De Anza College instructor Daniel Solomon’s dedication to his anthropology class inspired me and helped me decide what major I wanted to take.

Throughout the course, Solomon showed us countless images of him during his travels to see the primates of the world. Him sharing these experiences inspired me to find a major that I truly enjoyed.

His class forced you to engage in a cross cultural study of yourself while learning about our prehistoric ancestors and was really quite fun.

One lab in particular I found quite interesting.

Individuals in the class were labeled either male or female and the rules where based around males creating lots of children and females obtaining gifts from the fathers of their children.

It made us feel like animals, running around the room awkwardly for 45 minutes asking people you don’t know to mate with you. Afterwards, I had a lot more empathy towards primates in general.

Despite Anthropology being the study of humans and their evolution, Solomon’s overall knowledge of animals led to other labs that dealt with anything including cats, moles and made up creatures that could live at the bottom of the sea.

Solomon’s understanding of primates and animals in general reminded me that animals are very often forgoten about and few seek to truly understand them.

He and his class convinced me that we should express love for animals and that we must work to keep endangered creatures from extinction.

Anthropology can be a difficult subject to study because of its ties to other controversial subjects such as religion and of the evolution and order of man. Not often does a teacher tie things all together.

Solomon’s class began with an overview the term science and what it meant to be scientific in the modern age.

His modern approach with regards to those in support of religion was very interesting, because in most of my years in school, religion and science remained opposites.

His approach to the subject was not simply in regards to himself, but to something almost everyone could agree upon.