Understanding Government: A Personal Journey

I have not taken a civics, government, or social studies class since I was in High School, back in 1992-1996. I can honestly tell you that I was not interested in those types of classes, even though I did well in them! This class, however, was different. I am not sure if it was because I am older or if the book and other martials were more effective, but I feel that I have learned a great deal about our government from this course.

I have learned a lot about how our government works, but most importantly why the government was set up the way it is. I enjoyed the textbook, Keeping the Republic, by Christine Barbour. My co-workers and I would go through the book just to look at all of the graphs, Snapshot of America and the Big Picture parts in the book. We all found it fascinating! By having them sprinkled throughout the book, it gave a nice visual to help understand the data and broaden our understanding of how the government works.

I liked that the discussions were more of a “discussion” and not just another assignment. I felt that they were more opinionated and I really enjoyed that. I liked reading what everybody else’s opinions were and how they felt about certain issues. I felt that was not alone in how I feel about how the government is being run or just about the government in general. With the weekly quiz assignments, I appreciated how quickly you got back to me and all the additional information you gave. I felt that you took the time and effort to read and then to respond, not just pass a grade. Truth be told, it was actually