Trista Kleimann

This American National Politics course was the first course that I have taken that has introduced me to the politics of our United States government. Before taking this course I had no idea about politics or what politics were all about. I used to hear my father and grandfather arguing about who should be president during the presidential elections when I was younger. I never understood what the fuss was all about until I actually took this course.

I now understand that if you aren't a follower of politics or you don't know the right questions to ask you may be mislead by other's or by the media. I used to watch the news occasssionally and listen to other's give their opinions, and that is how I would understand political issues. I didn't realize that without knowing what questions to ask specifically, the Five Very Powerful Questions, you could be in the dark as to what is really going on in the world of politics.

I was very surprised to hear that just five television companies control most of the primtime viewing. So after I read that, it really had me thinking about just how much those five companies can control the opinions of millions of Americans. That is why I am so glad to have been given an opportunity to be able to take this course.

I believe the most important aspect of this course that I have learned and read about is the Five Very Powerful Questions. I have learned that if you don't ask these questions, you will never really understand or be able to argue your opinion without being truely informed and could be found ignorant as to what is really going on in our United States Government.

From now on, when I hear a political issue going on in our media, I will always ask myself the Five Very Powerful Questions so I can have a critical mindset and never be caught off guard as to why I feel the way I do about the topic at hand.

 Quantitative Literacy Reflection

It is important for American citizens to be able to calculate mean and median so they can begin to understand statistics, it is also important in order to summarize large amounts of data into simple numbers, which can be easily understood, interpreted, and shown in statistical graphs.  When you are asking questions such as the average of ages in a group, the age which divides the cases into two equal sized groups, or the most common age, these are questions in which are concerned with the central tendency of a group of numbers or data.  Percentages are important to understand for expressing how large/small one quantity is, relative to another quality.  The first quantity usually represents a part of, or change in the second quantity.  Since data can sometimes be inconsistent, turning the numerical amount of a number into a percentage of the whole number will help to show the trend of the data more clearly. 

It is important to understand data in graphs and charts because when you are working with a large amount of numbers or percentages, what you are trying to understand or get someone to understand may get confusing and you may lose the point you are trying to get across.  If all of the numbers you are working with are put into a table or chart, suddenly people understand.  So the use of graphs and charts help people to understand more quickly and help people to see the many comparisons, relationships, or be able to highlight a trend of the data at hand. 

The media has a distinct ideological bias in which they have their own dominant values in which they speak to preserve their own interests and try to frame the minds of citizens by either using positive motivations to get their point of view across to how they see the situation, or by using negative motivations to get their point of view across to how they see the situation.  If citizens could understand that by asking who, what, when, how, why, and asking for quantitative and qualitative evidence they would be able to form their own beliefs on political issues and not be either lead or mislead by neither the politicians or the media’s dominant values or their myths.  If citizens learned to ask for the right questions, and looked at all of the evidence they would be able to form their own political views.  As a citizen, I am able to use my quantitative skills in order to help me understand and evaluate quantitative evidence in order to make a better informed decision on political issues as hand. 

Refelction on American Institutions Essay

          In this course, we were asked to write a 6-7 page essay on a topic listed in the course.  I chose to write my essay on the situation with respect ot the wealth and income gap between the rich and the poor in the United States, and if something should be done about it, or if it  is a healthy part of capitalism. 

           Before I started my research, I thought I already had the answer, that yes there is a problem with income inequality in the United States, and no it's not healthy.  As I started my research, I thought to myself that this is going to be easy, everyone is stating the negative effects of income inequality and that it's not right that there is such a gap between the rich and poor.  The poor are living way below standards of the rich, and the rich don't even care.  But, as I continued to find more and more research, I started to change the way I felt.  The rich are striving to do better, and the better they do, the more the economy grows and gives hope for the poor.

           So if everyone was created equal, there would be no need to strive to do better.  So the poor should take advantage of the continuing technology and the better jobs that the rich are creating for the poor and strive to do better so they can advance up the inequality totem pole and create a economy that is more prosperous.