Last Blog as a Billy Goate

Wow, time flew by this semester. For my last blog post I just want to take some time to reminisce you might say. When I started this class I was shocked by the first announcement being that it was an honors course which I previously had no idea of. Then the second bombshell hit, no exams. A joy for sure but definitely left some worries of what would replace it. Luckily, the class was actually one of the best classes I have had and I am glad it all worked out how it did. This blogging was at times very interesting and also on the other hand very time consuming as well. The readings uhhh wow were some of them long and I would read them in the morning and by the time class started I would forget what was in them. The book report was probably the most interesting outside of class thing because it forced me to read and the book was actually one of the most intriguing books I have read. With the activities I learned a lot of lessons, some the easy way and some the hard way. Every single person is different and that's what makes this class so interesting because the theories and reactions to those theories when applied vary from person to person. So, to close out this class, Dr. Goates, it was a pleasure and keep doing what you are doing.

Stay Classy,
Kyle

About the Presentations

All of the presentations went fairly well and I must say that 20 minutes goes a lot faster than what you would think and especially being the last person to talk has its disadvantages. I was standing up there and right as I began to talk the 1 minute sign came up and I was like oh shit time to throw the notecards away. But i'm still pleased with my own group's presentation and I thought everyone did a great job on it too. It was definitely a time consuming project but beats a final any day.

Power Differential

I thought it was very interesting how power is held within the separate groups of society. You think that with the few numbers that the upper groups have the lower groups could easily overtake them and reign free. I mean we pretty much did the same thing against England to gain our independence. The question is why and I think (strictly opinional) that they middle class is really the deciding piece to this. The lower group by far has the numbers and motive to overtake and claim what they want from the top group given they act as a collective whole. But without the helpful hand from the middle group they can't take that step. And I look at it as the middle group yes wants more power but not at the expense of the lower group coming to the same level or rising above them. So instead the middle mediates and does all it can to keep the lower group either low enough that they can't rise or content enough with where they are. The Union is just a way of satisfaction but they don't realize they are also being controlled by the union. Unions unite and also de-unite at the same time. It allows lower class peoples to feel connected but at the same time they are being taken further away from the other unions which contain the rest of their numbers and power.

I just kind of rambled there and i'm not sure if I even said anything worth it but its what was at the surface so i went with it.

A Revisit

After the discussion in class about the exercise we did i was still really confused for some reason. I don't know maybe i'm just use to things that are done like this activity to have an answer like of how it was supposed to go or not go. But Goates made it seem like it could have gone a numerous number of ways and that it was more for his pleasure. It was an experience for sure but I don't think that we (top group) could have changed the outcome unless we turned to a communist style of leadership. I have a feeling that age and experience is going to be the biggest thing to combat in the workplace because most people under you will be with the company longer and probably much older than the new kid fresh out of college. I guess you just gotta stand your ground early prove your power which is primarily what this class as a whole aims to instill within us. The power to lead.