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Japnam Jassal
Honors 1000
Reflective Essay
My experience in Honors 1000 has taught me about a wide range of topics that will be
applicable in my professional life. I have lived in metro Detroit for the majority of my life, but I
never really knew anything about Detroit besides it being the Motor City. Overall, this course
has been a great learning experience as it taught me about the hallmarks of the American city,
and a history of Detroit.
Honors 1000 has removed certain preconceived notions I previously had about Detroit
and informed me about important points in Detroits history. I now know how factors like racial
tensions and economic downturn have led to the decline of the city. The course highlighted ideas
that apply to both Detroit and American society as a whole. The discussions in the seminar were
informative and allowed me to critically analyze the ideas in the readings. The honors seminar
enforced my critical thinking ability by encouraging me to find possible solutions to Detroits
urban decline by acknowledging the underlying problems of the city. I really enjoyed learning
about major themes like social capital, personal mobility, and suburbanization. Furthermore, this
course has made me realize that, as a student at Wayne State University, I have a civic
responsibility to be involved and take an active role to try to improve Detroit.
I think this course has affected my future goals in that I should be more aware of
societys problems, be more involved, and seek to find solutions to helping Detroit. I have
realized the importance of reflecting upon history as it serves to help us progress as a
community. However, reflection shouldnt solely be about recognizing mistakes; it should lead
us to creating plans to avoid making similar mistakes and also solve any problems we may still

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face. I hope to apply the knowledge that I gained in this course to my future career. I want to
become a physician, and in the future I hope to be actively involved in trying to improve
environmental problems and healthcare wherever I live.