General Education Reflection

When I decided to get a degree in electrical engineering, I thought all the important

information would come from my core technical classes but I never expected that I’d learn so

much from my general education classes. I’ve had to take 15 credits of general education

electives throughout college and I’ve enjoyed all of them. These classes give students a way to

express their interests by choosing classes and also give them a lot of value information in a

fresh unfamiliar form.

My first general education that I took was Psychology 101. I think this class is one every

college student should take at some point in their education. In this class you can learn a lot

about yourself by realizing how your brain works. There are also many social implications and

some of the things I learned in this class have made me a better communicator and have helped

me become a much better critical thinker. These skills are extremely important and also

extremely versatile so they will help me do almost anything better. One way communication

would be important in my future would be when I have to talk to my clients or bosses about

projects or things that I’m working on. And of course as an engineer, critical thinking is one of

the most important skills you can have. This class taught me a lot about how the brain learns and

from that I’ve been able to apply it to how I learn during lectures and how I study for tests to

make the information “stick” better.

As part of my general education requirements, I also had to take a US diversity and

International perspective class. For my US diversity class, I took HD FS 276 and for my

international perspective class I took MUSIC 102. Both of these classes taught me a lot about the

world we’re living in outside of electrical engineering. In HD FS I was able to learn about social
issues in a diverse environment. This allowed me to recognize new different opinions from other

people that I hadn’t previously been aware of. Sometimes people’s opinions differed on subjects

and our professor had to be accepting of every response. From this I was also able to learn how

you have a professional argument with others even if you have polar opposite values. In MUSIC

102 I learned a lot about music listening. Music is something we hear everyday whether we even

realize it or not. It is and always has been a huge cornerstone of societies. I learned how to

appreciate music for each individual instrument instead of the collective sound. This has given

me a much better experience when listening to music and taught me a lot that I can also apply to

electrical engineering. For example, just like in music, engineers use a bunch of different parts to

work together to create something greater. In the future, I can take the same skills that I learned

and apply it to electrical devices that I’m working on to learn more about its individual

components and how they work.

Lastly I have taken HSP M 383 which is Introduction to Wine, Beer, and Spirits. From

this class I learned a lot about different types of alcohol and how to serve them. One main skill

that I took away from this class was learning about the business side of alcohol sales. For

example certain techniques and methods that are utilized when serving alcohol to maximize

profits. I also have a much better understanding of alcohol and how it can have an appropriate

role in life.

Looking back on my general education classes, I never thought I’d learn so much about

myself and how I can be better in my career. General education classes give students the freedom

to learn about topics that interest them without any requirements or contingencies. This is very

important because it allows students the opportunity to learn important skills in an environment

that they are interested in.