Hanna's+Reflection

Reflection by Hanna Madsen

My senior project is Americans' perception of democracy. As a result, I already knew alot about it. What I did learn is that actively engaging in democracy is a lot more difficult then I thought. The power in society is so distributed, and as a result there are many people you have to talk to to make what you want happen. Also, when advocating change, you have to be careful to only change the existing policy you are fighting against. When we fought for a new lunch policy, none of us had any idea we would end up possibly infringing on teacher union rights. Personally, I learned alot about teamwork and communication. Each member of the group needs to be in sync with the other and communicating fully what they are doing for the project. If they don't, the group can become counter-productive. Also, I learned that when you are cooperating with others, you must be flexible enough to be either the leader or the follower. In some situations, you must be a follower so someone more knowledgable can lead and benefit the group as a whole. But if you know the most, you cannot be afraid to step up because this will hurt the group. All in all, this project is alot harder than it looks.