My Time with the USC Anthropology Class

Well what I learned with the students that come every Monday to teach my 2nd period class was mostly review. I did learn a few interesting things that I didn’t know about but other than that I understood what they were talking about and much more. See I am currently taking AP US history at the moment and well my teacher had already reviewed that in the first weeks. Although I am not saying it was a waste of time for me because it was sort of a type of review. But I also learned a new thing which was the gender roles in some tribes and how the women had more power over the men. This topic really fascinated me because back in the day women didn’t really have much power and to see that they did was amazing so I liked learning that, and it was also something new. By the end of the year I am going to take an AP exam which is very important and they are going to test me in everything I have learned from the Native Americans all the way to Jimmy Carter. That’s a lot of information but its good review so it will stay in my mind. So I thank Ms.Erudite for giving me and my class the opportunity to talk to these students.
When the USC students first came they made us do a chart of what we know and want to know. The class and I knew a lot of things of the Indians but of course everyone wanted to build their knowledge and learn more. I had known that the Indians believed in many gods and had many diverse cultures then the Europeans. Columbus was the first to discover the new world he thought he was going to America but in reality he landed in India. The main goal of the Europeans was gold and Mexico had lots and lots of gold.
Now what really fascinated me was the gender roles in most Native American tribes, and how in tribes it was more of a matrilineal sort of thing where the women had more of the power. This I believe is good in a way because there is more peace between the women and men unlike in the modern day United States. There is no need for domestic violence in Indian households because the man has more respect towards the woman. If there were ever to be a divorce the children would stay with the women and her family so the kids would still receive love and care, they wouldn’t be traumatized just because of their parents split. The clan mother is usually the one who decides who the civils are and men are the ones who go out to hunt. It was also interesting to realize how that women homosapians where the first ones to be here rather than men.
Another interesting fact I learned and that I found fascinating was of how the Indian gathered food. How they would build a type of “fort” similar to a way of tide pooling to catch food, it was really smart of the Indian to figure this out and shows how they know how to survive not even needing that many tools or advanced equipment.
I also learned more about the puritans that came to American to set up its colonies in the Mayflower. They came to America to escape persecution and separate themselves from the Church of England because they didn’t think the Church of England was pure enough. Now they did bring their wife’s unlike the Spaniards because they planned to stay there. The Spaniards just came by themselves because most were conquistadores and were there just for resources, gold, and enslavement they didn’t want to live in America. The conquistadores such a Cortes conquered lot of Indian empires like the Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, etc. There were also privateers that I learned were another form of pirates but with contracts, a famous privateer would be Sir France Drake.
I reviewed a lot from my experience with the USC students and learned many new things that were captivating and I enjoyed them coming and building my knowledge and I’m glad that I received this experience because I know most students wouldn’t receive it so I am totally grateful and thankful.