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Essay On Middle American Education

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Last year, your history class, no matter the subject, had failed you.
When I was told that I had to take a semester course on either the Middle East or world religion, the answer was quite obvious. Never would I walk into a religious classroom as I don’t follow that path; I knew more about the Middle East, making it a better choice. At first, I wondered why a world study course would be only one semester, but decided to shrug it off as I wanted to receive the proper requirements to graduate no matter the study. That all changed in mid-October when it felt like we were flying past big events, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, without many gaining meaningful insight about the people of the region. My classmates still believed in certain stereotypes …show more content…

A stark difference lies between a class that’s easy because you understand it and a class that’s easy because there’s virtually no challenge. I am not saying that Honors Middle Eastern Studies is as basic as a CP class, but it rarely puts my mind or other student’s minds at the limits of advanced thought. Where is the fun in a class if everything is spoon-fed to you? Why not search for an academic thrill now and then? More evidence from my poll suggested that students didn’t feel challenged in certain areas such as note taking. 76.7% of students said they were not prepared for lecture notes and instead were use to fill in the blank notes (Cauwels). If a student is only filling in the gaps for words missing from a few paragraphs, then they clearly won’t be interested in what is being taught. In contrast, lecture notes better prepare a student as they must decide what is important information on their own. If Middle Eastern Studies were provided as a two semester course it would allow more time to practice taking lecture notes. This would challenge students to not just hear or listen for certain “buzz” words, but force them to stay tuned into the subject matter. The information would have more time to resonate in their learned consciousness. This obviously would also prepare them for harder courses in their

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