Policy blog #1

Prompt: 
" What were your preconceived attitudes and beliefs about social policy?  What are your first impressions of social policy after the first class?  What do you hope to learn and accomplish as a result of this course?  How do you feel this course fits with your interest in the profession of social work? "

When I signed up for this policy class, I was excited but at the same time nervous and unsure of what to expect. I was excited because I really like the professor... when he guest spoke in other classes I have had I always really enjoyed what the things he talked about. I could tell he was passionate about what he discussed So I am stoked I get to have him as a teacher (for the record I am totally NOT trying to suck up here, I really am excited to have Jon as a professor) and I am also excited because I heart my social work classes. They are always super fun and I learn a lot in them. 

I don't really know that much about politics. I try to know somewhat things that are going on, but I am not really knowledgeable in things concerning politics. I try to stay out of conversations about government or political issues because in my experience they turn into heated arguments where feelings get hurt and normally one of the people walk away crying. I just don't like that. I've always just believed that I have my opinions and you have yours and we can't talk about them in a friendly manner I rather not talk about them at all. So although I love social work classes when I saw that I was taking class about social policies and welfare I got real nervous because when I hear these words and my mind jumps off to negative feelings I have toward certain government policies, social issues or negative stories I have heard about things not working or being used the right way. 

I hope that by taking this class I will not only better understand things concerning social policies and issues but also maybe improve the negative feelings I tend to associate with various things. I also think that this course will get me to think about things with a more open mind than I tend to have. As a social worker I think it is important to hear and listen to what others have to say and not be critical if their opinions don't mesh perfectly with yours. It allows for you to have views from different perspectives about things.  I think that knowing and having some sort of understanding about different social policies is super important for any social worker because being aware of the things that are going on in society as far as policies or various social movements have the potential to affect whatever population I choose to work with. For me, I feel led to work with adolescents. What I have experienced is that teens are influenced from all sorts of different kinds of things, whether it be the media or a popular social movement. Teens are at the point in life where they are starting to really think for themselves about what they believe and who they are. Therefore, I think it will be important for me to know different things that might influence them or things they might be hearing so that I will better be able to work with them and communicate with them. Overall I am looking forward to the class, after we had our first meeting my nerves were calmed because I realized that other people were also unsure of how they felt about policy.