Favorite class (Rosemary is currently writing from Spain)

The wide variety of teaching mechanisms that my professor used were definitely what kept my interest level high in History 18. From lectures and small group discussions in class, to reading group discussions throughout the semester and movie nights, we were receiving and discussing information both in its historical context and how it related to current problems.

“I have to take how many history classes?” That was my response when I learned that I would have to fulfill a certain number of history requirements at Carolina. I did not enjoy history in high school, and it was definitely not one of my strengths. The thought of being obligated to take history classes in college while there were so many other courses that I found interesting was definitely frustrating.

When it came time to register for classes for the first semester of my sophomore year, I knew that had to fight what I had been avoiding, get down to business, and register for a history class. Determined to find a class I thought I would be able to tolerate, I began doing significant amounts of research. First, I checked the listings of course offerings, and after I had compiled a list of classes that sounded interesting to me, I started asking other students whether or not they had taken any of the classes on my list and if so, whether or not they recommended any of them.

The end result of my extensive investigation was History 18, “The World Since 1945,” which was highly recommended by a number of my friends. When I told my parents, my dad was so excited. He said, “That´s great, I took that class at UNC. I can help you out with everything you need to know.” My mom smiled and gently reminded him that the contents of the course had changed significantly since he graduated from college (a lot can happen in the world in 26 years!!).

History 18 is without a doubt my favorite class that I have taken since I have been at Carolina. The combination of the content of the course and the strength of the professor were what made it so enjoyable. Our professor divided the course material into various sections according to events, so we looked at specific happenings, not necessarily in chronological order, rather than just moving through fifty-eight years of history, which could have been overwhelming and difficult to study and absorb. The lectures were information-packed, and my hand was definitely a little bit sore at the end of class from having written so much, but I knew where to focus my attention before lecture even began because the professor provided a list of key terms and ideas before he began talking each day.

In addition to being very organized and having had designed a well-structured class so students knew exactly how to prepare, the professor was energetic and extremely prepared to discuss any aspect of the course material. The class was relatively small (about 50 students), and we were always encouraged to speak up when we had a question, wanted to state an opinion, or needed to have a particular part of a lecture repeated.

We covered the Cold War, the colonization of Africa, post World War II Germany , the conflict in the Middle East , and a number of other topics. For me, the most interesting topic was the conflict in the Middle East. I knew a little about the current situation in Israel and Pakistan from watching the news, but I understood very little about the historic events that created the problems that exist today.

I felt more confident about my skills to chime into political conversations, whether they were in other classes, with my friends, or at the dinner table with my family because of information I had learned in that class. For me, the indication that a class is good and worthwhile is when I can use the information outside the classroom, and that was definitely the case with History 18!

Most of the history classes at UNC have discussion sections that meet either on a weekly basis or just a few times over the course of the semester. In this class, the discussion sections were designed around reading four novels. The first novel we read was called The Mouse that Roared. It was Cold War satire that ended up being one of my favorite books out of everything I read last year- definitely not what I expected from a novel I had been assigned to read in a history class!!). We met four Fridays over the course of the semester to discuss the novels in groups of about 18 students, and I definitely gained a lot from that aspect of the curriculum.

In addition to the lectures and course reading, we also met for a few movie nights over the course of the semester to watch films that were pertinent to whatever topic we were currently studying.

The wide variety of teaching mechanisms that my professor used were definitely what kept my interest level high in History 18. From lectures and small group discussions in class, to reading group discussions throughout the semester and movie nights, we were receiving and discussing information both in its historical context and how it related to current problems in so many different ways that I never became bored with the class. I guess it´s a good thing after all that UNC has history requirements because if they didn´t exist, I would have missed out on a great experience!