First Week Reflection

One week at Brown has passed. Already? Only? I can argue both ways. I am so accustomed to life at Brown that it feels like I have been here for months. But on the other hand, one-third of our stay has already gone by, and there are only two weeks of class left. While I feel homesick, I am not ready to leave this wonderful college that I have begun to call my home.

Taking a course at Brown is unlike taking one at a high school. Because I go to Contra Costa College, the course load is not much different. However, in our macroeconomics class, our teacher teaches mostly through PowerPoint due to the advance technology installed in the classroom. Our class also moves at a fast pace so if we don’t understand something, we have to work it out ourselves outside of class. The material we cover is not difficult, but in our scarce amount of time, we have to condense the broad subject into a mere three weeks. It takes a while to process the abundance of information we obtain from each class. Our professor emails us the PowerPoint slides for each lecture. Some people will print them out, but I prefer to take notes during class and refer to the slides if I need them.

College is stricter than high school, although Brown leans to the more lenient side. Unlike in high school, students here don’t have side conversations and actually pay attention when the professor is lecturing. The students in my class are all serious about education and never hesitate to ask thought-provoking questions that sometimes our teacher can’t answer. Our homework for the weekend consists of eleven problems, but each question has multiple parts to it. I have formed a study group with some friends, and we usually go to the Rockefeller Library to do our homework. Working in study groups help me understand the material more than working alone.

For me, macroeconomics is an interesting subject. However, I don’t fancy learning through PowerPoint presentations. I’d rather our teacher lecture by writing on the chalkboard, like he did yesterday. This way, he captures more of my attention and I’m more likely to be engaged in class. Despite my criticism of how our class is taught, I look forward to class every day.