Final Portfolio

In all honestly I had the feeling that this year’s history class was going to be a bore like any other typical history class. I was proved wrong. On the first day, Mr. Block handed us m&m’s that represented each country’s supply worth. That caught my attention right away. It just wasn’t about what I was learning, but how I was being taught the new information. The most interesting thing that I learned in World History this year was exploring the different changes, cultures, religions, and revolutions in many countries and how it impacted them positively or negatively.

The first topic that really caught my attention was revolutions and their role is developing countries. In Journal #32, we were asked the question what is a revolution in our opinion. The definition that really stuck in my mind was “change against something that involves a large amount of people that all have the same biased decision.” Change was a big part about how revolutions came about, and superior countries taking over third world countries waw an issue. Many revolutions such as the French and Haitian Revolutions were concepts of change that the Haitians definitely didn’t agree with because it wasn’t benefiting them. On the other hand, good change happened in some countries especially involving the government system and how more structure was obtained.

Another topic that really sparked my attention to keep on learning was poverty in third world countries. Comparing education systems and development really made me focus on the weight that these countries had to constantly carry. On the worksheet, Pathologies of Power, we read excerpts of the book that discussed three different approaches (charity, development, social justice) that addressed these suffering countries. The quote that really stood out was “poverty today is a result of a contradictory development; the rich become richer and the poor become poorer." Development really only benefited the rich because they received more money out of it. It’s not like these poor people in these poor countries could afford to live in these developments. There was no point. Today, there are still many third world countries that are still undergoing hardships from these problems.

Diverse religions was another intriguing concept that really taught me how even religion was sometimes an issue. In Journal #18, we discussed the different ways that religion can be a positive or negative force in people’s lives. I stated that many people seek religion to find a new way of viewing life or or forgiveness. Although many religions may give off and interpretations on people. For example, Muslim people who wear turbans or hijabs may be looked upon as terrorist because of people like them have made a bad reputation for them. But is just all stereotypes. Also, limitations have been known to affect the people that believe in the religion because they are forced to believe in something that they honestly know is unjust. This is another example that ties into how revolutions were caused.

Nonviolence and colonization wrapped up the end of our year. In the worksheet, My Faith in Nonviolence,  we were became familiar with the strategic steps in which a lot of people must follow in order to attain a mental state of nonviolence.  In addition, we read “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, and studied quotes from his interview. He expressed the struggle of colonization and how it really separates cultures from one another.

This year has been a very productive year in my World History class. Everything I learned was very mind capturing and wasn’t in anyway boring. I had an amazing year, and hope that I can use the knowledge that I learned in my future!