed me that we are the generation who is going to make all of these changes, maybe even the kids in that classroom.”
  • “Additionally, the feedback on the research project was always useful and helped me complete the final version for each section. With the research project I liked how we could pick our own topic. This made the project more interesting and we could pick a topic we could relate to or pick something we felt was important to advocate for.”
  • “I enjoyed this class very much. I already enjoy learning about subjects like sociology and the material we covered, but the fact that we only had to deal with relatively small chunks for assignments each week helped me process a little bit better. That is especially the case with the research project. Breaking it up like that may be something I do on my own with future long term projects. Instead of my head swimming and feeling swallowed up by doing it all at once, I feel like the info that I dug up from week to week actually stuck, and that in turn made it easier to see clearly moving forward to the new piece each week.”
  • “I also really liked the big project we worked on throughout the course of the semester.  It gave me an opportunity to really research a topic that I am passionate about.  I like that it was split up into different parts.  It gave us really specific guidance about what we were supposed to be doing.  It also made the project really manageable.”
  • “Since my last reflection, the part that I have enjoyed most about the course has surprisingly been the peer-reviews for our research project. To be honest, when I first heard that we were peer-reviewing I was not looking forward to it. I tend to be just as hard on other people’s work as I am on my own, which is not always a good thing. But this assignment was different. Usually I am focused on grammar and structure, but this time I was much more intrigued by the content. Reading my classmates’ work gave me a glimpse at some social problems that I hadn’t even considered before taking this class. Because these issues were often presented by individuals directly impacted by them, I also got to see them from a more personal perspective.”
  • “When things started to get rolling on the research project, I enjoyed the class even more. Getting to choose my own topic made the work I put into better, but also it felt like it was actually worth something.”
  • “I also learned good techniques on writing a research paper. I never had to create a college research paper so this project was very helpful. I also enjoyed how broken up it was because it never made me too overwhelmed.”
  • “It has been very satisfying throughout the semester to be able to pursue my own topic on the research project. I have been able to learn much more than I ever knew before, which has helped to broaden my horizons significantly. Being able to choose a topic I was interested in, also helped dramatically in being very enthusiastic about doing my work. Even though the semester is over, and the project is done, I want to continue my research and possibly after more time and studying, I will have enough grounding to actually contact some of the relevant people about the social issue and try to be a part of the solution.”
  • “The research project seemed very tedious at first, having one every single week. But by the end of the semester I looked back on all the research and sources, realizing that I had a great deal of work to show for the effort.”
  • “What I really liked was the research project and how it was spread out throughout the course. It made it a lot easier for me to be able to remember what it was I was presenting. I felt like I knew a lot of information about my social phenomena because of all the research that we did with the work spread out.”

Specific practices

  • “Another aspect of class I enjoyed was the different group activities… I also thought the homework was very appropriate and helped me keep up with what was happening in class.”
  • “I enjoyed the multi-faceted approach the instructor used to organize information to help students frame the course objectives.”
  • “I thought the learning investigations were good. I thought they were useful to reflect on what I learned during class and it was a good way to force me to do the reading. To be honest, if it was not for the learning investigations, I probably would not have done the reading. Having to do the reading provided me with a better understanding about the class material and concepts we learned in class…. Even though I did not enjoy doing the learning investigations, I believe I benefited and took more away from the class because of them. Anytime I did not understand something you explained it to me in the feedback on the learning investigations, which I appreciated a lot.”
  •  “In general, between the assignments, the class discussions and activities, the videos, presentations and articles…I feel that I was able to understand and retain most if not all of the major themes that we covered. For my little brain, that is remarkable.”
  • “I do feel that I learned a lot this semester in Sociology… I actually really enjoyed some of the assignments, for example the interview of someone 50 or over, the context article presentation, and the final advocacy letter and those are the assignments that I worked the hardest on… I really like the course content presentations because in normal classes we would all have to answer those book questions, turn them in and never talk about them again. This way, we only had to answer one question, but we still got to learn about the other topics in class. Overall I did enjoy this class because each week we were discussing extremely interesting topics and learning about them in interesting ways (for example the starpower game).”
  • “I like the fact that there are no test or quizzes that really helped me because I didn’t have to worry about it so much, and the fact that we had to present the information to the class whether it was projects or regular presentations, cause I struggle with speaking in front of an audience so it really got me more comfortable as time went.”
  • “Being in the class turned out to be pretty fun. I really liked all of the experiments that we did. My favorite experiment was the game that we played in which the class was slowly separated by the structure that is very similar to what society is like.”
  •  “The class did though, take me outside of my comfort level once or twice, especially on the breaking norms experiment, of which I appreciate. I feel that if we push the boundaries of where we are comfortable, we make ourselves better in our interactions with others, as well as build up more confidence in embracing our own individuality.”
  • “Overall, the class was a very positive learning experience for me. The learning investigations were steady and consistent.  I liked that I knew what to expect when we were given the assignment and they made the readings and the presentations interactive so that I knew what to think about. I loved the context presentations… I also learned how to think about problems in a different way.”
  • “The course content was laid out in a well-organized way and was easy for me to understand… The class was great and I learned many social issues that apply both in my life and in the real world.”
  • “I liked a number of things about this course. I liked that we were challenged to think critically about the topics, that there was challenging, intellectually stimulating, and interesting articles to read, that we had to make oral presentations (which at one point included using powerpoint), and that we gave peer feedback to each other. The student led presentations were valuable. I wanted to hear from my peers. It gave me many new ideas and points of view. I was glad I was required to do mine. I enjoyed it. Too much lecture will get tuned out by students. I liked almost every reading. I liked the variety of the authors’ backgrounds and expertise, and the topic choices. It was all relevant to me. This is one of only two challenging courses I have had at Great Bay and I loved it. (The other was [] which is about [].) Please do not dumb down this course or any other course you teach. Academic rigor is good. Not everyone will get an A because of the work it takes to get it. But for those who work hard it is attainable. Your instructions were always clear and reasonable. I still did not have to put in all the recommended hours into this class every week and I did well. Students should expect to work hard in college. Great Bay’s courses should be on a par with those at UNH. This one was.”
  • “Throughout the course I especially liked how you keep up to date with all of the assignments on blackboard. Having all of the week’s assignments online was extremely helpful instead of having to keep track of everything.”
  • “I really liked the videos that were shown to us during the course. They really put whatever topic we were discussing into perspective. I think the video that would stick with me the most is the one about how little girls in [][Afghanistan] are dressed as boys until they hit puberty so that way they can have equal treatment.”
  • “Looking back on the class as a whole, I found the topic of sociology appealing and was nice to be able to look at the world in a different way. The class definitely met the goals and expectations of a sociology course by looking into many subject areas through different lenses. The feedback and comments on homework and in class assignments were very nice to have. The activities such as the economics game and other computer activities were very helpful in engaging the class.”
  • “This class was a great class to take because I learned a lot of new things I haven’t learned before in sociology… I learned a lot that way because of the videos we watched and the discussions we had… I also enjoyed playing the one game about social stratification I believe? Where we all were separated by the amount of chips we had. Though in the beginning I wasn’t so sure how the game worked but as we continued to play it I really started to see how much it related to how people rank people and how greedy they become.This class was very enjoyable and I would definitely recommend it to others who want to take a sociology class.”
  • “The questions for the reading assignments really made one have to dive into the book and understand the reading in order to complete the assignment… In general, between the assignments, the class discussions and activities, the videos, presentations and articles…I feel that I was able to understand and retain most if not all of the major themes that we covered. For my little brain, that is remarkable.”
  • “In class I liked how we used different activities to better understand the sociological concepts we talked about.”

Growth

  • “Coming into this class, I, just like everyone else, had a set of beliefs. Beliefs about society, about our lives, about our college, we all had beliefs about everything. One thing this class has done, is made me open my eyes about certain issues and challenge my beliefs. I’ve had to look deep down and question whether I’m dismissing issues because of my stance of privilege. I’ve realized how fortunate I am to be where I am today. I’ve been blessed with opportunities that I used to take for granted, that only a small percentage of the entire world has been given the same chances that I have… This class in particular made me open my eyes to social problems that still exist, while I had believed prior that they weren’t a problem anymore.”
  • “Something that I learned from this class was not necessarily about one specific topic but about life in general. I learned to question my surroundings. To question everything I know to be true and wonder the reasoning behind it. I will no longer just accept something as true I now know that I question the reasoning behind it and why we as a society just accept things to be true without any second thought. I think this is important not only to know but to share with others. This is something that is transferrable to other aspects of life. Learning something like this about life in a class is rarer than you’d think. In most classes the professor teaches their material gives you a test and that’s it. It isn’t very often that I find myself thinking in a different way when I leave a class.”
  • “The research project in particular has also helped me form new bonds with people in my life. Although I personally struggled with [] in my youth, I never really shared my experiences with anyone. However, when I interviewed the proponent for my problem, they openly discussed how their life was impacted by my issue. They encouraged me to share my own story and were able to easily relate and understand. I made a new friend through this assignment and am now hoping to join [] next semester.”
  • “I improved on my conception of the sociological perspective, thinking more deeply into social problems and their root causes. I expanded my empathy for those on welfare, as well as my understanding of the causes of gender inequality. I came into class believing those on welfare were lazy, yet this was contradicted by the readings where they indicated that many of the receivers are quite hard working people, just down on their luck. They find themselves in dire financial circumstances which roughly 70% of us will find ourselves in by the time we reach retirement age. I believed gender inequality was a thing of the past too, with the exception of the wage gap (which I thought could be explained away if the study controls for education). I have come to learn that it is still alive and well. Women on a regular basis experience themselves presented as objects in the media, men giving them strange stares, and sexual harassment. The preconceptions I had were rooted in the path of least resistance, in the sense that it is much easier to pretend a problem does not exist or ignore it so as to avoid confronting the truth and face having to do something about it. I am making strides in being active to avoid the paths of least resistance, and take the path less traveled by to make a difference.”
  • “Not only did I gain new opinions on social issues but, but some opinions I had prior to the class changed by the end. For instance, my opinion of the death penalty.”
  • “This course has helped form my developing character, helped determine my college major, and laid a foundational path for a successful future through its ability to proscribe “self-betterment” by looking outward instead of inward (the sociological perspective).”
  • “Throughout this course, I have developed my mind when it comes to understanding social problems… Another thing I want to touch in that I can definitely say made me grow as a student, and maybe in the future a sociologist, is that the last project put me to the test with my work ethic and research abilities… My goal for the course since the first class, was to leave it one day and say to myself “I fully understand everything that went on in that class. I know this is not that high of a goal to set, but for me, with that class being difficult for me, that was mine. By the last week or two of classes I can officially say I reached it and was able to leave class with full knowledge of what was going on, using the sociological perspective to omit change and understand social problems better than ever. At the beginning of the year, I would leave class thinking “What just happened?” go back to my dorm or the library, do the readings and think “What is going on?” The terms were all over my head, the reading was too advanced, but eventually I got it and I credit this class with allowing me to grow as a student and a person, even if it was difficult… I will take the skills I acquired in this class and use them throughout my college career and in life.”
  • “This class has been a double edged sword in terms of my way of thinking. Before I was naïve to many of the troubles within our world, but I was satisfied with my way of life because I did not realize how negatively affected others were. Now I am more aware of what is happening within our world, but I am no longer content with the way things currently are. While I originally saw my discontent as a bad thing, I have since realized that it is necessary for change. Without such feelings, I would not have been motivated to work toward a better society. I have also learned that every action makes a difference, even if we cannot personally see its impact right away.”
  • “Going into this course I didn’t know what to expect. I have always excelled in the social sciences in school but never had I taken a sociology class. I have generally considered myself relatively aware of the different inequalities in the world through the different ways I have sought to educate myself but this class helped me to be able to put the pieces together. The things we learned in class made me understand the different mechanisms in society that I had already been relatively aware of but unable to put my finger on as well as societal mechanisms that I had never thought of before. Once these mechanisms came into light it seemed obviously but without the class I may never have been made truly aware of what was truly happening in society.
    Another thing I really was grateful for learning in the class was the concepts of different types of privilege. Mainly white privilege which before I was aware of but found it hard to communicate what I thought it was to other people. This class helped me understand this along with other types of privilege such as being male and the different ways this type of privilege is perpetuated through society. Another important concept that this class showed me is to stand up to those who argue that we are an ahistorical society and that the atrocities of slavery and other events of the past should not be continued to be brought up in arguments. This class gave me the knowledge to understand why those events still matter and how we continue to see the fallout of those events in society today.In conclusion this class made me understand social phenomena at a greater level and expanded my mind even more. I feel as though before taking this class I had a somewhat sociological imagination with the way I thought and how my mind works but this class helped me to truly develop this imagination and be aware when I was using my sociological imagination. I hope to move on to a university after Great Bay and would definitely take another sociology class there. Thank you for a great class. “
  • “Looking back at this course, I believe that it has had a positive impact on my life. Although this is the third sociology class I have taken… it is the first that has really forced me to look structurally at our world. I grew up having a very sheltered life and only concerned myself with social issues that directly affected me. However, I believe that this course has achieved its objective of demonstrating the sociological perspective and helping me develop a sociological imagination… Overall, I would say that this course exceeded my expectations. I originally registered for this class not really knowing what to expect; I chose it solely based off of its brief course description and the fact that it fit well into my schedule. But taking this class has introduced me to new topics and new people that have really influenced me over the past semester and I am very grateful for it.”
  • “This year in Sociology, I learned so much. I attended all classes, and I also feel like I retained most of the information. I understood all of the material and contributed to class in a way that promotes learning and positive interactions… I learned to be more vocal with my opinions. I feel that I have successfully completed the course objective of developing a sociological imagination, and being able to apply it to social phenomena. I engaged and further developed my critical thinking skills through critical conversations, readings, writings, and reflecting.What I liked the most about this course was how challenged I was. I had never really learned terms such as breaching norms. I understand more now about sociology than I every expected to. The one success that I had was realizing the impact that I could have when completing the social problem project. Another thing that will stick with me is the power of a single story, which has really shaped how I think of certain things that I have had opinions about my entire life. The number one risk that I have taken is putting myself in everything that we have learned, and reflecting on it. I enjoyed taking this course because most of my assumptions have changed. I have more than met the standards for myself.”
  • “Overall the course was well rounded in academics as well as lessons. I learned a lot from you, Ezra, as well as from classmates that feel differently and clearly think differently than I do. I am the type of person who takes parts of lessons and puts them together in my own way so they make sense to me, and this class honestly added a lot to that list I have to take from, so I thank you for that.”
  •  “The most important thing that this class may have helped attribute to me, is how to form opinions regarding social problems. Growing up, I mostly just adopted the beliefs that my parents had, reciting their opinions without truly understanding the other side. Now, this class has helped me analyze the facts about a situation, before finally coming to a conclusion on which side I take in an argument. I now try not to rely on prior conceptions, or the emotional influences acting on me, and instead just examine the evidence about the social problem in question.”
  •  “It is not often that I think about coming out of classes more than just the grade and the necessary information that I could possibly need in the future; this class may be the first exception to that. I learned a lot of valuable information in this class that will always be present in real life. I live in this society, and I believe it is an obligation to be aware of what is going on around because a lot more can affect me than I first expected. Throughout the class I constantly tried to improve on certain aspects of the lessons, not only can I say that I achieved this, but I can also say that by doing so I believe that I have become a better student and a better person as a whole.”
  • “I have come to understand what it means to be an ally. I have learned that the world isn’t perfect, but I have learned to check my privilege in order to help those around me and to not try to project my experiences or try and voice the experiences of others.”
  • “I feel that I have learned a lot from this class, not just about different social problems in today’s society, but about myself as well. I am excited to use what I have learned in this class as I continue my studies as [] major and also as a [] minor. I think that what have learned this semester will really tie in to my future studies. Thanks for a great semester!”
  • “I was challenged by this course in many ways but I think that the way that it challenged most was in how I view the world. I went into this class with a more closed mind than I have come out with. Using the sociological imagination I grew to view things from different scenarios and work to understand where people come from and why they believe the things that they do and why they act how they act. I learned how the social phenomena is a learned thing and that things are what they are because of the context that society has given them. One thing that really challenged my thinking was our talks about how we view the less fortunate in our society.”
  • “I have learned a lot from this class, I have had a much different outlook on people and other societies after taking this class. Coming into it i was very one minded and did not really see what else is out there and what goes on in other societies and how other countries culture’s are similar and how they are different. I feel now that I have a better understanding of people now, on how we act, the things we do and why we do them. I can say now that I am not as judgmental and see where people are coming from and where they have been to get to a certain point in their life. I thought it was very interesting to learn about other countries and see how they live their daily lives. You can take a lot out of what people go through and how the small things can change someone’s day. This class made me realize how fortunate I am to be where I am today.”
  • “For me, moving forward this class gave me perspective. This class gave me a lot of different ways of thinking and also gave me different perspectives when looking at a situation. I find it incredibly interesting that the world continuously functions in relationships. Everything within societies happen in consequence or relationship of something else. This class made me think critically in different ways as well because it isn’t necessary for things to be “right” or “wrong” all the time. There is a lot of grey areas and we only think something is “right” or “wrong” because we are socialized into thinking that way. Where someone on the other side of the world has the complete opposite way of thinking, what you thought was the “right” way, the individual on the other side of the world says it’s the “wrong” way, because that’s the way his thoughts and beliefs are socialized. “
  • “During the course of this class I learned a lot about how to look at the bigger picture and understand why we do what we. During this course I learned how to use my sociological imagination to look at issues that happen every day. I realized that we are all agents of our own socialization. I have started to look at situations I am put in now differently because I know to step back, look at the bigger picture, and see why this social issue is occurring. I learned that we all behave the way we do because it is learned behavior. We know what side of the hall to walk, what to say to people, and what the social norms of a culture are. I also learned that to understand other peoples culture we cannot use our own culture as a measure for how to judge the others cultures… Overall I think this was a good class that challenged the way I thought about societies and viewed how we all interact with one another.”
  • “I think this class has helped me look at things differently. I feel like its taken me out of this bubbled life I live in and really open my eyes to things I probably would have normally looked over. I think now I try more to be understanding to other peoples cultures and traditions. I can’t just judge a book by its cover I have to really open the book and read it. Others may do things that I don’t agree with as well as I may do things that they don’t agree with but accepting them either way is the better way to handle it. I think with my research paper its help me realize some things I want to change with the way I raise my daughter… I just want to do better and I think this class has made it a little bit easier to do.”
  •  “I learned a lot from taking [].  This class opened my eyes a lot to different perspectives and social issues.  For example, I didn’t know a lot about welfare until I took this class.  I had never heard of the term welfare queen, or heard welfare stories.  I learned that many people who are in welfare programs have just had a lot of bad luck and turned to welfare out of desperation, not because they are lazy or want to take advantage of the system.  I also learned some new ways of thinking.  Learning about social constructs, framing, sociology of gloom, and subconscious judgment made me realize that there is a lot more to a social issue than meets the eye.”
  • “I also learned a lot about different social problems.  This course also made me rework how I thought of a social problem.  I don’t know if I would have ever thought of malaria or apathy as social problems before I took this class.”
  • “Reflecting on the class as a whole, I’m happy that I decided to take this class my first semester of college. It allowed me to develop a better understanding of the different views that people take on things in this world. It broadened my knowledge on current social issues and issues that I didn’t even know existed. By taking this class the first semester, I feel as though everything I learned will be applied to my four years of college here and help me maximize my experience here at UNH.”
  • “I learned a lot of things about society in this class. Everyone forms their own opinions about a majority of things and oftentimes they are never changed because people are not necessarily invested in anything that could potentially alter their opinions. I think the emphasis on poverty that we did in class was the most eye opening… After my time spent in this class, I think I can definitely consider myself a better person because I have familiarized myself with certain social issues rather than just know the negative stereotypes associated with them.”
  • “Sociology was extremely overwhelming. Taking on sociology has inspired me not because of it being overwhelming but because of all the knowledge I have learned. This class was very intense for me at times. My topic was homework and I went into it with stating that there is too much homework. I ended up revealing to myself that there are higher achievements to doing homework. While doing class reflection to research projects I realized that knowledge is power. Doing critical thinking on a daily basis on sociology by observing people has reflected a positive enlightenment. I did not know anything about sociology and what it exactly was. My perspective has changed in regards to social aspects when watching people. I’ve realized how important it is to reflect on those that have been judged or view things in different ways like the interview I did. I understand the uniqueness of social phenomena and now have the ability to apply it.”
  • “As the semester comes to an end, I still standby my statements that I made in previous reflections; I have taken away a lot more from this class than I expected to… I think I made some really noticeable improvements over the course of the semester in the field of sociology. The work I did in this class not only will improve my work ethic while in school, but I also believe that it will change my outlook on certain aspects of my life that can make me a better person.”
  • “I think this class helped in my life/work/and study, because it has helped my broaden my view of how we perceive people. It had helped me accept that many cultures are different, and what I believe to be normal in my country, may not be normal in another, and vice versa. It has helped me accept, and analyze that people many times do the things they do, because of the society around. So if you want to change the people, first you must change the society. I think this class will have helped in my choice of career, when I am wondering why some parents do the things they do. I want to me a [], so in order for me to accept the way people choose to live, or parent, or raise their children, I must accept their form of diversity, which this class has helped me do. I know that it is going to be very hard, especially when put in the situation where a baby is born addicted to drugs because of the mother using while pregnant, but this class has given me a better understanding of why this might have happened based on the womans living situation, family, or environmental issues she grew up in. One thing I learned that will help me to go forward in life, that I have already started to notice myself doing, is not judging bed on perception. Many times, especially living in [], I would judge a person based on how they look, what they were doing, who they were with, or even the material items they owned. Based on the impression many times I would ignore them, even when it came to them needing help. Since this class has begun I have noticed myself letting my guard down, and not making those first impressions based on external factors. It also has helped me look at the big picture. You hear many times, especially when you are young in high school that [] is scummy, and so are the people that live there. I believed that until I first bought my house in [], and you realize, that their may be bad attributes, but not everyone should automatically get that reputation based off what you see. Plus, now that many people believe that because they live in [], that automatically makes them scummy, why would they want to strive to be anything else when they already have this label. It now has helped me look at the more positive side of this town.”
  • “I feel as though the knowledge, new perspectives, and new ways of thinking I am taking away are priceless and I feel very much fulfilled.”
  • “At the beginning of the semester I mentioned that one of the bigger struggles I had in the class was the capability of relating small scale issues to larger scale ones. As we progressed further into the research project, I think that this aspect has been greatly incorporated. While I do not think that I am nearly as familiar in doing so as some, I can definitely notice a change in my own abilities. The research project has offered more than just learning about a certain topic that is close to my interests, but also allowed me to fully put what has been taught in class into action. Another improvement that I have noticed within myself was my analytical reading skills. Some of the readings done for Learning Investigations were complicated, and I found myself having to read over paragraphs multiple times in order to even grasp the basic concept the author is trying to get across. As I read more and more articles I found myself having to review things a lot less and I was understand concepts better and quicker; this will greatly help in almost every college class that follows this one.”
  • “This class has been an interesting endeavor for me. I was challenged by this course in many ways but I think that the way that it challenged most was in how I view the world. I went into this class with a more closed mind than I have come out with. Using the sociological imagination I grew to view things from different scenarios and work to understand where people come from and why they believe the things that they do and why they act how they act. I learned how the social phenomena is a learned thing and that things are what they are because of the context that society has given them. One thing that really challenged my thinking was our talks about how we view the less fortunate in our society. I think that I learned a lot in this class… I find sociology to be a very interesting topic. I plan to further pursue it in the future to help with my career in [].”
  • “Looking back on the last four months, this semester has been quite a growing period for me especially with this class. At the beginning I remember being slightly anxious for what the course held because I had never taken a sociology class before. I am very glad, however, now that I chose to take this class as a discovery course because it opened my eyes to a whole new view of the world. One of my first goals was to gain the ability to use a sociological perspective and I am confident in saying I have achieved this. Now, when looking at a social problem I consider all the factors into how it became a problem and why it is the way it is.”
  • “Over the course of the semester, I feel that I have been able to learn a substantial amount of information in such a short period of time. The course was very enjoyable, and many of the concepts I enjoyed discussing very much. Being able to take the course has also helped to broaden some of my own personal horizons. I have begun to look at certain aspects of society differently, and thinking through the reasons why we do the things we do more critically. The class also helped to put a lot of the reasons behind different aspects of society into perspective for me, and think about the deeper or underlying reasons behind why someone may act in a certain way. I want to keep working on applying the theories of sociology to real life applications, and I would consider taking more sociology classes, especially on [], [] and []. The class also helped me immensely in understanding some of the concepts from my [], and [] classes, as there was a significant amount of overlap in theories. My career goal is to work either in [], or [], and I did not realize until taking this class, how much sociology plays into the numerous factors surrounding []. In order to be more effective in my future career, I need to be able to understand the cultural and societal factors that impact policy and the way people lead their lives. This will help not only in working with others, but also in creating a good strategy and furthering my own understanding of international cultures. I found through the semester I did not have an issue keeping up with homework, and participating in class, as well as remaining engaged in the subject matter. If anything, I would like very much to be able to explore many of the topics we touched upon, in greater depth and detail…. Thank you for making the semester enjoyable, and helping me understand so many new concepts, as well as opening the door further into my understanding of society.”