Blog #5 - What I Learned

Blog Post #5 – What I Learned

            Within this semester I have learned a lot of information from this course, and I also learned a lot of new information about the group I was assigned to all semester. I want to focus on the top two things I found interesting about the course, and describe them and explain why I found them interesting. Firstly, in September we focused on “Anishnaabek Concept of Society to the People” where this discussion talked about different groups of people and discussed what they thought of them. I found this super interesting because I noticed that Anishnaabek peoples thought so kindly of everyone and they always found good in one another. I am just so used to their always being discrimination towards one another that I thought it was amazing how open they were to everyone and how kind they are to one another. An example of this is people with physical disabilities, this was the group I studied all semester and I found it amazing that they didn’t belittle them or think of them any different from one another. Anishnaabek peoples seen them as a gift from the creator and that people who had disabilities were cared for by the community. Secondly, I found learning about the Ideologies very interesting and beneficial for the course. When we first started learning about them I really didn’t grasp the whole concept on why we needed to know this, but once I started to re-read my notes it all came together piece by piece. I found this all very interesting because I always heard about “Liberal” and “Conservative” but I never knew what it all meant. I learned that by believing in a certain ideology, as an example Liberal, is the reason why you believe in certain social problems differently from someone who believes more towards the Conservative view. This is because the ideology you believe in is how you view the world, all the problems, and how to deal with them. Overall the course and the information I learned was all very interesting and it was a great class to attend.

            The group I studied all semester was “People with Physical Disabilities.” From doing my four blog posts I have learned a lot of information I never knew about. Some of the information was an eye opener and it really hurt to read because I could not believe that this stuff actually went on in life. My favourite blog post was the Veterans Claw Back, this was a huge eye opener to me and I was very, very shocked. The conservative government took away the Veterans and Ex-Soldiers pensions and disability insurance where this lead to the Veterans/Ex-Soldiers families having a really hard time trying to get by and pay for everything that they needed. I was also very upset by the fact that people who have physical disabilities have a really hard time finding work. There are many barriers that stop these people from receiving work. Even if they have their diploma they are still having troubles getting work due to all the barriers they face. In general when studying with this group, I have learned even little things such as how to “say things properly” such as the proper way to speak about someone with a disability is to say “people with disabilities.” Overall everything was super interesting and I’m glad I learned about this because I came in very clueless.

            In conclusion, not only did I learn new information from the course and about the group I was assigned to, but I also learned a lot from the other groups in the class. I found the group presentations very useful and interesting because the presentations also made me realize many other issues that are around the world that I was unaware of. I was very shocked when learning about how many people were affected by poverty and the fact that the government isn’t trying to get them out of poverty but just give them money so then they can get by. However I am happy I took this course because it was all very interesting and even though Social Work is not my major and I will never have a Social Work class again, all the information to me is useful and it is all good information to know and to be aware about. I bet there are many other people who are blind to see all the issues and problems in life just like I was.

Hunter.