Final Reflection

A condition of my admission to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was the completion of my senior year courses. I admit that my grade in Math Techniques was an F. This fact is not what I wish to explain, as there is no way for me to skirt the fact that I received a failing grade in this class.

Privileges are things that a person receives that gives them an advantage over most people (Merriam-Webster). These are benefits that only certain people receive for being in a certain group or discourse. Peggy McIntosh, director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, wrote “White Privilege and Male Privilege” and states “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privileges, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege” (605). She argues that whites and males receive certain privileges, yet they do not even notice them. This shows that different races and women are still put at a disadvantage, but the people who receive the benefits are blind to the problem. Many people will argue that she is correct

Privilege applies to certain people who benefit more than other people in the same social, political or economic spaces (Henderson, L., week 1, 2014). Somebody might be privileged only because that person is wealthier or more powerful compared to the others. Privilege is an advantage enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most. “Privilege is expressed as an advantage based on status or rank that is used to maintain status quo” (Collins, J., et al., 2011). Privilege can applies to different concept, such as male privilege, white privilege and heterosexual privilege, all of which have implications for education. Although it is still taboo, with evolution, we have come far and we are now starting to accept equality between men and women, white and black and starting to acknowledge heterosexual.

Privilege is an invisible package of unearned assets. Dominant groups don’t see privilege as a problem; they don’t even know that the privilege exists. For example, as McIntosh states about white privilege, my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race; as well as choosing blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color and have them more or less match my skin.

I'm a final semester Computer Science student at the University of Wollongong, Australia - specialising in Systems Security and Software Engineering. I do have a passion for user interface design, something I look at in my past time. I generally prefer design that is simple and minimal, after all good design should recedes to the backgrond, allowing for the content to take centerstage.

Privilege by definition is a special right, benefit, and immunity granted or attainable to only a specific person or group of people. As I went through the privilege activity, I realized many simple aspects of life are enormous privileges to others. Examples of privilege include getting an education, having the ability to visualize and vocalize, and the ability to travel or expand your experiences. In a society compiled with privileges, the wealthy are favored and privilege emerges inversely in many social classes. We often forget the fact that simple aspects of life, such as being able-bodied or having the ability to see the world around us, are not given to everyone. A privilege, whether earned or bestowed, must never be taken for granted, and has the ability to affect lives in facets of freedom, citizenship, and the achievement of opportunities.

In the video ’’ Ted Talk “ Adichie talked about the danger of a single story, and she utilized the stories of her childhood in Africa, in university and with her family. Adichie explained how a single story can change people's prospective on a single culture, change people’s thinking about other people. Re-telling or re-creating traditional stories might show how people feel about other people and what they think about them. I have never been a victim of a single story. I agree with Adichie because she was very accurate about how a single story can make people hate or don’t like other people, because it can be a start of many stereotypes, start of racism.

My plan to do well this semester is to work as hard as I can while also being able to have time for myself. Though this statement may seem to contradict in nature to a college success plan, I believe that it can actually be a very efficient plan. My methods to achieve this goal are through time management, organization, and taking care of self. It is better to break down the task by studying, reviewing, reading or completing assignments on campus while waiting during the long intervals between classes or waiting for a ride. This makes use of the time that would have otherwise be used up lounging around and free's up time, off campus.

It is time to talk about privilege, and what I consider it is. Privilege is a special treatment a person or a group of people can receive. These privileges can be seen in every cultures and social levels, such as in work, in private clubs, schools, universities, religions, among other things. For example: I lived in Peru and in that country, there is a well-known private club called ‘Regatas’. Until a few years ago the only people that had the privilege of being a member of that club were men. Luckily, things change, now both genders can become members, but it took one hundred years to make that change.

Math is a subject that I have struggled with for a very long time; it is something that I always set aside. Math is something that I never saw myself using in my future and I thought if I put it off it would just disappear. When I came to the University I had to take Math 100 and Math SAX, which, unfortunately set me back on finishing math quite a bit because I did not put in the effort as much as I should have, and the amount of work they gave, was quite an overload. I took those courses twice and was still not put into a Math course at the University. That is when I started to push math away, but I have realized I cannot put it off and math is definitely important and we do need to know the subject no matter where we go in life or regardless

In the speech, the Danger of a Single Story the writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells us the dangers of believing just one thing about a stereo type. In the speech Adichie repeats the phrase ‘single story’ as I think it is very important to her and by saying it repetitively she gets it to stick in peoples minds. I think the main point of the speech is to tell people the dangers of believing just one story about a country, a person or a religion etc. and to see past the stereotype we can be tricked into believing and instead see past it to see for example the person for who they are, for example, she as an eight year old girl believed a single story about their houseboy, Fide she says, ‘The only thing my mother told us about him was that his family was very poor... when I didn’t finish my dinner, my mother would say, “Finish your food! Don’t you know? People like Fide’s family have nothing.” So I felt enormous pity for Fide’s family. Then one Saturday we went to his village to visit, and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket made of dyed raffia that his brother had made. It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something. All I had heard about them was how poor they were, so that it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor.’ This was her single story of Fide’s family, because all her mother had told her was that they were poor she did not see past that and had no idea that anyone poor was capable of creating something so beautiful.

College is all about establishing one’s foundation in their courses and life in general. During this first semester here at Oklahoma Baptist University, I have laid down the individual bricks of decisions that will help support my future. The decisions prior to college are great, but the decisions made within this first semester have a long-term impact because one must decide what to major in, what groups to associate with, and events to participate in. Thankfully with personal strengths, I am have been able to set goals for this semester and work to achieve them. While there have been many challenges this semester, I have devoted time into establishing the groundwork for my future.

This essay is the final reflective essay. First, the model which is best aligned to my skill set will be outlined, complete with an explanation of how that model was decided upon. This model will be described, including how that model works. Examples for each part of the model will be given. Then, I will explain how this model can be used to assess my interpreting work, and how it matches both my personality and learning style. I will also explain a few brain-based strategies that can help me with the interpreting process. Finally, I will explain how this model can assist me with improving my interpreted work.

As I prepare for my final papers in my Generation Education course, Criminology, and my English Lecture course, Pre-English 101; on a scale from one to ten I feel an eight that I will achieve an B or better on my final papers. I feel so strongly about this because in the past few weeks I have been going to my teachers and tutors for extenuating insight concerning my final papers. Not to mention, I have taken the time the appropriate time to dissected the rubrics of my assignments, and extracted the main points my professor were looking for. Moreover, I spend a decent amount time with my peers on ways we can tackle the questions asked for our final papers.

This course was extremely interesting to me; discovering the four different learning patterns, how they influence college coursework and my career path. I appreciated looking at the inter-working of how I learn and what I can do to enhance my learning capabilities. As the weeks went by, the on-line experience with Ashford University became easier to schedule; I used sequential and precision learning patterns to regulate my time, turning in assignments when they were due. In the past, on-line learning was tedious and difficult to manage. Ashford’s approach with an