Rossi Jane 1

Francesco Rossi Jane

ENGL 101
Charlene Summers
21 September 2012
My Microeconomics Class
This semester I chose to enroll in one Honors Class, and I chose ECON 143: Principles of
Microeconomics, Honors. The reason I decided to enroll into this class was because it perfectly
matched my schedule and met a major requirement. However, once inside the class I realized
that it was way different than the other classes I was taking, and I couldnt figure out if I liked
the class or not. So, I asked my classmates for opinions about the class dynamic and structure,
the quizzes and the tests, and other topics in order to try to figure the answer for this question: do
I like the class or not? After a couple of weeks in the class, Ive realized that I do enjoy the class.
Being an Honors class, the class size is much smaller than the normal size of a lecture
that could be taking place in Budig Hall with over 300 students. Its definitively not an
auditorium, nor is it a normal high school class. We dont just sit randomly in the class: we own
our little desk. In fact, the chairs in the class are able to move in every direction, including our
little desks. Furthermore, the class is equipped with a white graph board on all the walls which
allows us to work comfortably without having to worry that we may not have space for making
our supply and demand graphs. I really like the class structure. I feel the professor decided to
make the class in that way to help us feel relaxed and not feel the rigor of a college class. When I
asked the classmates if they liked it too, I received positive commentaries: Yes. The desks are
very convenient and allow people to sit wherever and however they want, and Yes, I prefer

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small classes and discussions as opposed to large lecture classes. I like the mobility of the desks
and the modern graph board.
The class takes place on the fourth floor of Snow Hall on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays after lunch. There is no noise inside this building, so it is easy to concentrate and pay
attention. Furthermore, there are only 24 students in the class, which allows us to work in groups
all the time and easily interact with each other and the professor. Most of the students chose the
Microeconomics class to meet a major requirement (62% of the interviewed students, and the
remaining 38% just specified personal reasons). However, not all of them chose the honors
alternative to meet an honors requirement, but because it would be a small discussion class, it
allows constant interaction. The environment of the class is friendly and relaxed, and all the
classmates interviewed said they liked the class dynamic and the way the professor teaches. The
class is relaxed and the professor uses a lot of visual aids, said one of the students, and
Everyone is friendly and funny, and the professor isnt too serious and is really good at
presenting information in an interesting way, said another one. I completely agree with them;
when I am in the class, I feel as if I am just having a conversation.
A normal class starts everyday with the professor entering the class and asking the
students: Any news? and then he may receive a random answer such as, The new iPhone just
came out. We start discussing the response, and then somehow the professor is able to relate
that answer to the class topic of the day, which for the iPhone response was the supply and
demand. In the beginning I thought that he may just ask that question to waste some time, but
then I realized that it helped the classroom because by bringing up a recent topic all the students
feel somehow related to it, and we easily pay attention.

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The students in this class seem to be smart and cool guys, but none of them are similar.
There is a guy who sits at the left corner of the class who has a different accent. I thought he
might be from a different country, probably from South America because his accent is similar to
mine, and, in fact, he is; I talked to him and learned that he was from Bolivia so my guess was
right. Furthermore, this boy, named Jorge, wears a piercing, but I dont know if it is because he
just uses it because he likes and it matches his personality or because he might be gay. There is
also a brown-hair girl, whose face is so familiar to me, and I think this is because she might live
in the same residence hall as me or maybe because we might be taking another class together.
However, from all the people in the class there is one guy who stands out. He is really tall,
always sits at the front and says funny, but at the same time, weird things. His name is Patrick,
and he seems to be really smart, but I guess he acts that way because I believe he lacks some
social skills just as Sheldon Cooper does (character from the Big Bang Theory). One student said
There is this one kid who sits on the front who is kind of weird, but I dont his name, and
Yes- I dont know his name but he says off-the-wall things, that arent funny, and he lacks
normal social skills. When I read these two answers, I actually laughed because I realized that I
wasnt the only who thinks that Patrick may be a little weird. Even though, this might sound like
a creepy or weird class, An honors class is always an interesting environment. It attracts a wide
variety of people. And the truth is, that I really like class because there is no way you could fall
asleep with these kinds of people.
Nonetheless, I guess the professor is weird too; he wears Hawaiian shirts all the time,
maybe because he feels comfortable with them, but I dont think that would be the appropriate
way to dress for a teacher. I asked my classmates if they think someone in the class was weird,
and one of the students said: The professor, he gives very unorthodox examples in class (like

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babies are inferior goods). The one who wrote that might be really funny and maybe a religious
person, but I actually agree with him; in fact, the professor uses weird examples, but it helps the
class because they are easy to understand. In fact, when I had my first exam, I could achieve a
good grade and it was because the strange and easy way of teaching the professor has, really
impacted my success in the class.
After a couple of weeks and talking with the other students, I realized that even though I
might not like the homework and think that the quizzes and exams are difficult, I actually enjoy
the class dynamic as well as my other classmates. I would definitely suggest any KU student to
dont be afraid to take honors classes because the extra effort they may put will be completely
rewarded with a higher, better and funnier education. And this is also why I believe this is a great
educational model to imitate, and I would suggest that considering having more smaller classes
in college would definitely benefit American educational system. So, when I asked them if they
could change anything to make the class more interesting and funny, and they all said that they
didnt know, that made sense for me. It is just a different class, and I guess I really like it.

Works Cited
Rossi Jane, Francesco. Survey. 10 September 2012.
Field Notes. Francesco Rossi Jane. 7-12 September 2012