Madison Smith

France McCue
What We Know
7 December 2014
End of Quarter Reflection

When I walked into our classroom, I remember being slightly out of breath after
scrambling to find the right classroom. Inside, there were a few students already sitting behind
desks. Instantly, I was plagued with insecurities. Who were these students? I was already
nervous because of the expectations on me. I knew this class was going to be a bit different
from the rest of my classes and I was curious about this class and the topic 'What We Know and
How We Know It.'
On the first day, we shared our frustrations with group projects and group discussions. I
believe this ultimately set the tone for the class. I found that I shared a lot of group project
frustrations with other students, and at the same time was even guilty of being the source of a
few of these frustrations. I think this exercise made me more aware of myself and aware of the
bigger world and how those two awarenesses fit together. This awareness inevitably led to
some new discoveries about myself during the duration of the quarter.
One of the first activities that made me question myself was reading The Four Ways of
Being Right. This article describes four different types of 'truths' which change with one's
worldview. Before reading this article, I had never previously thought of 'truth' in this particular

manner, yet I found that the paper made a lot of sense. I knew that some people tend to
believe in something because 'that's the way it has always been' while other people believe in
something because a new study defended their opinion, yet I had never viewed these ways of
looking at the world as 'truths.' I think it is tempting to claim that one worldview is better or
'more correct' than another. However, once one labels this worldviews as 'truths' it becomes
apparent that there is no 'right' answer and this ultimately made me question my own truth
and how that truth came to be. Looking back, I realize that this is what this class explores- how
our truths came into being and why we believe in that particular truth.
Other influential moments occurred when our class took the time to self-reflect.
Throughout my academic history, I have often been so involved in the nitty gritty details of the
class that I did not take the time to step back and view the course as a whole. Usually this
results in struggling to see the general picture of the material learned in class. This was
something I had never realized about myself until I was forced to take a step back in this class.
As a result, not only did I better understand the connections between the material, it also
helped me connect the course content to the larger world. By stepping back and seeing the
larger themes at work, I bettered my own ability to make connections outside the class to the
material presented in readings, by guest speakers, in class discussions, ect.
However, what was particularly effective about these reflections was the emphasis on
ourselves in the context of classroom. Many classes focus on learning and how a student learns
best, however it is a unique class that focuses the interactions within the classroom and how
each student responds to the classroom setting. I believe this approach is particularly relevant
for our freshman class because as we step up into the new world of college, it makes sense to

spend some time focusing on ourselves in the context of the classroom and how we must
interact and learn differently in college than we did high school.
Throughout the duration of this class, I also learned about writing for different
audiences. In high school my teachers said to be aware of my audience. However, my audience
was always peers with the same set of knowledge as my own. Hence, I never truly thought
about my audience. But through this class, I have realized its importance. I know now that the
audience of the paper can have a drastic effect in how a paper is received. For example, the
Karen Armstrong piece is a relatable paper and has the power to truly change the common
opinion of Islam. Meanwhile, Uri Rubin's piece has the same potential, except to a more
selective audience. This often goes against what we are taught- that by stating something in
greater detail and using jargon specific to the topic, our writing is somehow 'better'. Sure, in
order to explain sophisticated ideas, one has to use somewhat sophisticated vocabulary. But by
writing at a high level to fit the academic mold, we actually discriminate against those not in the
academy. By holding these ideas back, the ideas fail to reach those who often have the greatest
power change our culture. Therefore, I learned that the audience has a much greater say in
how a paper is written than I previously gave it.
In terms of a group setting, I believe that my group projects in this class reflect more of
what I believe teachers envision of group projects. It has been a peculiar transition from the
high school group projects. In high school, I usually had to make the choice between taking
most of the responsibility or suffering. In college, each group I have been in has been distinctly
different than those in high school. Instead of a single person taking leadership and the other
people taking a subordinate role to the person in charge, everyone is concerned about not only

finishing the project on time, but are also concerned with the quality of the project.
Consequently, this quarter has been lesson in relaxing and trusting other members to do their
work. On the other hand, I do think that this class reinforced the quiet side of myself that I saw
at the beginning of the quarter. The constant flow of well-articulated ideas and new
perspectives can seem somewhat daunting, especially since I have not spent a lot of time
speaking in front of groups.
Throughout this course, I have learned that what we know is largely based on one's field
and the manner in which that field requires its scholars to think. For example, in philosophy
unit, it was brought up by Descartes that we do not know anything beyond the fact that we are
capable of thought and that God must exist because he is perfect and we are not. Hence,
philosophical knowledge is often collected through logic and imagination. In religious studies,
scholars examined old manuscripts and artifacts in order to understand more about their field.
Therefore, religious studies broached a much more analytical method of thinking and knowing.
Different ways of thinking are often developed by different fields which require a certain way of
thinking. In order to understand the world fully, it makes sense to study a variety of subjects
because the world is composed of infinite disciplines.
In the end, I believe this class has also made me more aware of myself, whether it be my
contributions to group work, my contributions to a class discussion, my worldview, the lenses in
which I view the world and how my lenses might differ from the scientist or the geographer
beside me. This class had taught me, through our intelligent and innovative guest speakers, that
what we study and our field often define the lenses in which we view the world. Therefore we
must be aware of the fields that we are studying and how those compare to others.