Fair warning, the following blog post is about my personal growth as a writer from the beginning of the semester to the last and my overall view of this class. Also, while I was writing up this post, I just noticed Genna McCormack’s post and how we both had the same idea.
I am a native Farsi speaking Persian trying to adapt to the higher education curriculum requirement of also learning English. Therefore, English has never been one of my strongest subjects throughout my education. I have always entered an English class with the mindset that I will not do great, which is why I have always had to put in double the work to assure that I will succeed in class.
Throughout my college career, one of the requirements of the pre-medicine track is to take an English course. Although I knew I had to meet this obligation, I did my absolute best to leave it to the last second to take this class. What surprised me is how much I have improved as a writer from the first week of this semester to the last. I started off with handing in my opening-in reflection and receiving it back with a lower grader than I was hoping for. It was after this assignment when I realized I needed to do something different if I wanted to succeed in this class. When realizing that, prior to submitting my blog posts, I would go to Francesca and ask for her opinion on my blog post, as well as ways to improve. I took her advice and I have started to notice the difference. I have learned how to process my thoughts properly and be able to explain them with evidence to support my claims.
In the beginning of the semester, I started off shy when it came to participating in the class discussions, even when I had opinions that could have aided in the discussions. As the semester went on, I realized by expressing my thoughts, it allows for others to go off my comments and to contribute to the conversation. By engaging in the discussion, I was able to take better notes that later helped me write my blog posts.
Out of all of the literature we have looked into this semester, my favorite was Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington. Washington has provided us with an extensive amount of documentation that shows the unimaginable treatment and care African Americans and minorities have received by physicians in the name of science. For example, when ill people went to get help, they were actually used in medical experimentation without their consent (Washington). This brings about the idea that I have noticed in several of my classes that deal with human beings and their rights. Just because you can does not mean you should.
I have truly enjoyed this class with all of our enriched conversations discussing the importance of awareness on a variety of different topics. These topics include medical issues, consent, racism within medicine, and more. I believe by recognizing the complexity of the issues, we have become more aware of the issue and are finding ways to promote prevention techniques and/or a solution