Now that the semester is over here in our Sport & Society class, there are some things I'd like to end with.
I think a lot of my personal experiences have had some serious connections to many of the topics and issues that we discussed over the 15 weeks. The list of my experiences includes, but is not exclusive to, coaching girl's/women's sports, growing up in a racially and economically diverse city, having a gay head coach in college, and starting kindergarten in a bilingual classroom near Los Angeles. Does this make me an expert on these topics? No, but I feel that I have a pretty broad range of knowledge circulating around the issues in class. This is also probably why many of the topics were extremely interesting to me.
One of my favorite things to do with my friends is to have "friendly" arguments about almost anything I feel I can talk a little bit about. One reason is I love hearing other people's thoughts about a topic. Another reason is I like to see how people respond to what I think (or how they respond to whatever I'm arguing if I'm playing the Devil's advocate). By doing this, you get people to think about difficult issues, especially if some of the topics of this class were brought up. Now, I don't think I will be starting a social revolution anytime soon to transform the way society thinks, but what I will continue to do is talk with people about issues that need to be discussed. If all i can do is make people think about racial inequalities or equal rights for gay and female athletes, then I am doing a decent job. The first step for people to change their thoughts about issues is to make sure they are informed and that the issue at least crosses their mind.
The one part I liked best about the class was always the discussion topics during class. Just like my previous paragraph mentioned, I love hearing what different people think about different. So much of your beliefs are based on how your life has been previously spent. So by listening to different comments and expressing my own opinions, I am able to gather pieces of what a person believes and how they live their lives.
I also thoroughly enjoy expressing my own thoughts through this blog. I have written one other blog in the past that I posted to for about a year. The feedback from people was both positive and negative. Regardless of what the people said, it was usually hilarious and very entertaining to see what others felt. The comments and discussions that have occurred via our blogging has been beneficial and very interesting.
The one thing I did not enjoy, and will never enjoy, is driving 50 minutes to come to class. That has been such a pain since the round trip driving takes nearly two hours out of my day three days a week. Having to work every day, every weekend, and most nights, on top of being an hour away from school, is not the most ideal of situations. Nonetheless, I did what I could do and did get much out of the class.
Hopefully after about a year hiatus this class had at least got me back to blogging and sharing my thoughts on the internet. I look forward to continuing this in the future.
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I really like the attitude you took toward the topics that we discussed in class. You did bring diversity to this class, based on the aforementioned experiences you have had. Most important for me to remember was what you wrote, when you said: "The first step for people to change their thoughts about issues is to make sure they are informed and that the issue at least crosses their mind."
ReplyDeleteSorry about the long drive to class. I can relate to that from previous jobs I have had. Hopefully it will have been worth it in the end.