Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Genedreflection
Genedreflection
classes, though admittedly it was only done to keep my schedule interesting. However,
once I started taking courses outside of the engineering program, I realized the actual
value behind these courses; at the end of the day, these classes exposed me to the
complex foundational concepts that modern society is built upon. Without taking these
courses and gaining exposure in a college setting, while I believe I would learn about
many of the topics covered in these general education courses eventually, I don’t think I
would have the critical thinking necessary to understand what these courses taught.
At Iowa State University, one of the general education requirements was a U.S.
America, which I still hold to be one of the most informative courses I’ve taken in my
time here. As an engineer after college, it should be expected to work as part of a team,
member of a team, there needs to be a base level of understanding between other team
members, and understanding core facets of one another's cultures is a great way to
This religions course, RELIG 210, covered the major religions practiced in the
United States, as well as the major sects within those religions. The course also
covered some of the less popular religions that were founded in America, and
throughout the course studied not only how these religions impacted world history, but
also how they interacted with one another. While religion in the United States is often
treated as a personal matter within a professional setting, for many people across the
world, religion is an extremely important aspect to their personal identity. While this
course was important for teaching me about religions, the most important takeaway for
me was learning about how to learn about a religion. This deeper understanding is
the world was HIST 441, a study of modern Mexico and Central America. This course
covered an extensive history of Central America from the end of Spanish colonial rule to
present day, and for me built a deeper understanding of many of the societal issues at
impacts their present and future. While that sounds like an extremely basic concept, all
too often only the current state of countries are discussed and the factors that lead to
I’ve been taught in several other courses at Iowa State that stopping at a surface level
understanding simply is not enough. While simple problems are extremely common,
both in the world and the workplace, the ability to take time to understand what causes
As my time in college reaches its end, I can confidently say that my time spent
taking general education courses was time well invested. While on a base level these
courses helped me realize some of my passions, such as an interest in ancient history,
on a deeper level these courses helped me develop skills essential to being a better
engineer. Perhaps the most important takeaway from these courses, though, is a desire
to just keep learning. The best engineers are those who are willing to keep developing
new skills, to keep improving and not stay stagnant, and these courses taught me how