UW-Madison is a campus that prides itself on diversity, but, sometimes it may feel as if you are always the minority. Rather it be you race, economic, or gender status that sets you apart, there are classes set in place that help you to feel comfortable with being you on campus. This blog will discuss Sociology 134, which is a course that helped me to not only feel comfortable with being a minority on campus, but also develop trust in my peers to help me feel welcome.
Sociology 134, Problems of Racial and Ethnic Minorities, is a four credit class with lecture sizes of nearly 100 students that also meet for smaller discussions once a week. My professor, JeeJee Kim, was amazing at helping me feel comfortable talking about racial conflict in such a hostile time. I truly enjoyed developing strong bonds with my peers everyday to speak about topics that made me feel uneasy as a black woman on campus. Before the course, I had a difficult time speaking to people who did not look like me about racial relations out of fear of how they would react. But, this course helped us all to develop trust in each other to not be hurtful or inconsiderate of others opinions.
If you are a freshman who is truly interested in developing better race relation skills, or even just want to fulfill an ethnic studies requirement, I highly recommend enrolling in Fall 2019. The skills learned in this course are extremely beneficial for everyone entering adulthood, minority or not!
