Have you ever had a professor
who uses drugs, as in illegal illicit drugs, cocaine, mary jane, prescription
pills, etc, when giving examples or teaching a new topic? No? Well neither did I,
until I took Russ Engel’s Microeconomics class during the Fall 2011 semester at
Sacred Heart University. The first time I heard him use examples like that, I almost
thought I was hearing him wrong. But nope! Drugs, how he’s a super jets fan
even though he knows they suck, student’s preferences and current events were
his specialty.
My strongest memory from my second class with Engel,
Macroeconomics (Yes, second. Who wouldn’t want to take a class with a professor
who teaches and keeps you entertained at the same time?!) is when I walked into
class the very first day and was completely comfortable. I’m a pretty high strung
person, always needing to be on top of things, and when I’m put into a
situation that I have no control over, I tend to be very nervous. Usually, I’m anxious because I don’t know what
the professor is going to be like or how hard the subject will be, but actually
feeling comfortable and not stressed out before anything even started is my
first real memory of the class. I can safely say that I’ve never felt like that
before.
My strongest memory of an
economic concept is from my first semester with Professor Engel. The concept of
opportunity cost is so ingrained in my mind that no matter where I go it always
comes up. Opportunity cost is what you’re giving up, or the next best
alternative, when you make a choice. Also,
I remember how to calculate opportunity cost, and using that information to
define absolute or comparative advantage.
When Professor Engel first
said we would be required to do weekly blog posts based on podcast’s, I did an internal
groan. I thought to myself, “really Russ? You’re going to make us listen to
boring podcasts every week and then
we have to force ourselves to write about them? Your ‘cool factor’ just plummeted.”
But then I actually listened to the first podcast and it really wasn’t that bad
at all. My favorite blog post would definitely be the first one we were
assigned, the one which involved Katy Perry. Not that the whole podcast that we
had to listen to was directly about her, rather it was more so about how record
label companies aren’t making much money anymore, but the fact that she was
involved got my attention quick. I’m a HUGE Katy Perry fan, and was immediately
interested in hearing more of this podcast and going on to write about it. I
would say that I did the best on this blog post too. I was just really into it
and almost wanted the podcast to go on longer because it was really
interesting, I had never thought about how the record labels must be affected
by the new surge in online music downloading/buying. I would also say this was
my best because it was in the beginning of the semester before everything else
started. Now, between reading a million pages for six classes, homework, exams
and papers, my part time job and my internship, I’m spread pretty thin and can’t
really focus on one thing for too long because there is always something else
that needs to be done!
The Engel Indoctrination
Program has definitely made me a better person. I learned not to judge a class
by the professor teaching it. When I first met Professor Engel, I thought, woah
he’s cool, this is going to be an easy A, no doubt. But as time progressed, I realized
that there was actually a significant amount of work to be put in. There was no
“easy A”, rather if you worked for your grade, just like in every other class,
you will get exactly what you deserve.
All in all, it’s been a great
semester and a half. I’m hoping there will be more chances to take another
class with Russ because I actually learn things and remember them after exams,
instead of cramming two nights before and forgetting everything 10 minutes
before the exam starts.
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