Course Reflection Geography 1300

World Regional Geography is a really interesting class, especially because I want to be in

the foreign service and continue to travel often. I have taken many history classes, both world

and regionally specific, and it was interesting to learn how historical events I already knew

shaped the culture of specific regions. I also find the type and evolution of states’ economies

fascinating. In my International Relations class, we learned about the “Asian tigers”: South

Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Those countries are mentioned in the book as

economic powerhouses, but the book also mentions Japan was an economic dragon; a leader of

Asian economic development. Also in this class, the causes and evolution for these countries

economic robustness were better explained in terms of their history. For instance, South Korea’s

adoption of state capitalism, plus their growing population, pushed them towards increasing

their demands and production.

Overall I thought the textbook covered the bases of many of these areas, however, I think

it would be beneficial to learn a little more than just surface level. Instances of groups finding a

current event, or video, connected to a topic in the textbook were really insightful. The class

needed a little bit more depth or element of critical thinking. The mapping quizzes were really

interesting but maybe instead of 20-30 questions, I think ten short response answers would be

better.

While researching for my final presentation on reclaimed land in the Netherlands I was

amazed by how recently the large scale, habitable polders were built, and yet the Dutch had been

draining and creating small polders for centuries. As I was doing my initial research, I found

there was environment affects created by the establishment of the polders and how civil

engineers and ecologists came together to solve and/or prevent the issues. For instance, they
realized the water on the existing was sinking into the new polder land, taking valuable minerals

and nutrients. This was also making the water levels of the lower polders significantly harder to

maintain, so by the time they built the Flevopolder, they maintained a strip of water around the

polder to keep water levels from shifting.