Wanted: Your Views On High School And College Courses

[Jack]

And taking showers with 20 guys when you're a gay 15 year old is terrifying (and exhilirating).

Thanks, Cran - I almost passed coffee through my nose.
Great way to start a Friday.

It's not supposed to be funny.

[Denny]

oh, Shirley!

you jest

[CHasR]

My question is: which classes did you take in high school or college (not directly related to your career) do you now feel were the most beneficial, .

No classes unrelated to my carreer were beneficial in any way.

[sbfluter]

Least beneficial high school classes: English and Math.

I did not have enough life experience to understand anything I read in high school English. Shakespeare may as well be written in a foreign language for as much sense as it makes. It wasn't until college (I went later than usual) after I'd been married to a drunk and divorced and had experienced trying to work for a living that I had anything to bring to a class where you were expected to read about the trials and tribulations of life.

I always struggled with math and ended up taking the same math classes over and over again all through high school and college. It just doesn't stick. It's too bad because you really need math to get by in the world. I never balance my checkbook.

Best classes in high school:
- Typing
- Jewelry making - we used real silver and real torches
- Choir
- Golf - I can't play worth a darn but it's a good thing to know how to do
- Track - I only ever scored a single point for the team but it was a good experience
- Linguistics - really interesting way to think about language. I wish I had taken linguistics in college.

Best classes in college:
- Documentary Film Studies - Far and away the absolute best class I ever had. Talk about learning how to think critically.
- P0rn0graphic Film Studies - I'm not kidding. Was the most difficult class I took as well. The course was NOT about whether p0rn is good or bad or exploitative or whatever. It was about the genre from the 1800s to the 1990s. I never want to see another film from that genre ever again.
- All my other film studies classes - I should have majored in film but I didn't. I never could get literature, but film I got, and it seems so much more influential in our lives than books are these days.
- Freud - I had a couple of these classes. It's good to read the old dead white guys. Lacan was good too. Don't know why we didn't study more Jung. We really should have.
- Music and American Popular Culture - I learned a lot about American social history and a lot about music.
- Geology - I have an A.S. in geology. It's so interesting the study of all that immense passage of time and the way rocks are fluid and beautiful crystals, but the jobs you can get with it are not interesting to me so I changed my major to something in the social sciences and humanities.
- Asian-American Women's literature - I learned a lot about what it's like to be an immigrant from a personal point of view, the way immigration already changes you even before you get on the boat, and how difficult it is. I have a lot of admiration for all the immigrants I meet.

Lesson to learn: Don't cut all the non-academic classes. It's the typing, the jewelry-making, the golf, the thinking about things from different angles that enrich your ability to apply thinking and skills to any kind of problem. How else does a Women's Studies major become a Web programmer?

The formula isn't Courses + Time = Career. It's Learning to learn + Learning to apply knowledge = Career.

[peeplj]

Thing is, in high school you're still learning how to think, and I think it's very important to be exposed to as broad an intellectual palette as possible.

For me the answer to young W O'B's question focuses much more on the teacher than the class. My advice: take classes from teachers with a good reputation. I believe the main goal of higher ed is developing, as chas says, methods for thinking; then, in the world of work, you apply those to the field that has beckoned you. By far my most valuable educational experience was a study group I was part of with three other women as we prepared for the comprehensive exams for our MAs in English. For the first time, there we were, teacherless--except not really. The models of our most respected teachers guided us through, and it was a thoroughly exhilirating experience to recognize how much method we had synthesized and internalized and how personalized it had become.

Or take a class from the professor that all the other students hate.

The only U.S. history class I ever took that I didn't feel was a complete load of fertilizer with chocolate icing was taught by an instructor whose very name struck fear into many a students' quaking heart.

All of his tests were five essay questions. If you even tried to listen in class and just gave him back a bit of what he presented, you'd get an A.

And he actually took great pains to try to provide not only a balanced view of U.S. history, but also to point out the parts of "history" which are known bunk.

--James

[Whistlin'Dixie]

I taught myself to type ~ when I started college at age 40-something and had to buy a computer....

High School ~ hated it, I remember very little of it.

College: Agree with Carrie, the instructors and what they themselves brought to their given classes had a very real cumulative effect, and was what influenced me most, when all was said and done.

Example: my General Chem instructor: NEVER MEMORIZE ANYTHING!!!! EVERYTHING you want to know can be found in a book!!!!! Learn to look things up!!!!!

M

[chas]

Example: my General Chem instructor: NEVER MEMORIZE ANYTHING!!!! EVERYTHING you want to know can be found in a book!!!!! Learn to look things up!!!!!

I'm fond of saying you never have to know anything, but you have to know where to find it. Once a lab mate found an article and asked someone if he wanted to see it before he returned it to the library. The answer: "Xerox it for me, I don't want to read it."

My physics exams in college were all open book, open notes, most of them take homes. The professors' philosophy was "When you're out in the real world and need to solve a problem, are you gonna clear off your desk and hide all your books and give yourself a one-hour time limit?" So it was quite a shock to be in graduate school and have all the exams in class, most without books or notes. Blech!

[Will O'B]

Well I had a long response, hit submit and the message went away. This is a much shorter response. I spent alot of time on the first one.

Thanks everybody for your answers. I enjoyed reading them and feel they have alot of insight. Some classes seem too accademic and not practical enough, especially when you're 14.

I want to say more but I can't right now.

[Walden]

I think a person who only attends classes they think they will be able to use to make money is a person who is missing out on some of the better parts of life.

[Congratulations]

I think a person who only attends classes they think they will be able to use to make money is a person who is missing out on some of the better parts of life.

/agree

[Will O'B]

I think a person who only attends classes they think they will be able to use to make money is a person who is missing out on some of the better parts of life.

/agree

I agree too. That would be a pretty shallow life I think.

I guess what I was trying to say is that I wish I could actually start doing things instead of living in a classroom of books, lectures and theories if that makes sense. I'm not talking about a part time job to make money either. The ideal thing to me would be if I could work (or watch closely) on a movie set so I could feel what its like to do those kind of jobs on a movie set. I can read about it, and have, but its not the same as learning by actually being in the middle of things while a movie is being made. Even if its just being a go-fer or just standing quietly by and watching and learning. My mom takes me into Chicago sometimes at night and we watch them shooting scenes from "Batman" and other movies. It's really cool, but I know there is alot going on that we miss by standing across the street. I know about insurance risk and all of that. Not to mention just getting in everyones way when they are working. But, anyway, this is what I meant when I said "practical" instead of "accademic". Maybe if I could be an apprentice like kids my age were a couple of hundred years ago, but only in the motion picture business. That kind of learning would mean more to me right now in my life. I'm not saying that classroom work is bad (its not), but there should be more than that for kids my age it seems. I hope I made better sense this time.

Sorry for this glob of thoughts jammed into one paragraph but I don't have time to edit it. Thanks to everybody for reading this, and answering and taking an interest in my questions.

Have a good day.

[KatieBell]

Will,

It's been a week now, but I just saw your response. Is there any way you could be homeschooled? If you are in the US, you could do your coursework through an accredited school through your computer, or in some places even through your school district. At your age, you could even do dual credit college classes to count for both high school and college. By doing mainly TV, video, or Internet classes, you would have 2 years of college under your belt and almost no time spent in a college classroom. It would free up your time to do apprenticeship work during the day. Or could do a summer internship? Or maybe even just ask to be a gopher for the local college's film instructor? Such an experience could be had if you looked for ways to find it.

If not, you could work for enough money to get your own camera and start filming things after school. You and some serious classmates could get together a guild to parse out the work. Having a portfolio of work and a year of experience will make you far more attractive to potential people or companies for internships.

You might even ask your high school to offer filmography as an elective. If they need some proof of interest, you could work in conjunction with the drama club after school for a year. They would provide the sets and cast and you could work together on needed lighting, colors, sound, film angles, etc.

If you are serious about doing more, you can make it work. Make sure your parents know your interest, run your plans by them to make sure they approve, then go make it a reality!