Stover+Reading+Response+3

Sarah Stover Reading Response 3

** My Freshman Year **
Parts of this section of //My Freshman Year// bothered me, while I admit some parts could be true. The fact that many of the foreign exchange students thought our friendships were superficial insulted me a little bit. I think I have great friendships with every one of the girls in my group. We support each other with everything, and they are always there when I need them. However, at the same time, I can understand how some foreign students have a hard time meeting American friends. In a way, it's like we have our in-class friends, and then our close friends. So I can understand how when we say "see you later!", it can be misleading. I also disagreed when they said that Americans separate family from friends. Personally my sister is close with a couple of my friends, and my dad has met many of my friends and my siblings' friends.

I thought it was really interesting to see classes from their point of view. A lot of the foreign students mentioned how "easy" our classes were or how they found it hard to take exams seriously. Of course, I disagree, but then again, I have never gone to a school in a different country so I don't know. Then they say how we don't do the work anyway, but I work very hard, and I take my work seriously.

Some other topics from this section that stuck with me included the line where a German student said how our patriotism "bothered" him, which seemed like an odd statement to make. The foreign exchange students loved all of the independence and choices that America offered, but at the same time some thought there were too many choices. And the last thing was how the students thought Americans were so ignorant. I don't think that's true. Of course there are some who are ignorant, but then again there are people who are very educated on other cultures. Overall, I would say that those students who made all those criticism made too many generalizations. Not everyone separates friends from family. Not everyone is ignorant of other cultures. And not everyone slacks off.

** On Ethnography **
In this section of //On Ethnography,// the author talks about how ethnographers should research, which I actually thought was rather interesting. I never realized that they might have certain rules or guidelines that they have to follow. Another thing that I never thought of was how extensive their fieldwork needs to be sometimes. At one point in the book, the author says how ethnographers have to be careful because the demands of their fieldwork could conflict with family and other obligations. So they have to learn to refine their research questions and be concise. I realized I had been looking at ethnography as some sort of hobby rather that the work it really is.

Another section talked about the overlap between ethnography and education - another point I never thought about. It said how learning is largely associated with observations, and how ethnography contributes to education by researching learning processes and the relationships and meanings associated with them. I agree - people learn by either watching other people, listening to other people, or doing what other people do. Ethnographers have the ability to study different ways of learning and why certain ways work better for some rather than others. **﻿**

Back