Inspired #8 - Class Wrapup

 As the semester ends, now is the perfect time to summarize my feelings on IST 445H - Globalization, Trends, and World Issues. When I originally signed up for this class, I had no clue what I had just registered to take. All I knew was that we would be going to Washington D.C. later in the semester. Since I am not in the Schreyer's Honor College, I was initially hesitant to take an honors designated course. In the end, I am glad that I signed up for this class despite not it counting for anything within the Security and Risk Analysis degree requirements. I learned more in this class about public policy, than any other class I have taken so far at Penn State. After this class, I am definitely interested in potentially working in the public policy field. I think that more students within SRA would benefit if they could take this class for Support of Option credit. 

The readings throughout the semester were certainly interesting and insightful if not frustrating at times.  While heavily criticized by the class, Thomas Friedman and The World is Flat set the mood for future discussions within the class. From reading Freidman, we were able to see an idealistic perspective on technology and policy. Friedman believes that technology is the solution to the world's problems and globalization will save the world. While I did not always agree with Friedman, I can at least understand where he is coming from.

Following weeks of Friedman, we moved into two weeks discussing what think tanks actually are. This was an insightful two weeks, but felt out of place in the semester. From what I understand the trip to CSIS normally occurs in October and not late November. Normally, the trip to Washington D.C. follows the discussion of what think tanks actually are.  While out of place this year, these two weeks were great at clarifying what think tanks actually do. Prior to this week, as a class we lacked a general definition of what a think tank actually does. In those two weeks, we were able to definitely give a much better idea of what think tanks do.

Following the discussion of think tanks, we switched gears to my favorite topic of the semester, The Net Delusion by Evgeny Morozov. Unlike Friedman, Morozov takes a contrarian view on the role of technology going into the future. I really enjoyed this section of the class, as Morozov repeatedly destroyed Friedman throughout his book. As a Security and Risk Analysis major, it was interesting to look at Morozov analyze many of the issues that we have talked about in our classes. You can use technology for good, but for every "good" use, someone else is thinking of ways to use it for nefarious purposes.

In conclusion, I learned more in this class than in some of the classes I am required to take for my major despite this class not counting for anything. Through discussions with both Dr. Tapia and other students, I was able to look at the issues from different perspectives than before. I would recommend that anybody interested in working in the public policy community take this class in the future as the experiences in this class cannot be replicated anywhere else at Penn State.