HIST 100: Engineering The Past

Reflection

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Looking back not just on this History 100 course but my whole college career thus far I have mixed emotions. I feel as if there are some courses that I have taken where I could honestly say I’m ready for the real world and have a better understanding of that subject. On the other hand I have experienced some classes where I do not feel the same. Nonetheless my work habits have greatly improved. I also feel my time management is better off where I could handle being out in the real world. I think overall my college experience has been good; professors all have been great at empowering us as students. I feel confident moving forward in my life right now even though I still have one more year to go. BSU has taught me a lot and has helped me grow as a student and as an individual.

 

As far as this course being online I think it is doable. Elective courses or 100 level classes I like being able to have the choice to take it online. Personally it fits my schedule better if I can get a couple classes online. With that being said the context of this course is a bit hard to teach online. Some of the assignments were difficult, and I’m sure hard to present to us through videos online. This course in particular I do think it is better off taught face to face. I think it would make it easier for the students to get a better grasp of some of the topics we have learned. You made yourself available as a professor enough for all to succeed, I just think that with some of the content of this class it would have been easier to understand if I were sitting in class for an hour. All in all I had a good experience and think this class is better off face to face, but at the same time think it is doable if you had to take it online.

Beliefs

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Daniel Hudson Burnham in this book is the protagonist, through out the book you see the way he changes with his values and beliefs. Early on in the book page 19 “The boy proved to have a severe case of test anxiety.” Later on in that same passage we learn that Harvard and Yale would soon turn him down. Now Burnham has had some great success, he is an architect that is doing well is a planner for the fair that is soon approaching. As we see early in the book Daniel is a family man, committed, strong willed, and used his confidence to get where he is at without having the education from Yale or Harvard. As we skip further into the book page 128 “ Burnham saw his family rarely now.” This quote leads me to believe that the more he is working to make this fair the best. It’s starting to seem like the family man value is starting to diminish.

 

Frederick Olmsted works along side Root and Burnham in the planning of the fair. He does landscape and architect, we know that he is well known from the work that he does because he is well credible. The values and beliefs that Olmsted has to me are interesting. It seems like he needs to prove himself even though he is well thought of in his profession. We understand that the planning of the fair is something that he is very serious about because he believes it will make him more well known.

 

Now Holmes, as we all know is another main character that Larson ties in with the book. He is a killer and is very interesting looking into his beliefs. On page 85 “Holmes’ new idea was to turn his building into a hotel for visitors to the world’s Columbian Exposition…” His belief and values are simple, he believes he’s a killer. He values that because he is putting the thought that people are going to need a place to stay and is going to open his house. It was a perfect way from him to lure his victims in. A cheap place to stay for the fair seems like a good idea, little did they know they were staying with a murderer. Holmes is a very smart killer and in the book you realize that he truly believes he was brought to earth to kill. It is a belief that he carries all through out the book and sadly enough it never changes.