I came in to this class not really knowing what to expect. The class format and structure differed greatly in comparison to Seminar 1. The first seminar focused on bringing out our artistic and creative abilities, while this semester, we were encouraged to deal with facts, figures, graphs, and history. I felt more comfortable with dealing with art, but this change in class environment was a great challenge and was intellectually stimulating.

My personal immigration essay helped me solidify my own thoughts along with my family’s thoughts on how we dealt with our immigration process. When I moved to America, I was still fairly young and I didn’t put much thought into it until now.

The statistical profile assignment was by far the most challenging and tedious assignment. However, I learned a lot from it, especially dealing with facts, graphs, figures, and excel. I’ve attained some valuable skills and it put me outside of my comfort zone.

The interview project was a great experience. I have known my interviewee for a long time, but I did not know much of his background. After the interview, we became a lot closer and I’ve gained much more respect for him. This was my favorite project, by a long shot. Some parts of the assignments, such as the transcription, was tedious, but it wasn’t anything that was overwhelming.

The class setting was also good. Many times, the class was engaged in intellectual debates and it was good to see many different viewpoints being brought up. Although the readings were hard at times, they provided deeper insight into what we were learning.

To iterate, this class was challenging and taught me valuable skills and also pushed me past my comfort zone.

The big assignments that I had to do for this class were tough, but all the more fun. I always like a good challenge and these assignments gave me just that. The personal immigration essay gave me a chance to finally explore and write about my family’s immigration and integration processes, which I did not know much about up to that point, save for their country of origin and year of migration. The statistical profile was a very long one that did not turn out to be as analytical as I had hoped it would, but it did teach me to be more careful in how I write and to always triple or even quadruple-check my work to check for errors and/or possible improvements to be made before submitting it. This assignment also taught me how to find and research data tables from all kinds of sources, including government sources and use Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint in order to add more content to my profile and analysis. The personal interview that I had conducted provided me with a surprisingly eloquent and detailed summary of the struggles of the immigration and integration processes. I also learned to lead my interviewee on more in order to get them to provide more insight on their statements and experiences. In addition, while careful diligence must be exercised when transcribing an interview, it is always alright to get rid of excessive pauses because one pause is always enough to express that the interviewee is thinking of a response.
I enjoyed this course, but I sincerely hoped that what I had learned from here can be applied to many other disciplines and real world experiences. That is the true mark of learning and understanding.

Over the course of the last semester, our class had three main assignment, two of which were practically full length journeys. The statistical profile and interview assignments each took a lot of time and, at times, seemed quite tedious. However, I felt that I learned various important skills from these two assignments: A familiarity with excel and experience in analyzing graphs are two skills I learned from the statistical profile assignment that most definitely will be useful as I move on in life. The interview assignment challenged me to think on my feet, scrutinize familiar material, and have patience.

I think that the statistical profile assignment should have been a group project from the get-go; speaking to my classmates, it seems that we each had our own problems that working together would have made the assignment much more simple. Additionally, I think that the directions for the statistical profile should be a bit more explicit in telling the class that we need to focus on the foreign born. That being said, I have thoroughly enjoyed this seminar.

At first I believed this class might be boring. There’s only so much one can learn about immigration, or so I thought. What we did in this course definitely proved me wrong. The subject matter was made interesting with hands-on learning via projects and walking tours.

My favorite project was the interview with an immigrant. At first I couldn’t think of anyone but thankfully a good friend reminded me that she was a South Korean immigrant and agreed to let me interview her. Thanks to the interview project, I was able to understand her a bit better, why her family moved here, and why she’s so intent on returning one day.

My personal essay was the hardest to write. It was difficult learning about my family. Neither of my parents quite know their family history, they never bothered to ask their parents. However, what little information they did know interested me quite a bit, such as how my family decided to get into America by going through Canada.

The statistical profile was not my favorite project but it wasn’t the hardest. The one part about it that I enjoyed was making graphs on Excel. If nothing else, that’s the one thing my parents drilled into me. The hardest part was finding out why my immigrant group made their way up to New York City. There seemed to be very little information to be found on this.

It was not only just the projects, but also the readings as well that gave an insight into the lives of people I’d never really thought about before. Immigrants make up New York City, they make up our country and this is, without a doubt, a topic people need to be aware of.

This semester, we learned in depth about the immigrants that make up New York
City—their immigration and integration processes. Through conducting interviews
with immigrants and transcribing their texts, developing statistical profiles on
various foreign and native-born groups that make up New York City, and by creating
our own personal immigration stories, we gained skills both inside and outside the
classroom that helped us understand more fully the theories on integration and
immigration that we studied throughout this course.

On this page, you can find our feedback on all aspects of this course. What were our
experiences with each assignment? What did we learn in the process? What did
we like and dislike about these assignments? Will we use these skills gained in the
future? How so? Here, you can find our reflections and thoughts on the different
types of research we conducted this semester in “The Peopling of New York City.”

From the words of my family, there are a lot of smart people in the world, and then there’s us, the people who fight to be recognized as smart. That’s a motto my family has lived by; to keep fighting till everyone recognizes that we belong. From this course I learned that this applies to a lot of immigrant families such as mine. We have come to America to not just be American, but for a better future. For everyone to look at us as equals and to say you belong in the land of the free, because everyone belongs in the land of the free. For different immigrants this simply wasn’t the case. The Irish and Chinese of the early 1900’s knew what it meant to not feel welcomed or wanted, and knew what it took to fight for that here in the United States. But over time, generation after generation, people saw the need to be more accepting, more open, and more aware of the changing times. Yet even today, Mexican-Americans are looked upon as the Irish were over 100 years ago.

In this class I’ve learned it’s too early for us as a society to say that there is an American template. Every day that template changes according to who came through JFK airport yesterday. From interviewing my family to studying and understand the changing ways of an entire immigrant group, I can see that New York is a very special place. We are always open to some one new, even though the rest of the country may not be. But of course as New Yorkers, we always have high expectations of every one around us.

As a class were asked to write a paragraph or two reflecting on the class. In it, we were asked to describe our experiences completing the assignments for this class. The assignments include: the readings, a personal immigration essay, completing a statistical profile, and interviewing a recent immigrant.

Moreover, we had to reflect on what we learned and what we liked, also, on those things we didn’t like. Lastly, we had to think and share how the skills that we learned in this seminar will help us in the future.

I thought this class would be really interesting, and I was right. It was really interesting. I live about 30 minutes from New York City, and I guess it’s just one of those things you take for granted, like you don’t really think about it or how it came to be there all that much. So learning about the history of this city, the people that comprise this city, and immigration and integration in New York was a really eye-opening experience.

I really, really enjoyed writing the immigration essay and interviewing my great-aunt for my interview project. I spoke to family members about our own personal experiences, and I learned about the humble, harsh beginnings of new lives in America. I spoke to my great-aunt for one of the first times, and I learned all about how she traveled between many countries in Europe, and finally settled in America, where she immediately felt at home. I learned about my grandmother, who came to America with just one suitcase, and had to learn a new language and struggle to make a living, so eventually I could have a better life here.

I struggled with the stastical profile. I don’t like numbers or graphs, and that’s probably why this was my lowest grade. I dreaded working with Excel and other forms of technology, and I will probably hate technology for the rest of my life. But I did enjoy the challenge, and this class certainly challenged me not only technologically, but also to expand my thinking and my view of New York City. When I pass by different immigrants, I can think about what kinds of difficulties they have or may currently face, what kind of discrimination or inequalities they may have faced, and my own role as a citizen of the United States.

My initial thought for this IDC class was that “peopling” is a horrible word. Frankly, it evokes the slightly repulsive image of meiosis. It is a clumsy present participle that sounds like “toppling,” and no one uses it in every-day conversation, let alone a course title, for good reason.

However, I’ve always loved history and I’m a second-generation Korean-American. I figured this class had to easy, awkward name or not. Imagine my excitement when I found out how much time-consuming, dense reading (congested with words even worse than “peopling”) there was! Nonetheless, we could bring the readings into class discussions, which often turned into entertaining debates. We were encouraged to voice our thoughts, no matter how ridiculous, and that is honestly what makes American education so distinctive.

Additionally, I loved writing my personal essay. I had never talked to my parents about their pasts before and it was humbling hearing how difficult it was to come to America with only $600. I was shocked to learn that my mother was so disillusioned of the American Dream, that she took my brother and went back to Korea for a year. If she hadn’t come back, I would have never been born, which certainly put my life in a different perspective.

My statistical profile was another story. It literally put me in tears and I have (almost) no shame in admitting that. I was absolutely Microsoft Excel illiterate, but with the help of Ben the ITF, I got through it alive. I know I will have to use this maddening program again in my life, so this was a constructive introduction.

The interview project was also constructive in that I got to hear another immigrant’s fascinatingly unconventional story, which didn’t fit any of the theories in the readings. Academics can try to categorize people all they want, but people always have been and always will be both capricious and resilient.

Macaulay should really change the title of this course to give the subject matter the justice it deserves.

Being that IDC was my favorite course my first semester at Baruch, I had high expectations for the Peopling of New York City, to say the least. I anticipated learning both inside and outside the classroom through various trips and outings, expected to challenge my intellect and delve deeper into areas of study that were once foreign to me, and I dreamt about considering IDC 3001 my new favorite course. As far as my expectations being met, not only were they met, but they far surpassed anything that I could have ever imagined.

Yes, the assignments and projects assigned throughout this course were time consuming and tedious, challenging and grueling. They included hundreds of email threads between the professor, ITF and myself which were always attended to in a timely and most helpful manner. The assignments though did teach me valuable skills that I can only predict will help me in all areas of study. Specifically, the interview project is one most memorable assignment I completed. Getting to know an immigrant’s story and struggle in depth, and typing up an exact transcript of our interview was something I never thought I’d be able to do, and never expected would teach me such skills as patience, time management and analytical skills. Additionally, the statistical profile, although never ending and filled with numbers, confusing and perplexing at times taught me how to edit my work thoroughly and meticulously, and how to properly read and analyze data tables which I know I will encounter throughout my studies in the future.

All in all, the skills learned in this course will without a doubt advance me in the rest of my studies here at Baruch. Throughout this process, I learned about the history of our country, specifically New York City, learned about the people who make up this city, and most importantly, I learned more about myself. All this was done under the guidance of an ever so helpful professor who guided me in every move I made (literally every move throughout these projects) and through many means of multimedia and outings.

We have made it quite far.

IDC3001H has been a roller coaster (insert dramatic tear drop). Like the immigrants that have made up this New York City melting pot, we all started out from different backgrounds, and the experiences we’ve had in this class united us all. It was great getting to know everyone in the class, and seeing the diverse personalities emerge. I received very helpful feedback from my friends in the class.

My favorite project, by far, was the immigration narrative. I felt like I got to know my grandmother a lot better, while going through a real, personal perspective of what NYC  life was like in the 1960’s – 1970’s. (And I was really proud that my paper won first place in a contest).

I really liked the tenement tour as well. Seeing tenement life up close and personal really made me feel like I was immersed in the history. Life was definitely hard for women raising multiple children especially; what struck me the most is that destitute mothers were accidentally feeding their children toxic milk, which would eventually kill the babies. Also, seeing the many layers of wallpaper chipping through was like looking into the past.

The slides were consistently informative. They were helpful because they contained much more than bullet points – they had helpful links and videos, pictures, comparison charts, graphs, quotes, and interesting discussion questions. I believe that the slides, along with the professor’s comments and students’ input, allowed me to get a 360 degree view of the topic being discussed.

In my opinion, the lectures really focused on the history of immigration, with some mentions of how specifics groups are currently doing. I would have loved to learn more about what is going on today with immigrant groups, specifically how they are contributing to the economy, technology, schools, etc. A lot of what we learned encompassed a political and sociological perspective, like involvement with the government and how certain groups/immigrants are being treated. This is fine, however, because I feel like I have a thorough knowledge of this field.

I really like the layout of the site – it is crisp, clean, and highly organized. There are no unnecessary distractions, and everything has a place. I would not change anything about the site.

It was great getting to know all of you! Everyone in this class is so intelligent and unique–you all bring something different to the table. Like a thanksgiving feast. Everyone shares in the communal feast of knowledge. (Okay, this is getting a little too deep now. Clearly its that time of night. )

On that note, I wish everyone the best of luck next semester and in the next seminar! Who’s going to join me in that friday class? WOO!

I didn’t know what to expect out of this immigration course. Although I enjoy most things New York City related, I had a tendency to find immigration topics very boring. Although some of the theories we learned in this course were a bit tedious, they were necessary to the more enjoyable aspects of the course. For one, I really enjoyed the interview project. I found it a great educational experience. I also found it a great way to personalize a lot of that “tedious” information I learned towards the beginning of the semester. As much as I don’t like to admit it, the skills I learned in the statistical profile project are very important. Excel is no longer my sworn enemy! Once again, applying something I learned earlier in the year became important and enjoyable. Overall, I found this course to be engaging and interesting.

I am a science-minded girl, so I usually don’t relate to or enjoy politically styled classes. To be honest, I was dreading IDC. Which is why I am so surprised by how much I loved it! I learned so much, about myself, my city, and my Country. I don’t look at people in the street the same way anymore; I understand that they each have a story.

My favorite assignment this semester was the personal story. I interviewed my grandmother for it, and I learned so much about myself and where I come from that I never would have known otherwise. Now, I am an adult. I know all of the family secrets (or at least I think I do!)

My least favorite assignment of the semester was the statistical profile assignment. Not because I didn’t learn a lot, just because of how tedious it was. Still, if I had to do it again, I would- the insight I gained was well worth the pain of gaining it.

I will definitely use the skills I gained in this class into the future. The interview assignment taught me how to ask personal questions, an invaluable skill for any profession (including motherhood). And, knowing how to work excel definitely can’t hurt!

This class had a very positive impact on my life, and I am grateful to have been a part of it.