Week of December 3 - 9 Discussion Question #3

3). Pick one concept from throughout the semester that you feel can use further discussion.

One concept that i felt that could use further discussion is engaging in dual perspective as a guideline for communication between friends. I feel that now a days, we fail to communicate honestly and fairly between our peers. We also tend to take friends for granted because that's how our society is. I think that the advances in technology have allowed us to overlook many complicated processes of how things are made, which has led to us becoming less thankful for the things we have. Engaging in dual perspective allows us to become more open minded about things that we encounter in our lives. Becoming open minded allows for many different opportunities and experiences for us to live through. Although these experiences can be bad, we always use the experience as a lesson to ourselves. Like most elders I've spoken to, they say "experience in life is very important and should be valued."

Week of December 3 - 9 Discussion Question #2

2). What was your favorite thing about the class?  What was your least favorite thing about the class?  How can this class be improved?  Again, be specific. 

My favorite thing about this class was that it was really easy and convenient to do work. I could separate my responsibilities and return to working on this class at a time when i saw best fit. In addition to being convenient, the course content is something that we shouldn't forget about within the next year (like most courses). I liked that this class was able to apply skills to reality because i feel that education is very effective and helpful when it can be applied to real life. This makes it easier to comprehend and understand while learning a bit more about the world. My least favorite thing about this class were the difficulties of the quizzes and the absence of a real life instructor. It isn't just helpful to have a real life instructor to answer questions you may have immediately but it helps students who learn better through visuals than online reading. I felt that some of the questions on the quiz were a bit tricky and some of the answers were very similar to each other, I was confused for some questions and seeing that 1 question was 5% of your quiz grade, i had a hard time deciding which answer would be more appropriate. I think this class could be improved by using a little more visual learning process. This is just an idea but maybe powerpoint presentations? I know the chapter wrap up posts are supposed to be in place of a lecture but power points allow for professors to go into a little more detail and gives us a small heads up of which concept is more important or likely to show up on a quiz. These are all small and minor things though, this course is devised out very simple and organized (through Professor Perez's blog idea). 

Week of December 3 - 9 Discussion Question #1

1). What have you learned in this class over the course of the semester?  Be specific.

I have learned that in order for us to develop successful relationships, we need to put in a generous amount of effort and time. Communication skills play a large role in career success and personal success. Having these skills allows us to communicate professionally, casually, and gives us the ability to adapt our tone of communication to different environments. These skills also allow us to portray ourselves as easily approachable and therefore opens up more opportunities to discover new friendships and relationships. Maintaining friendships and relationships are never easy but they are worth it in the end once we've established a stabilized friendship. Although relationships are hard to manage, they give us happiness and memories that we will always cherish. At first, i thought this class wouldn't be very useful or applicable to reality but it turns out i learned a lot about how we make friends and i started noticing the small details in communication that weren't apparent to me before.

Week of November 12-18 Question# 3

3). Pick one concept from the reading this week and discuss it in detail.

I think one of the most important things we learned this week is maintaining equity in family relationships. A lot of families do not have equality among all of the family members. Most of the time the decision maker is either one or both of the parents. I grew up in a family where my dad was always the decision maker. My mom, brother, and sister never got to say anything about the decisions my dad made. He was always really stubborn and sometimes he'd make a mistake but thankfully his decisions benefited the family. In this part of the chapter, Woods talks about the social exchange theory. This theory states that "as long as your rewards outweigh your costs, the net outcome of the relationship is positive, so you are satisfied" (Woods). I believe this is very important for making any family happy. As long as the social exchange theory is applied to everyone in the family, then no one can complain :)

Week of November 12-18 Question #2

2). In this chapter, you have read about some of the ways in which marriage has changed over time.  Based on cultural trends and evolving values of your generation, what changes in marriage would you predict over the next 50 years? 

I think one of the biggest things that is going to change is gay/lesbian marriage. Definitely, within 50 years I believe that same sex marriage will be approved over most or all the states. I also believe that we will slowly lose cultural trends. From being a second generation Asian-american, I've seen my parents and grandparents cultural trends come to a halt. My cousins and older siblings do not wish to carry on the traditions that my elders had practiced. It's sad to see all of this happening but I think new traditions will evolve from these families. I don't think there will be many traditions that are passed down the family but small traditions that is unique to each family. I think we lose cultural trends and traditions because we live in America's melting pot. All of our cultures collide and we have such diversity that we are influenced by many cultures. We get stuck between american culture and our other culture so we cannot decide between the two, leading to an end of some traditions and carrying on others.

Week of November 12-18 Question #1

1). How do you define family?  What do family members do for each other? Which types of relationships discussed in this chapter do and do not fit your definition? 

I like to think of family as a group of people that accept you for who you are and will always be there for you. No matter what happens, they are still there to forgive and aid you when you need help. Family members are respectful to each other. I believe that respect is a very important part in family because without it, there would be hostility towards each other. I also think that family members always forgive each other. I know forgiving can sometimes be very difficult but we all make mistakes. Our friends won't always forgive us but i know i can definitely count on family to be there for me, no matter what the circumstances are. My definition of family wasn't exactly as related to the books definition but i do agree with that a family involves a marriage and cohabitation. I think that giving up your last name for your significant other is a very big step and marriages show that kind of commitment. Family isn't as easy as one living with another for a long period of time. I believe it's actually connecting each other and marriages allow for that to happen.

Week of November 5-11 Question# 3

3). Pick one concept from the reading this week and discuss it in detail.

"Passion describes intensely positive feelings and fervent desire for another person" (Woods). The beautiful thing about passion is that it isn't restricted to sexual feelings. Passion is the beginning of any relationships because it describes exactly how we feel about a person and for what reasons. Although passion isn't the base and structure that holds relationships together, i believe that it is important to realize that we all have different passions that we should live up to. Often times, passion is lost due to social media and peer pressure. We fall for people who are the hottest, coolest, and most respected. We lose our own definition of who we want due to peer pressure. Definitely, there are people out there that are looking for others that reflect on their passions but the influence of others has impaired our ability to do so. I believe if we pursue our passions, we will find the right one for us. We can't rely or look up to outside influences, it is our life and we should get what we want.