General Education Reflection

It is easy to forget that our perception of the world does not capture the whole picture of society. It
is for this reason that an education that extends beyond technical expertise is so important. To gain a
greater understanding of the world, I chose to take courses that I had a lack of knowledge in.

When I was admitted to Iowa State University (ISU), I transferred a class titled Human Geography to
my degree. In the course, I gained a global view of how humans interact with their environment. We
learned about a wide range of topics including the importance of language; agricultural techniques and
their prevalence around the world; religion; ethnicity and race; and global economic development. I
learned about stateless nations, like the Kurds, and how their lack of sovereign land has affected their
relationship with the countries they reside in and international allies like the United States. Having
knowledge of such topics has helped me understand more recent geopolitical events like Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. Furthermore, it helped explain the importance of language on the internet. English
has been the primary language on the internet since its conception. However, code translators are
becoming positions of great importance. With the percentage of Mandarin speaking people on the
internet nearly matching English speakers, there is a potential that the primary language of the internet
might change. Therefore, it will be valuable to my career to understand how increasing diversity in
language might affect software development internationally.

I took Psychology 101, because I wanted a better understanding between myth and fact when it
comes to the human brain. An important thing I learned was the prevalence and importance of bias in
research. This has assisted me in understanding how to avoid allowing bias to disrupt credible research
that I may conduct during my career.

I took Russia Today, to bridge my knowledge of pre-soviet Russia to modern day Russia. It has
helped explain the policy decisions that allow Russians to hack outside their borders without retribution
from their own government. As someone pursuing a career in networking security, this is valuable
information to have. It has also helped me understand more about Russia’s, and by extension Vladimir
Putin’s, place in global politics and in cyber security.

Lastly, I took Economics of Discrimination and its prerequisite course Microeconomics. This has
helped me understand the complexities of analyzing discrimination in the labor force. We covered topics
such as how gender discrimination has formed as society developed. In addition, we also studied how
the wage gap between men and women has formed. This has expanded my understanding of
discrimination in a way I could not have done without proper instruction.

Overall, my general education courses have enlightened me on a variety of global topics. I have
gained a better context for world events and institutions. They have also helped prepare me for future
problems in my engineering career including potential changes in the primary language of the internet,
bias in research, and the politics of Russian hackers. Moreover, I have gained a better understanding of
current events like the Ukraine War and the wage gap. My general education coursework has been
influential on my problem solving by giving me context in which to situate potential solutions.