My Classes this Semester
I feel like I'll have a lot more to write about now, now that I'm starting my fieldwork. That said, even in this most introductory of posts, I'm at a loss for how to write about it -- this is where confidentiality is both trickiest and most important. I need to think more about this, but for now I'll just say that I'm really excited. It's not a placement I would have thought to create for myself, but having met with my supervisor and had one day there, I'm happy to say that it seems like a really good fit -- a nice blend of working skills and learning more about issues that I already have some experience with, and discovering things I know nothing about. I think, though, that I'm now finally understanding the difficulty my fellow bloggers have described when it comes to writing about field: I'm so excited to write about it, but extremely hesitant and nervous at the same time.
So, on to some less murky territory, my classes! Aside from field lab, I'm taking HB2, which seems like it's going to be a lot more clear and systematic this semester -- going through the life cycle. From the first class, my biggest takeaway was that development can happen at any point in the lifespan -- there is no such thing as a lost cause. My kind of philosophy.
I'm also taking Social Work and the Law, which although it's not a clinical course seems so far to be almost exclusively geared to clinical social workers doing one-on-one therapy, maybe because it's an MSW-level class. If you've read my blog before, you can imagine that this isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I'm planning to stick it out -- it's still interesting, and I'm hoping for some discussion of how social workers can be good legal advocates along the line.
It's funny being in an MSW class as opposed to a BSW class because even more so than in the BSW program there are very set career observations -- duh, you get an MSW because you want to become a social worker. Of course, I'm not getting an MSW, and I'm not sure I plan to. In fact, I think it would be much more likely that I would go to law school! So it was funny the other day when we were discussing a situation in which a lawyer kept secret for 10 years the fact that he believed that prosecutorial misconduct had lead to the wrongful imprisonment and possible execution of an innocent person. He kept this secret because divulging it would have been harmful to his client, and he believed that legal ethics prohibited him from saying anything. I was struck by the respect for a SET OF RULES that this lawyer had, and said in class that I couldn't relate to it. "Of course not, he's a lawyer," the teacher said. "But you're a social worker, and you could find yourself in a very similar situation..." Not exactly what I meant, but whatever. So I'm trying to figure out how to get the most out of a class that isn't really targeted to me. I really think I can though -- otherwise I would have changed!
I'm also taking Topics in the Global Economy: Growth and Development, basically a development economics class that I am so, so excited about. We'll be looking at why some countries are rich and others poor, how growth happens, the role of inequality, and more.
Finally, I'm taking Regression and Forecasting Models, a stats class in Stern (cross-listed in the econ department). It's VERY funny to take a class in Stern -- definitely a different atmosphere. But I love the class so far -- I knew there had to be more to stats then my terrible summer school experience. Part of it is that the professor is incredible, possibly the best I've had at NYU. Today we looked at data from the 2000 presidential election to assess the claims that flawed voting machines lead to people actually voting for Buchanan when they meant to vote for Gore. I won't go into the details, but for me it is so exciting and empowering to be able to quantify intuition like that. But as cool as I find this, it really doesn't come naturally to me, so I'm pretty nervous... I'll let you know how it all turns out!

