Before this class, I knew about the housing crisis in New York City, but I did not know about it in great detail, nor did I know about shift from finance to technology or the crisis facing local shopping streets. This class has taught me to ask questions like: what should public housing look like, who should be eligible for public housing, should there be rent control, what are community boards, should they get more power, how has New York City shifted from a finance dependent sector to a technology dependent sector, what are the benefits of New York City becoming technology, what are employment prospects for New York City, what are problems facing local shopping streets, and many more questions that arose during this course. What is even more amazing is that I know how to answer these complicated questions with regards to zoning, affordability, gentrification, local city government, and many more themes that we discussed in class. All this is so relevant because I live in New York City and this is the city I hope to one day live, work, and shop in. This class taught me the importance of keeping up with local government, the importance of my vote, and that if we want to see a change in our city, we have to be the change. We (Macaulay and all other New York City college students) are the future of our city and if we hope to see a change in our home, we have to be that change. We have to get involved in our local community boards, pay attention to what our mayor purposes for the city, and the effects of those actions. And the only way we can do that is by being educated first. The things I learned in this class will absolutely play a roll in how I view our local political leaders and therefore, the vote I have to elect them. The issues and themes in this class are so vital because these issues are happening right where I live and affecting many others and myself. In addition, an important part of a being in a democracy is knowing the issues facing others and what can be done to alleviate or solve these issues.
During our discussion about the umbrella concept of diversity, the other students taught me the importance of being educated about other cultures and religions other than my own, and more importantly, being respectful of them. I know that might seem like something that is already known, but to discuss such an important topic in a college setting, in a respectful way, and proposing ideas and possible solutions to prevent terrorist attacks with my peers made me feel a part of a larger conversation happening. Being educated about such an important topic and ways to be respectful of people that are different than you just seems like something all adults should know, and something members of a functioning society should know.
A major theme (to me) in this class was society, and how housing, the economy, and shopping affect our society. However, this class taught me about the responsibilities I have to my society. It feels like it is my civic duty to know about the issues, cultures, religions, and government happening in my society. This came threw in my fellow Macaulay students’ presentations at the common event. Unfortunately, the session I was in seemed more applicable to the “How we work” team. They spoke about the city’s shift from finance to technology, Silicon City, and Silicon Valley (though they didn’t speak about Civic Hall). It was very interesting to see what my fellow Macaulay students thought about the city’s dependence on the tech sector via Bloomberg’s administration (if I remember correctly) and how this would affect New York City’s future. They predicted an increase in tech jobs. However, I don’t mean to brag about our class in particular, but I believe we talked about how this will affect the city’s future more in depth. We talked about what this will mean for people working outside tech jobs, coding, specialized intense classes to teach people how to code, and the program that might take effect in grades K – 12 to teach students how to code, and Civic Hall as a collaborative workspace. I think the other Macaulay students would have benefited from our trip to Civic Hall, to see how technology is affecting how we work today.
I can go on for pages talking about what this class taught me, and I’m afraid no matter how much I write, I won’t be able to do it justice. This class really taught me about responsibilities as a young adult, a member of a functioning society, and the importance of understanding the current events around me. I wouldn’t change a thing about the class. I hope that the future Macaulay students will be able to go on the same trips and do the interviews as well. I also really appreciated the way the course was split into how we live, how we work, and how we shop, and that each group still needed to keep up with the material covered by the other groups. However, I wish that we were able to discuss topics such as the environment (maybe not so much because this is discussed in seminar III), diversity, and urban terrorism more in depth. I really appreciated that my group stood out of the other groups presenting during my session, but incorporating the environment, diversity, and urban terrorism would set our class so far apart from the others and really make us unique.
