Psychology offers students a chance to learn about themselves

In his primarily junior and senior Psychology class, Matt Brooks’ favorite part of teaching psychology is getting to tell and prove to students that they do control a lot of their lives.

“Many students think they have little to no control over things,” Brooks said. “My goal is to help students understand the amount of control they actually have.”

Brooks also said his main goal is for students to recognize what they do and don’t do influences how they think.

“I really drill students on sleep, the seriousness of alcohol and marijuana and about mental illness,” Brooks said. “I want to get rid of the stigma students often have towards mental illness.”

Brooks’ favorite unit to teach is the conditioning unit.

“I get to cover advertising in that unit as well,” Brooks said. “It’s important to talk about how ads portray woman and what young girls are told they need to look like. The ‘perfect’ women in the ads don’t exist. The body type they portray is impossible.”

Brooks’ high school psychology teacher, Pam Rein, is the person who got him interest in psychology as a major. He began teaching the class at Hays High 11 years ago.

“I was kind of forced to teach the class,” Brooks said. “My undergrad degree is in psychology, and I’m the only one able to teach it.”

Brooks went on to say he really loves the subject and enjoys teaching it.

“Students should take psychology for many reasons,” Brooks said. “It can be taken for concurrent credit which is a plus, and it’s an excellent class for students to learn about themselves.”

17paugustine@usd489.com