What Youth Are Saying About Humanities

What do you enjoy most about Humanities class?

1. I really like the books we have read and the discussions we’ve had on them.
2. This is a hard question because I enjoyed different things more at different points.
3. The discussions! In each class, students get a chance to exchange thoughts and ideas centered on the readings. Furthermore, they were heavily encouraged to practice their interdisciplinary skills by relating the readings to other concepts and media. Because the mechanisms of these discussions were so well-structured, I would often reach a new epiphany or perspective after each class.
4. Learning more in-depth and being able to talk about God in class.
5. The discussions we have in class, they help me pole out great principles and to bring knowledge into my everyday conversations.
6. Learning how to think deeply, find principles, and read challenging books.

What is most challenging about the class? How did you handle it?

1. For me, the most challenging thing about the class is not procrastinating on the readings. I have tried to handle this by starting the next reading as soon as I can after I finish the current one.
2. It's a time-intensive class. It takes a lot of time to do all the readings and writing reflections always took me a long time. I got a lot out of taking the time though.
3. Consistently reading long and sometimes complex books. Many of the books and poems we read through the semester were decently old and long. This meant one often had to reserve more time than expected to read through and understand the readings. Without reading or understanding the books, one could not contribute much to the discussions or learn much for yourself. To remedy this, I found it helpful to schedule your reading and/or your writing time each day at the same time. This way, I would not forget or run out of time before an assignment was due.
4. The reading. The way I handled it was just looking ahead and planning so then I could stay caught up and not feel overwhelmed.
5. It is the most challenging when I need to read a really hard book because of all its falsehoods and the evil spirit that comes from their actions or belief's that they have, but when those books come I like to spend more time reading the scriptures than that book so that I have the spirit of God with me instead of the yucky one that comes from the book.
6. Participating in discussions. You have to spend a significant amount of time on each assignment in order to understand it enough to come up with questions for the assignment. Sharing the things you learned is hard because it doesn’t always come outright. It is also hard sometimes to understand the message other people are trying to get across.

What are the discussions like?

1. The discussions are deep and require me to think. Most of the time we stay on topic but when we don’t we still have a great discussion.
2. It's possible to participate in the discussions without doing the reading when talking about broad topics. Offering an idea with some supporting evidence like a personal experience can direct the discussion in interesting ways. That said, it's much better to come to the discussions prepared. You'll be able to enjoy the discussions more and contribute more if you've done the reading, annotated in your book, written your reflections, and already thought of questions to talk about related to the reading.
3. Each discussion felt organic. They begin on one topic and often ended in on an entirely different one. Instead of a simple knowledge-based question-and-answer list, students get almost complete autonomy to guide conversations centered around quotes and ideas from the readings.
4. I like the discussions when we talk about each other's quotes and questions.
5. The discussions are a lot of fun and I learn a lot from them because they are sometimes about deep topics, liberty, and principles and sometimes just fun topics that you can still learn from.
6. Everyone brings questions to class and we go down the list trying to answer them and dig deeper into what each one can teach us. Some of the discussions were way over my head.

What do you feel you gained from the readings?

1. I have learned how to read hard books and learn from them. I have become better at retaining what I have read and I have been able to tie it in better.
2. I gained different things from different readings. Overall, the readings helped me to feel less intimidated about reading inaccessible texts. I feel more comfortable being uncomfortable and stretching myself. I really liked the accountability inherent in this class to do the readings. There are a lot of books that I want to read that I haven't sat down and read, but I got to read a lot of excellent literature through humanities class.
3. The carefully selected readings for this course have had a deep impact on my life. Almost every book I've read through this course, whether I've personally enjoyed it or not, has taught me lessons I can apply in my everyday life. The chosen literature for this course illuminates the perspectives, zeitgeist, and lessons from the past that remain relevant to this day.
4. Knowledge of things that happened in the past and being able to prevent them from happening again.
5. I gained a lot, and one thing I gained was how to not follow the same mistakes as those in the past and how to take the good they have to make me better and to bring back up to my arguments and proof to what I say so that it is not just an idea without support.
6. Understanding of how to read other hard books. The principles are worth the work of getting through the assignment.

How did you feel about the pace of the reading?

1. think the pace of the readings, while it feels fast, is at just the right place for the most growth.
2. I felt like the pace of the reading was good. It's reasonable to read 20-50 pages a day. I think it's good preparation for college. I can understand how this might be overwhelming if you have other classes that are also reading-intensive.
3. The pace of the reading was easily manageable once you got used to it. Depending on the book, I could complete my daily readings anywhere from 15-45 minutes. Since the reading pace could be slower, I often had time to go deeper into the readings with other sources.
4. Last year I thought it was really good.
5. For the most part, it is a good pace, though at times it was a little fast, nothing I couldn't handle if I worked for it.
6. It was difficult but good because it made you stay focused and on track.

In what ways have the humanities classes helped you?

1. I have become a better debater because of the discussions and the knowledge I’ve gained from the readings.
2. Humanities classes gave me an opportunity to practice thinking on my feet. The readings challenged me and made me think about things in new ways. The discussions were exciting and I loved relating literature to our lives. I liked hearing different people's perspectives. I think humanities classes sharpened my logic and critical thinking skills. They helped me learn how to analyze and articulate. I also feel like reflection is a tremendously important part of learning and that part of my educational philosophy was probably heavily influenced by humanities class.
3. I have learned how to present my thoughts clearer and more concisely. I feel more comfortable with public speaking. I learned how to tackle difficult books. I've learned how to formulate my own ideas from literature. I can debate and discuss more comprehensibly. Finally, I have gained a deeper respect for a real liberal arts education.
4. It has helped me to see others point of views
5. It has helped me be a better thinker, to bring proof to my arguments, and pole out the good in the world, and recognize the bad and what I can do against it.
6. I have recognized the topics we are studying in other aspects of my life and has helped me understand things I need to improve on.

If you could change anything about the class what would it be and why?

1. I think if I could change one thing about the class it would be to have everybody share their thoughts. I feel that most of the time theirs only 5-6 of us who fully participate in the discussion. I think that if everybody shared we’d all get more out of it.
2. I'm not sure the best way to articulate this, but I think the method of moving from book to book works better for studying literature than history. Sometimes, I felt like classmates represented an entire time period in their minds with one person and their literary work that we read. I wish there was some type of way to ground the literature in a historical timeline and present various, including opposing, figures that lived in the same time period. The historical context of a piece was usually covered as a short lecture in class time which probably made it easy to compartmentalize or forget because we had reflections only for the reading. I think a more robust historical analysis using textual evidence would be beneficial. (Mentor’s thoughts: Humanities is not a study of chronological history, but a study of ideas and truths and how to become a better individual because of our study. It is true that a contextual study of history would be beneficial.)
3. Make study groups more a part of the class. I think expressing your ideas in class is the most formative aspect of this course. It gives you a chance to exercise your knowledge, think aloud, and hear other perspectives. However, we have a limited amount of time in class. I've found that incorporating student-led study groups is a perfect remedy to this issue. Study groups provide additional time dedicated to class topics and a more casual environment where students are more likely to participate.
4. I wouldn't change anything.
5. I would read more books like the Hiding place that are good edifying books, though it is important to read the hard books and there would not need to be much changing to add those in because there are those books and it does not need to add those books and change to be amazing I learn a lot from those hard books they should not be taken out.
6. Maybe call on a few people specifically in class that don’t talk much to answer questions. Might encourage people to talk more.

How would a youth know when they are ready for this class?

1. When they want a challenge that will make them grow.
2. I think someone is ready for this class if they are confident they can regularly turn in assignments and they understand how to communicate with an instructor and classmates to ask for help when it is needed. If you are unable to ask for help when you need it, then you can develop learning gaps you aren't even aware of. You should be a confident and curious reader who is willing to devote at least half an hour a day to reading for this class. You should also be comfortable with basic reading comprehension and analysis and writing at least a paragraph in response to question prompts.
3. I think that you can tell when you mature enough to handle the reading.
4. When they choose to read harder books on their own and are responsible enough to take charge of their own learning (not being reminded to do homework).
5. Hunger for a liberal arts education. Be at a higher level of reading comprehension where you know you can (somewhat) understand higher-level readings. Confident enough at expressing your ideas in a group.

What advice do you have for the youth that are about to take this class?

1. Study hard, participate, and be ready to learn!
2. Approach a text with an open mind. Allow the reading to surprise you. Try to temper your expectations or assumptions about what the text might be saying until you have the full context. Be willing to look to other sources for additional information to help you interpret the text. It's helpful to look up terms you don't understand or situate a text within the context of the time period. Reading a summary before you read the text can be helpful for comprehension.
3. Regular study groups are a great opportunity to explore the texts and topics covered in a humanities class in more depth. They can be a really great way to practice speaking up and help you become more comfortable talking in class. They can be a great way to connect with your classmates and learn more about their experiences and perspectives. They are also very helpful for preparing for assessments.
4. You get what you put in. Participate in class discussions. Annotate in your books. Take time to write detailed reflections on the reading.
5. Don't be afraid to look or feel stupid. I can't tell you how many times I have held back a thought in a discussion or an assignment because I thought it did not add anything, but that was my loss. How can you grow without feeling understanding you're probably wrong about a lot of things? This class's culture is incredibly welcoming and understanding. I'd describe it, for lack of a better word, as a safe space. Give yourself enough time in the week to complete your assignments on time. It might be tempting to postpone your reading and writing till the last day (or hour), but it is much more worthwhile to at least start your assignments early so you can turn things in on time to get a better grade and more time to imbibe what you learned. Don't be afraid to use outside sources. While this class studies some of the most essential documents, stories, and people of history, it can sometimes be a little overwhelming to read older English or long poems without missing something. Something so amazing about the internet is its infinite amount of information just one search away. Almost every semester, I've used Wikipedia, GoogleScholar, and YouTube to get additional or deeper knowledge on topics and concepts we went over in class.
6. DON'T get behind! Just always look a week ahead so you can be prepared.
7. It will be hard to keep up at first but still go on, you will learn so much, and don't be afraid to talk in class because for me that is where I learn the most.
8. Spend a lot of time studying the assignment so you feel like the discussions are worth it and you can participate.

Do you have anything else you would like to add that you did not write above?

1. As you seek an education do not forget to bring God in, because He will help you in many ways and He is more important than anything in this world, don't forget Him.