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Author Topic: Doubting myself... school help :(  (Read 6206 times)

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rainshadow

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Doubting myself... school help :(
« on: August 28, 2012, 05:29:56 PM »

I feel pretty stupid right now... not sure if that's the right word or not... but one of my classes this semester is American, State and Local Government... I'm thinking it won't be as bad as some of the statutory and constitutional law classes I've been through, figured I could get through it...

I think I was wrong. Our very first discussion looks like a foreign language to me... asking about historical events that shaped our state, talking about cultures and subcultures concerning politics, etc. Well, for one thing, I'm not originally from here, so I don't know much about the history of this state, although it wouldn't hurt to learn... but for the second part, I really, really, REALLY am not a political person, I usually don't get involved in politics if I can help it. Politics make me cringe and beyond what I've learned in school thus far, I really don't like learning about them.

I am really doubting myself right now and feel stupid because it's only the first discussion of the class and I'm not sure what the instructor is asking. This has never been my strong suit (I'm more of an English/Literature person) and the only reason I'm taking this class is because my degree program requires it.  :brickwall:
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Tirya

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Re: Doubting myself... school help :(
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2012, 06:06:14 PM »

I hear you - the history and government classes I've had so far haven't been all that fun. Whatis the discussion about? Maybe we can help shed some light. :)
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rainshadow

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Re: Doubting myself... school help :(
« Reply #2 on: August 28, 2012, 06:18:35 PM »

This is our first discussion (and all of my classes are online, so the only contact I have with the instructor is via email or discussion boards):

"Let's start this discussion off broadly. Discuss factors in your state that influence the statewide political culture or regional subcultures in the state. For example, are there factors such as unique geography, national government ownership of major tracts of land within the state, the effects of charismatic leaders, circumstances under which their state entered the Union, and historic events peculiar to the state."

Now seriously... part of my brain is reading this and going, "Oh, I kind of get it" and the other part of me is like, "What the crap is this?" I seriously have never looked at a statement so long in my life trying to understand what it means... and that really isn't like me... but again, this isn't my strong suit and it's been a couple years since I've taken any type of "government" class (the last being our statutory and constitutional law classes for the police academy). I even did fairly well in those classes, but most of that was just memorizing laws and amendments.

 :2+2: I even hate math (another foreign language to me!) and this class has me more scared than my math class does...
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rainshadow

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Re: Doubting myself... school help :(
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2012, 06:26:55 PM »

I also can't drop this class, I need it for my degree and if I drop it, it'll effect my financial aid  :gaah:
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BronwynWolf

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Re: Doubting myself... school help :(
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2012, 06:29:57 PM »

It might help if your instructor used proper grammar and sentence structure.   :gaah:

Alright, discuss the factors in your state that influence the statewide political culture....

That could be as simple as which ethnic groups settled first, which religions have the largest populations. Do you have big conglomerate farms in your state? Who were the big names in your state's history? Yeah, it means you need to research the state before you can even get started on the question, but.. no learning is ever wasted
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rainshadow

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Re: Doubting myself... school help :(
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2012, 06:44:23 PM »

I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed that...

This is gonna be tough... I've only been here three years, and I've left this city maybe a total of 6 times since we've been here, so... it's off to research I go... thanks for the idea BW.

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Tirya

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Re: Doubting myself... school help :(
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2012, 07:17:19 PM »

Yeah, that is kind of a convoluted sentence.  :confused:

For Colorado, you may want to look at the influence that the discovery of gold had on its growth, demographics, and statehood. Do any of those influences still exist today? (For example, in Texas the oil industry is very powerful, because a lot of our revenue and growth is dependent on keeping it happy and productive, so legislation that affects the oil industry is very closely tailored to not piss them off.)

As far as statewide political culture and subcultures, is the state primarily Republican or Democrat? Are there pockets that go "against the majority"? Any ideas of why? How did the state vote in the most recent Presidential election, and were there any anomalies? (For example, Texas is so screamingly Republican that it's nauseating, except for urban centers like Dallas and Austin, and the majority of the border counties which are Democrat: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/states/president/texas.html )

As far as influences on politics in the state, I thought this was interesting. http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/political-geography-colorado/
« Last Edit: August 28, 2012, 07:22:23 PM by Tirya »
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rainshadow

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Re: Doubting myself... school help :(
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2012, 08:16:07 PM »

Thank you Tirya!

I didn't even think about the gold rush out here... and the only other thing I could even think to write about would be the medical marijuana industry or in terms of religion, there's the big fight between Christians and Pagans in this area (the article you posted mentioned the evangelical push down here in Colorado Springs, which is where I live, and it's heavily noticed)... I believe it's a Democratic state (from what our textbook says and it was published in 2009), but again, I'm not big on politics and don't pay much attention to them at all. There's 5 military bases here in one city, not including what's up towards Denver and all of our National Guard/Reserve installations.

I think I'm just going to do a some research and wing the first discussion the best I can... at least it'll establish a baseline and tell me how far off I am. I'm not fond of the instructor (she was kind of rude when we were doing our introductions) or the class, but I have to get through it.  :meditate3:
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I cannot wait for a saviour, my angel is long gone
-Lacuna Coil
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
-Helen Keller
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