What class do you dislike the most in JrHigh or Senior High. Mine was Chemistry. I could not for the life of me master

[debm55]

the slide ruler, afraid of Bunsen Burner, I hated it, Second runner up was Gym. I was on the Basketball team , but that was the only thing that interested me. I remember we had a gymnastics class one semester and we were to use the trampoline. I jumped and jumped and jumped. I forgot to bend my knees in to stop. Finally, the teacher jumped on and grabbed me on the down move. Actually I liked it, it felt great going higher and higher.

[elleng]

1. Geometry, Chemistry, and Gym 'uniforms!'

[debm55]

3. I loved Geometry. but the other two I agree with. ty elleng

Last edited Tue Feb 13, 2024, 11:39 AM - Edit history (1)

[leftieNanner]

2. My dad insisted that I take Latin in 7th grade

Taught by a 200 year old woman. I didn't last very long. Went back to French class.

[debm55]

4. That's funny. Thank you leftieNanner.

[Ocelot II]

7. My dad made me take Latin also, but I really liked it and I'm glad I learned it.

Didn't care for the teacher, though; she was crabby and looked like a chicken.

[claudette]

16. I was given

Latin (and French) for my first year of high school. I didn't choose - the Catholic School system did. I loved BOTH languages then, and still do.

[debm55]

95. Ocelot II that is funny. TY

[brush]

127. I feel for you. I took Latin too, foolishly, as I went to school in Tucson, Az...

60 miles north of Mexico with Spanish speaking classmates and citizens everywhere...I could've had people to practice my Spanish on all over the place and been bilingual.

It wasn't all bad though as Latin classes taught me how to study as we had homework assignments every night and had to translate passages in class everyday.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

130. what school in tucson did you attend?

I went to Amphitheater.

[brush]

131. Whaddya know. Tucson High. Go Badgers.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

133. Hah!

Several years ago I was at a science fiction thing in Albuquerque, and was at a booth with some interesting stuff. I started chatting with the couple who ran it, and it turned out that he and I had graduated from Amphi the same year, and had somehow never ever known or even heard of each other.

Several years later, at our 50th h.s. reunion, we were both there and could greet each other.

[brush]

134. Tucsonans get around. I left there for the Bay Area, then to NY...

Now in Las Vegas. Was last back in Tucson for Thanksgiving before the pandemic. Still have siblings there. They've come here to Vegas for the last three Christmases.

Where are you now?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

136. I am in Santa Fe, NM.

Many, many places in between.

I was born in Utica, NY. Lived there, and a bit north, until I was 14, and we (meaning Mom and the five kids still at home) moved to Tucson. I graduated high school, attended the UofA for a semester, then went to work for Ma Bell. In the fall of 1968 I moved to the Washington, DC, area, and then went to work for Mohawk Airlines, as a ticket agent at Washington National Airport.

Various other moves to Minneapolis, Phoenix, Denver, and then the Kansas City area. A divorce sent me to New Mexico, where I am now.

I am still in touch with some former high school classmates in Tucson, and will probably be out there in March or April. Lucky me.

[brush]

137. Wow, you've had quite a few stops some nice places.

Had a nice life. Santa Fe is a magic place to end up in. I was there once with my wife. Loved the Sante Fe adobe architecture.

[electric_blue68]

157. I should look up if they ever taught Latin in NYC schools. Maybe earlier on (was in JHS in '67)

[debm55]

161. Latin wasn't offered in our school at all. JH and HS had French, German and Spanish. Pittsburgh area.

[Ocelot II]

5. Gym, which I sucked at, followed by Home Ec, which I also sucked at,

especially the sewing part. And it was boring. Algebra frustrated me, and I wasn't crazy about a social studies class because it was taught by the hockey coach who was a moron and an asshole. Generally, I hated high school with the intensity of a thousand suns, but the classes weren't the worst part.

[debm55]

11. I know. Even though I played basketball, my first love was Art class. So I was a nerd, who was socially inept(as one

teacher called me. but smart. Then , you had the jocks--male and female. Never felt wanted there. The bullies, and the picked on. We had shop and home ec as electives in Senior High. I loved to sew and cook but not like the teacher wanted us and with a group of girls that thought they shit gold.

[debm55]

18. Ocelot II , in JR High(my last year for Home Ec and Sewing, ) I got a "D" in sewing and a "D" in Cooking

Last edited Tue Feb 13, 2024, 11:39 AM - Edit history (1)

[hlthe2b]

83. Yeah... I played team tennis in junior and Senior high school, but before that gym class just sucked...

It was just an excuse to abuse smaller, less athletic, or heavier kids and I just hated it. Even the "supposed" teacher was at least verbally abusive and determined to embarrass and deride. And of course, there were the student bullies as well.

Sad to think that was the introduction to physical activity which should have fostered healthy behavior and activity throughout life. I was not especially talented, but if playing tennis could get me out of gym class, I was "all in."

[debm55]

97. Yes, I don't know which was worse the kid bullies or the Gym teacher bullies. TY Hlthe2b

[Different Drummer]

6. Geometry for me.

Had a very difficult time with it.

[debm55]

8. I guess I was an Art freak and enjoyed it because of the artistic aspects of it.

Last edited Mon Feb 12, 2024, 10:45 PM - Edit history (1)

[Luciferous]

9. Geometry

[debm55]

13. Was there a reason why? the subject? the teacher?

[Luciferous]

33. It was definitely the subject, I

just struggled with it.

[debm55]

59. Thank you Luciferous for your honesty.

[TexasBushwhacker]

25. Many students hit a brick wall with Geometry

I taught high school science and my theory is that some students struggle with it because their brains just aren't ready for abstract reasoning. Give them a year or 2 and they do fine. Readiness is a big factor in learning.

[debm55]

35. I agree,. Did you teach in a particular order? My High taught Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and then Trig, But I have

noticed schools are switching that around to Algebra1, Algebra2 , Geormetry and Trig.

[TexasBushwhacker]

36. Finally!

It never made any sense to me to split Algebra 1 & 2. My mother was a math teacher and she didn't like it either.

[debm55]

50. I agree. TY

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

132. YES!

When I was in high school, my math program (UICSM, and I hope someday to post that and someone will know what it is [University of Illinois Committee on School Mathematics] but alas, in some 6 decades, I've never met anyone who's ever known what it is. Sigh.

Anyway, here's the real thing. In the third year of UICSM we were doing calculus. I was not doing very well at all. I scraped by with a D in the final semester.

Several decades later I was back taking math classes at my local community college. Tested in to Algebra 2, in no small part because of UICSM where we proved EVERYTHING in geometry. And had a wonderful foundation in algebra. So anyway, in the community college I passed algebra 2, college algebra, then I decided to take a statistics class. It was wonderful. So then, I decided to take calculus. I'm probably the only (at the time 47 year old woman) person who ever took calculus for fun. And it really was fun.

Here's the perhaps most important thing. When I'd walk through the halls of my school, I'd encounter math teachers, and I'd ask them, "Why is it that now I'm getting calculus, and back in high school I didn't get it?" To a person they said, "Oh Poindexter. People don't understand that math is developmental. And most 16, 17, even 18 year olds' brains are not ready for calculus. Give them a year or two, maybe even three, and they'll get it."

Wow. Ever since then I often tell parents not to stress out if their very smart high school students just don't get advanced math. Not to worry. In a year or three they will.

[crosinski]

81. Gym and geometry!

I had gym for my first class my entire four years of high school! I am not a morning person. Just thinking about running, jumping, dodging balls, and swimming that early in the morning makes me cringe to this day. And geometry. What can I say about geometry. I learned to draw pretty geometric shapes. That’s all I learned.

[debm55]

98. I would hate to have gym first thing in the morning. As you know by now I really liked Geometry

[Diamond_Dog]

106. I liked Geometry even though I sucked at all other math.

I was an Art nerd and like you Deb for some reason I “got” geometry without much of a struggle.
Also my geometry teacher was young and personable and had hair down to his shoulders.

[debm55]

111. I think you have to be left brained ?to really enjoy it. I also took Drafting Classes.And your teacher sounded like a

some nice eye candy.

[electric_blue68]

166. Have you pursued any art as a grown up?...

I went to Art College.

Part of my job life was old fashioned paste up and mechanicals, some Graphic Design, a bit of illustration, and photo styling, and set of products for catalogues, flyers, and brouchoures.

Continued doing drawing, some painting. Had a mini assemblage sculpture stint in the '80s. Thinking of trying something like that but even smaller scale due to space, and no $ for a studio.

Been using a great Digital Art App on my phone since '21. Now ready to go back to physical drawing, and try some painting.

I also make unique wire jewelry which has also satisfied my sculptural urges!

[Diamond_Dog]

171. Yes.

I majored in Graphic Design at Kent State. I worked doing all the same things you described in your “job life”. It was a fun and I enjoyed it. I freelanced after my kids came along but eventually that dwindled away. Within the last 5 years I’ve been getting back into drawing and painting. Before that, jewelry. So we are a lot alike! I have posted my drawings and paintings here and there on DU in the Artists group.

[electric_blue68]

173. Cool! I haven't been in there in a good while. Will take a look. What kind of jewelry?

[Diamond_Dog]

174. Earrings and necklaces mostly.

I liked to use sea shells, natural stones, and beach glass but I bought beads already made as well. All my jewelry stuff is in a rolling storage cart down in the cellar collecting dust now! Do you still create anything?

[electric_blue68]

163. Oh what kind of jumping did you do? ...

I was, I guess, moderately athletic.

I loved climbing trees as a kid w my cousins, though while strong legs, and strong grip my weaker upper arms wouldn't let me climb as high as they did.

Also rocks, in our local parks.Walking on the stone wall around the park. Loved the jungle gym!

I enjoy watching Gymnastics at The Olympics. Yay, upcoming Olympics in Paris this summer!

[bottomofthehill]

10. Latin

No tongue for language

[debm55]

14. Loved my first year of Spanish , hated the second year. The teacher was a goon and stuck her finger in everyone's face.

I hated that.

[NNadir]

12. My high school chemistry class is the reason I'm a chemist. I loved it, still do. I feel fortunate to say that...

...I can't recall disliking any subject, but if I did dislike one, it was almost certainly my own fault for having a closed mind, for not loving knowledge for its own sake.

I had a few teachers who weren't exactly great, but I also had many who were great.

My 12 grade English teacher, who terrified me when I saw him walking in the hall in grades 9 through 11 because of his limp, the scar across his face and a kind of glare he wore in the hallways, proved to be one of the most interesting and insightful people, and indeed one of the warmest and most ethical people I have ever known, a polymath extraordinaire.

Having him as my teacher changed my life, and my memory of him brought me through some questionable times. Even in middle age I felt that I had to work to live up to his expectations of me, and the effort to do so saved me many times.

As for chemistry...

Chemistry, like Math, and for that matter physics requires some work to get at how beautiful those subjects are. It's a shame when they are badly taught.

[debm55]

17. My school had tracks for classes I was always in the top track and I felt alone in those classes. No fun, just from the

book learning. No hands on experience. I am a learn that learns by doing. I guess I am going to be the only one that love geometry. Because the teacher was great and had us do interesting things to learn the theorems

[QED]

90. I too love(d) Chemistry

so I ended up teaching it for 20+ years.

[NNadir]

91. Ah one of the nobles

Did you ever send the students to an ACS section meeting?

Some of locals here do so for extra credit.

Some of the students are really sharp.

[debm55]

94. QED, that is great. TY

[PufPuf23]

187. My high school chemistry teacher (69-70) was Ruth Nuckolls.

Her husband, John Nuckolls, was head of Lawrence Livermore Lab at the time. The school was Athenian School near Danville, CA. There is a picture of me with Ruth in the school yearbook.

Close to the family of a Lawrence Livermore (mostly) and Cal Adjunct Professor of Physics who worked with Fermi during WWII and how ended up at Athenian. Met them in Danville grade 1-6 where my rural family had an outpost while parents were separated. Thought at one time would be a physicist. My father went no farther than 8th grade, ran heavy equipment, and was rightwing. Father saw me and anything I liked as hippy. The four Albert children have one or two degrees from Cal, I have 2 degrees from Cal (BS Forest Science minor Soil Science and Haas Finance MBA).

My exe had Glenn Seaborg teach her lab sections of Chem 2B at Cal. The lectures were in 1 PSL, the labs in Latimer Hall. The problem set and labs were posted behind glass in Latimer. Students would stand and copy the keys (back in mid 70s). Exe was short and named Robin so she was out and about early and standing at the glass case about 6 AM when there would not be a crowd. She was joined by Seaborg who explained he needed to know the stuff because the lab that afternoon was a midterm review.

I like chemistry but don't remember much as so long ago and ill and mind failing alas.

My turn against nuclear energy is recent (bombing reactors in Ukraine followed by various nuclear weapons threats). Why consider population reduction the only rational solution to the human environmental dilemma.

[NNadir]

191. A turn against nuclear energy is immoral.

Once again, in case anyone doesn't get it, fear, especially irrational fear, of what could happen does not override what is happening.

What is happening is that the planet is on fire, and while people sit around picking lint out of their navels worrying about a nuclear war, seven million people die each year from air pollution.

In physics, about which one should know something if one has a few degrees of separation from famous physicists and wants to represent that one has some kind of expertise on the subject as a result, there is the concept of an expectation value, which is the product of the probability of an event, and the outcome of the event:

There is a 100% chance that close to 19,000 people will die today from air pollution. That means that every ten or fifteen days the death toll from air pollution is equivalent to all the deaths from all the nuclear wars that ever took place, the number of such wars being one (1). It is notable that the only nuclear war that ever took place started as an oil war, since Japan attacked Pearl Harbor to prevent the American fleet from appearing on its flank as it drove to conquer the oil fields of Borneo and Java.

The observed probability of a nuclear war is vanishingly low. It is sad that so much money was spent on mutually assured destruction, but it seems to have been the result, nuclear wars are not observed; fossil fuel and fossil fueled wars are pretty much continuous.

In Ukraine, where Chernobyl took place, which has killed more people, radiation or fossil fuel derived weapons of mass destruction funded and paid for by German antinukes who bought dangerous fossil fuels from Putin, combusted them to protest nuclear energy and then dumped the waste directly into the planetary atmosphere?

Anyone who is whining about nuclear issues in Ukraine at this point is clueless and not paying a shred of attention to reality.

I made this point in this space: Some comments on the war situation with Chernobyl as well as the operable nuclear plants in Ukraine.

Nuclear energy saves lives:

Prevented Mortality and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Historical and Projected Nuclear Power (Pushker A. Kharecha* and James E. Hansen Environ. Sci. Technol., 2013, 47 (9), pp 4889–4895)

It follows that opposing nuclear energy kills people.

Now if one is arguing for the die off of six billion people on environmental grounds - one hears these sort of things and one doesn't really want to believe it - one can cheer for air pollution deaths, I suppose.

I'm not such a person.

I watched my father die of lung cancer, though. It was pretty horrible, not a nice way to go. I'm not in favor of air pollution, even if, as is the case in Germany, some of the people who will be killed by antinuke rhetoric there - they're burning coal now - are antinukes, people who I regard as calling for death and the destruction of the planet.

If one wants to maintain a clear mind, one should perhaps exercise it by engaging in ethical considerations.

[PufPuf23]

207. Profess no expertise in physics. Thought you might be entertained.

We disagree about the morality of current human use of nuclear energy. Not saying there are no beneficial uses nor new technologies nor a future of nuclear energy. As a species, if humans bomb nuclear energy facilities and threaten use of nuclear weapons, the human species is not ready to depend on nuclear power to support human populations.

Most of the solutions I see proposed to get humanity out of the environmental dilemma look to dig deeper holes. Saw that back in the 1970s. Agriculture is a good example. Tend to see everything as impact on soils. Soils are life.

More energy and cheaper energy to maintain or expand human footprint on Earth does not work. Just expands humanity to new limits in destruction of our own habitat.

A massive reduction in human population and footprint does work. Not talking eugenics or anything more than a gradual drawdown of population with more of Earth dedicated to nature. The population reduction will occur whether by pandemic or war or whatever. The race is between population decline in a human caused rational and kind manner or what is imposed by nature; basically population ecology. I see the extinction event even more serious than climate change and interrelated. Humanity is in trouble. Or maybe I am old and sick. Or both.

[NNadir]

213. This is the lounge, which is about having fun.

Last edited Tue Feb 20, 2024, 02:54 PM - Edit history (1)

I am sorry to have responded to the off topic views, which is typical of the antinuke set, pontificating on a subject they know nothing about.

In general on an ethical level, pontificating on subjects they know nothing about is common among anti-this, anti-that types, where "this" or "that" can be many things, vaccines, nuclear power, evolution, GMOs what have you.

I am clear on what I find abhorrent, which is ignorance in general, particularly ignorance that kills people and especially ignorance that calls for and applauds death on a vast scale.

However this is not the place for further discussion of the topic. The "ignore list" at DU functions to prevent one from getting strung out on unpalatable and offensive conversations that only raise one's blood pressure.

Have a nice life.

I apologize to the Lounge for the interruption.

[debm55]

193. NNadir, agree. I was lost.

Last edited Tue Feb 20, 2024, 10:30 PM - Edit history (1)

[claudette]

15. Algebra

Never had to use it, yet, in my lifetime. Worked hard to get an A in high school but one year of it was grueling.

[Paladin]

29. I hated algebra. And my grades reflected it.

The only math class I got any enjoyment out of was geometry.

[debm55]

64. I agree, May I ask you a question.? Were into art or Drafting. I took Drafting as an elective and l love geormetry. I

wonder if my love of Art and Drafting was the thing for loving Geomety.

[Paladin]

73. I appreciate art, but I never did much drafting.

I can't account for why I enjoyed geometry. I noticed that, often times, students who were good at algebra didn't like geometry---and vice versa.

[debm55]

99. Agree. Thank you Paladin.

[debm55]

37. I hated Algebra I because of the teacher. Just got by with a C , In Algrbra 2 I got an A, It was how the class was

taught.

[claudette]

38. That's true

The nun who taught us Algebra in freshman year of high school was amazing but my brain retained zero after that semester was over. LOL. Fortunately, the next term it was an elective subject so I did not elect it!! Chose geometry which I really enjoyed

[Chainfire]

78. Algebra. I took 1, 2, and 3 from the same lousy teacher.

She taught it to the kids that got it first and moved on leaving everyone else in the dust. I never did homework, so I was always behind. I hated it, but probably because of the teacher. I wanted to drop III, but the principal wouldn't let me unless I failed a six week period. I set out to intentionally fail, but the teacher gave me a D just to spite me. Then God intervened, the principal had a heart attack, and the new one had no problem with me moving to business math!

[debm55]

101. Chainfire, My Algrbra 1 was like that. If you got it, you got it. Her pets all sat in the front. She left the rest of

Last edited Tue Feb 13, 2024, 10:11 PM - Edit history (1)

us in confusion. and she didn;t care. Just made a C but that put me with a class that needed more time to understand. So I made out. Sorry about your principal. but it worked for you.

[Chainfire]

140. Don't be overconcerned about the principal. He was a mean drunk and womanizer.

He liked school because he could rule like the petty tyrant that he was and abuse teachers and children with impunity.

[debm55]

146. Algebra 1 was horrible for me too

[Freddie]

19. Phys ed

ALL the female gym teachers at my HS were sadistic bullies. I’m a natural born klutz, always the last kid picked, etc. Hated every single second of gym. I do believe the philosophy of phys Ed has changed over the years to be less cruel, my grandkids actually like it.

[debm55]

20. Freddie, I hated it too. I agree about the sadistic bullies. We were required to take swimming. Part of that was diving.

Last edited Tue Feb 13, 2024, 11:37 AM - Edit history (1)

Everyone was required to wear a rope around their waist and the teacher held the other end. It was okay on the first level on the second level I went to do the tumblesault and the damn teacher pulled the rope sideways. while I was in mid air. I came up out of the water and said ,^%$*(&^$$##(* to myself, She told me to do it again. I did, The second time she didn't pull it.and me to the side.

[electric_blue68]

159. Woah, that's awful! Wow, required swimming, and (!)diving...

I'd have been scared!

My dad took me, and later my sister to the YWCA to learn swimming.

My folks were both good swimmers.

[debm55]

162. It was required in the District. All Sophomores had to take it. As part of swimming , we did diving and earned a Life

Last edited Sun Feb 18, 2024, 04:15 PM - Edit history (1)

Preserving License' There was no way of not taking as it was required subject for all if you wanted to graduate.

[electric_blue68]

164. Eeeek! :( I *am* glad our parents did teach us swimming through the YWCA

[debm55]

165. What is odd is my husband was from Boston and didn't have swimming in HS and lived next to the ocean. All we had around

here was rivers.

[electric_blue68]

167. I don't know if swimming was ever taught in NYC Public Schools...

You were close to the Ocean if you lived in Southern Brooklyn, Western Staten Island, and ?Eastern Queens.

The very Southern Tip of Manhattan faced the Hudson Bay leading to the Ocean. The rest of Manhattan was facing the Hudson River (westside), and The East, and Harlem River (eastward).

[Mark.b2]

21. There were many...geometry, trig, career orientation, social studies...

and civics come to mind. Not because I didn't enjoy the subjects. I just had so many go-through-the-motions teachers.

I was in high school when Clinton started teacher testing. I just knew (and hoped) a few would get clipped! But, they made the test so easy, I never heard of any teacher failing.

Now, both the Jr high and high school get D's and F's on the annual state report card. I can only imagine what it would be like today!

[debm55]

39. Yes, I too it was the teaching. I would sew my own clothes and cook from a yound age, However, I got a D in Cooking and

Last edited Tue Feb 13, 2024, 01:45 PM - Edit history (1)

a D in sewing , So glad Home Ec was over in 9th grade

[Polly Hennessey]

22. Home Economics. Specifically, the sewing part. I did

learn to cut my own patterns and I mastered the sewing machine. I am especially proud of my mastering the bobbin. Still hated it. I designed and sewed 🧵 one dress, which I didn’t like so I threw it out the second floor window. Got in trouble and had to go outside and pick it up. I guess I made it through but have no memory of Home Ec after that. Wait, I think we had to bake 🍞 bread also. That didn’t turn out well either.

[debm55]

40. Polly that is funny, I remember the bobbin. Made alot of my clothing and cooked from a early age. Parent were angry

that I got a D as a finally grade., Then Hom Ecc ended . We had a set day to wear our dresses to school

[Beausoleil]

23. My worst was Senior English

It was mutual hate between the teacher and me.

I did pretty well in HS, was in the top ten of my graduating class; loved Math. Geometry was probably my best class; I frequently had to bail the teacher out when he got stuck with a formal proof,
My favorite class was 9th grade World History, we had a fascinating teacher who was really dedicated to the subject and made it interesting.

But l hated Senior English. However when I took college placement tests for Math and English, I placed out of Math with a B, and placed out of English with an A. So I knew the problem was my English teacher.

[debm55]

49. Thank you Beausolell. I am glad you were successful.

[Beausoleil]

52. At least there's more than one

Geometry nerd!

[GoodRaisin]

24. Biology (9th grade)

Bored me to tears.

[debm55]

67. Agree, but I wanted to be a nurse, so I worked my ass of in Biology and the sciences to be get A.s Even if i had a hard

time

[TexasBushwhacker]

26. I wasn't fond of history because it was usually taught by coaches

I didn't like gym because I'm just not a natural athlete.

[debm55]

65. That's very true. I wonder why that is?

[TexasBushwhacker]

82. Most coaches major in PE but they choose history or science

for their second teaching field. Most don't choose English or math as their second teaching field because that would require taking beyond college algebra or a deeper study into literature.

[debm55]

103. TexasBushwhacker, I see your point. It was something that I always wondered about in HS. TY

[TexasBushwhacker]

120. In Texas it's even worse

Remember the coach in the Funky Winkerbean comic strip, with the coach/teach who did nothing but show films? We had a soccer coach/biology teacher who would go to the AV department on the first day of in service and sign up for a TV and VHS player for every Friday of the entire year. That's 20% of his instructional time spent showing episodes of "Nature". EVERY DAMN YEAR

[debm55]

122. Wow, though since he could't teach , maybe the films taught the Kids. When I was teaching ,we had a teacher that did

in 8th grade.The was an opening for an AP SS teacher in the public school. I went into his class to get my science kit that was delivered to the wrong room. Most of the kids were reading comic books that were inside their SS textbooks.He was a slacker., Hewas hired as an 10th grade AP SS teacher/assistant football coach.

[snpsmom]

27. Geometry

Had to take it twice. Got a D both times from the same teacher. O finally "got" it when I started quilting years later.

[debm55]

104. Yes, but if you had a good teacher they would have had used that as a springboard and had the class make quilts as a

project.

[indigoth]

28. Chemistry

But only because the teacher was the worst teacher I’ve ever had.

[debm55]

109. As was mine, I was in AP chemistry. based on my previous years grades.I needed a more slower paced class.and a teacher

that could explain things better., The only thing I did like about Chemistry was he did do a part of a semester on the Science of Baking. I did like that.

[Jamastiene]

30. I absolutely detested and resented Health & PE

aka Phys. Ed.

Our PE teacher, Ms. Thomas, bragged on herself for taking her son's finger and putting it on the stove burner to teach him not to reach up there while she was cooking. Couldn't she just tell the kid not to do it and that it would hurt? Did she have to physically burn the kid's finger?
She was patting herself on the back for that.

I despised her.

She told that story over and over again on different days.

She didn't teach the "health" part of Health & PE. She had us run laps in the gym for the Phys Ed part of the class. I got so damn tired of running around in circles. It's probably why I despise exercise to this day too. Well, that and being anemic makes it hard for me to exercise without damn near collapsing.

Even with a doctor's note, she made me participate in dodgeball. I have always been anemic. I had stitches from a carpet laying injury, long story, but our den got new carpet anyhow. Nothing like getting smacked in stitches with a dodgeball when you haven't gotten your iron infusion for the week yet.

Oh, how I hated her and her crappy class.

[3catwoman3]

100. Good grief! That would get her reported to child protective services...

...these days.

[debm55]

110. I am very sorry for you Jamastiene, All I remember about health was the Health Teacher who was also a Gym Teacher

constantly belittled this one girl. Class decided to walk out in protest. We all had detention , but we stood up for BeeBee, Disliked all the gym teachers. As I mentioned, I played Basketball, But I didn't fit in with the pets. I was more of a nerd.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

31. Gym. Gym. Gym.

I went to two different high schools in different states, but the classes were pretty similar. The coaches in each class worked nearly exclusively with the jocks and the rest of us were left to our own devices.

I got some satisfaction knowing I could beat the socks off any jock at academics.

[debm55]

112. That is a shame it went that way at both schools. I hated when teacher had nothing to teach so we Played one of two

games----DODGEBALL where the teacher seemed to get off seeing us snurfs get pounded by what I swear was a medicine ball
or CRAB SOCCER--where the students took a crab position and used this gigantic ball. I'm glad you found your way in academics.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

138. In elementary school we played dodge ball and kick ball.

I loved both of those games. We all got to play, and it didn't matter what the score was. I went to four schools in fourth grade, and we played both games in all but one -- Denali Elementary School in Fairbanks, Alaska, where we couldn't go out for recess if the temperature was below -25 degrees.

[debm55]

141. Thank you LastLiberalin PalmSprings

[Submariner]

32. Religion

Stations of the Cross and Novena rosary marathons led by the nuns were murder on my bony kneecaps.

[Beausoleil]

42. I hear you!

12 years of Catholic school can cure you of religion. Our religion teacher in sophomore year was a Dominican priest that we lovingly called Frankenstein.

[debm55]

114. Beausoleil, that is great.But I must admit I studied for two years to become a Nursing Sister of Charity.

[rurallib]

60. Amen to that. Magical stuff taught by a bunch of phonies

who just seemed to make stuff up and were among the worst sinners around.

In 4 years we had press who 1) had kids 2) used to like to take the high school boys out drinking on Friday nights and 3) molested the boys - here different priests.

In classes if you dare question the inconsistencies and illogical stories and answers that could lead to punishment. Just a large load of crap. We had one priest send a wastebasket into orbit when someone laughed at one of his answers one day.

[Beausoleil]

61. Anything that did not have a logical answer

Was a Divine Mystery!

Easy-peasy.

All of our Dominican priests were boxers and drinkers so we tried not to giggle too loudly.

[jimfields33]

80. I went to 12 years of Catholic school as well.

I sorta still believe some of it. I can’t imagine why we’re here if there is nothing after it. Doesn’t make sense.

[Beausoleil]

85. Same here pretty much

I haven't been to church regularly since about Junior year, but I can't go full-on atheist.

I prefer to think of myself as a devout agnostic.

I have to respect Catholicism because my mom and siblings are still pretty entrenched. My next younger sister is very liberal and very devout.

[jimfields33]

88. Sounds like me and my family.

I guess we’ll find out eventually down the line…..way down hopefully. lol.

[debm55]

66. Ha hahahahahahaha. I remember asking the priest about Alpha and Omega. Priest gave me this answer that it is Based on

faith. Slapped me in the face and told me to sit in the cafeteria. I didn't understand . I only based my question on how can something be and never end. Never did get an answer.

[debm55]

113. Was that at Our Lady of Perpetual Guilt????? I went for 8 years? Did you have Mass everyday.?

[Submariner]

129. Sister Perpetual Agony was at church EVERY

Saturday morning at 9:00am for 12 years to make sure we went to confession, so that our souls would be pure white as the driven snow to have communion at 9:00am EVERY Sunday morning. Just like clockwork. They had Mass every day, but I wasn’t alter boy holy.

[debm55]

142. Our whole school attended Mass everyday. 8:00 Mass. Confession every Saturday. What sin could a 7 year old have? I used

taking change between couch cushions? Not saying my prayers before and after meals.????? I would also make up sins to the priest, So I lied.

[arkielib]

34. Gym and typing.

I managed to get out of gym class by volunteering to work in the school office that period, and later by taking choir. My mother insisted I take typing. I wasn't good at it at all, and have never used a typewriter since, but it did prove useful years later when I was faced with the daily use of a computer keyboard.

[debm55]

43. You are envied by everyone on this board for getting out of gym. Especially the communal showers. With the teacher

watching.

[arkielib]

92. I was lucky.

That does indeed sound horrible!

[debm55]

197. It was, especially with the teacher standing there with a strap so every got in,

[ProfessorGAC]

172. Opposite Story Here

I think you'll like this story.
I was in honors classes, so we took five majors, religion & a minor. No gym class for the honors kids.
Being on school teams counted for part of the state PE requirements, the rest had to be filled through intramurals & other clubs. I played basketball & ran track, the played flag football & volleyball intramurals.
Anyway, everyone had to take typing first semester sophomore year. Starting 2nd semester, all term papers had to be typed.
Now, my mom was a transcriptionist. Wore headphones and typed testimony or letters from dictation. (Executive secretary before I was born, and worked in a law office when my sister turned 10. I had graduated college by then.)
Because of that, I knew how to touch type before I could write in cursive. Maybe 6 years old.
First day of typing class, I walk in with a couple pals, take a seat, grabbed a sheet of paper, put it in the platen, opened the text book & started typing what was in the book.
Without me seeing him, the teacher came in, walked over to where I was sitting & yanked the paper out of the platen. He thought I was screwing around.
He looks at it, turns the book so he could read it, compared the two, and said "Why don't you go to the gym & shoot hoops during this class."
So, I got out of typing class, and got gym without taking gym!

[arkielib]

184. Great story!

[subterranean]

41. It was gym (PE) for me, too.

I wasn't good at sports then, so gym class wasn't much fun for me. Especially wrestling, basketball and football. It was better if I had at least one friend in the class, which wasn't always the case.

[debm55]

46. I understand how you feel subterranean. We moved from a steel mill town to upper middle class suburbs, Went to Catholic

School for 8 years. Never had gym before. I knew no kids in 9th grade and gym was entirely foreign to me. Don't get me started on the showers, You are in my club. My name is Debbie and I hated GYM.

[surrealAmerican]

44. Social Studies:

I did okay, but memorizing names and dates is no fun at all for me.

[debm55]

47. I think you are the same type of learner as I am. and the teacher I became. Memorizing , you forget . Mix the hands on

the learning and you will remember. When my class studied Egypt we made mummies. made scarabs from polymer clay. etc. Back then it was book learning and it is still done today.

[malthaussen]

45. Would have to be 8th grade Social Studies...

... solely because of the teacher. She insisted we outline every chapter of the textbook in our notebooks, and doing so was 1/2 of the grade. I hate outlining and refused to do it, so even though I aced every test and quiz, I got straight "D"s in the course. She tried really hard to make the class hate history (er, Social Studies).

-- Mal

[debm55]

48. My motto was you do , you learn . I had a 9th grade science class. Never once did we do one single experiment . Not one

Last edited Tue Feb 13, 2024, 10:35 PM - Edit history (1)

Can't learn that way.

[Wicked Blue]

51. Algebra and phys ed

I had a bad case of flu and missed the introduction of Algebra 1. Never caught up.

With phys ed, I was small and clumsy, and a year younger than my classmates. I was terrible at everything.

[debm55]

147. So sorry for you Wicked Bue. I hated both of the classes because of poor teachers

[Niagara]

53. This is a tough question since it depended on the teacher that I had.

Math. In high school and I had teachers that just couldn't teach me.

One year I got a teacher that knew how to teach math. He would give us homework and we would go over each math problem on the chalkboard. I got the math formulas correct for the first time!


English. I excelled at reading comprehension, vocabulary, creative writing. However, I once had a teacher who couldn't teach and I ended up failing Sophomore English that year. We were also reading Julius Ceaser and she wouldn't explain anything.


Science. There were a few science classes that were awful and not all science classes are the same. I excelled at Life and Environmental Science. I didn't excell with Earth Science and I wasn't crazy about whatever science class it was that we had to dissect stuff. I hated it. After it was done, I just wanted to go home, take a shower and change into clean clothing.

[debm55]

72. Niagara, I taught Earth Science in Sixth Grade. We made sedimentary Sandwiches., Made parachutes for raw eggs for me

to drop from the second floor of the building, and other projects. Chemistry in HS was very hard for me and boring. I liked teaching it more than taking the classes,

[MiHale]

54. Any kind of math class...

Numbers are not something my brain recognizes.

[debm55]

115. Love you MiHale.Great answer.

[barbaraann]

55. Physics. Oh, God.

I faked my way through the whole year, got a National Merit Scholarship, and then failed my final. I never did understand one thing from the very first day. "f you push on a wall, it pushes back." What??!!??

Thank goodness Nat Merit did not take my scholarship back!

[debm55]

116. Yes , That;s a prestigious one to get. Wasn't it for four years.? Congratulations

[barbaraann]

119. Well, thank you. It was for four years.

My family was poor and I got the max amount.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

56. Not exactly a class but sort of encapsulated my HS years: listening to the nearby surf, as I stared out the window

at the beautiful So. Cal skies. Eventually the waves would call and I would find myself in the ocean, surfing. - sigh. I did eventually get my GED, and off to college where I took every swimming class offered. Would I have done it differently? I don't think I could have.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

57. Oops - sorry - I read this as "liked". My excuse is: it's early, I didn't have my tea yet, & I didn't finish HS.

[debm55]

117. Great post, AnotherMother4Peace.

[ificandream]

58. Chemistry. Without question.

[debm55]

62. Yep. same here

[debm55]

68. There were no calculators then and had to use a slideruler. I still can not figure that thing out. So I would do the

Math the long way.

[debm55]

123. Agree. this teacher wrote so many formulas on the board that we had to write down. It was a joke that kids would say

"And we will continue on the board in the next classroom."

[BlueTsunami2018]

63. I hated school in general. I liked creative writing and music.

I was good at everything but I didn’t want to be there at all so I was always in trouble. I was basically an honor student under protest.

[debm55]

148. You are right. Was there any way to take that in HS. My HS had 2100 students in three grades, Shool had a book of

classes and electives, very much like a college class book.It was not a city school but a suburban school of 3 smaller districts. I did take a class on creative writing as one of my electives. Some of the teachers were crappy, but overall. I liked the set up. I was in college prep but still could take Drafting as an elective.There were core classes but you could take when you wanted. I was finished with my core classes in 11th and fought to take my classes the following year at at branch campus of Penn State. Not allowed. I think you would have flourished in a school set up like mine.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

69. It SO depended on the teacher.

I mostly liked gym except when we rotated through one of the sadists (where did they find these guys?).
English, history, foreign languages, "social studies"-- these can be deadly if the teacher can't breathe some life into the topics and exercises.
Biology-- I still don't understand why it was necessary to cut up a frog but at least back then the teachers would go into conniptions if you protested.
I think I mostly liked classes that felt like you were creating/constructing something so favorite areas were music, art, shop/drafting, journalism and creative writing.

[debm55]

175. Gidney N. Cloyd, agree with your post. As a student going into nursing I was required to take Anatomy. We had to carry

to class, a recipe box with all of the bones of the body and were tested on them. We also dissected a cat. I should have known then that I wouldn't make it in nursing, As a teacher for 42 years I understand that teachers, in the grade school, would sit on there asses and give "busy work" to kids. They thought they were teaching but for some of them it was glorified baby sitting. JMO

[greatauntoftriplets]

70. Religion.

Yes, another one who went to a Catholic high school.

Also, any kind of math. It was never a subject that I found easy. In 8th grade, I was put in a pilot program for modern math. That thoroughly screwed me up math wise. When I took algebra in freshman year, zI could get the answers pretty easily in old math. Because my calculating wasn't done in modern math, my answers all were technically I correct.

[debm55]

71. Pilot programs are useless. I went to Catholic grade school. But during the 42 years I taught they came and went. ------

Phonic spelling? Yes that was the thing for a year. No words were spelled wrong if it was done in the child's phonic spelling. No Child
Left Behind aka Teach to the Test. and Whole Language.These are just a couple of programs I remember Oh yes, The New Math.

[Elessar Zappa]

74. Calculus.

I considered myself good in math until I took that class.

[debm55]

149. Took Trig instead. Again it is the methods to teach the subjects, not on you.

[we can do it]

75. Sewing

[debm55]

177. Agree, I knew how to sew from a very early age.I made most of my clothing. I always wondered if that was the problem--

she could't teach me, I already knew how to sew.

[happybird]

76. Algebra and Geometry

Ew. Math.

Strangely, I enjoyed my math classes in college.

[debm55]

180. Hated Algebra I but loved Geometry and Algebra 2. TY happybird. I really believer it goes along with the teacher.

[jimfields33]

77. American studies for sure

My teacher in 10th grade used to use overhead projector that had her written words that we had to opt every day and there were tons of them a class. She was a boring teacher as well.

[debm55]

186. TY jimfields33 , that does sound very boring, Sorry

[hlthe2b]

79. I was marginally athletic in school, but I HATED gym class--full of bullies and that

often included the teacher. I just could not stand the abuse leveled on smaller kids, heavy kids, and those who just were not interested or athletically inclined. If you were on a varsity or JV team of any kind you got to skip the class at some point. I was sooo glad to be among them, but likewise depressed at those kids left behind. It really was abusive and anything BUT helpful to increasing and encouraging physical activity throughout life.

[debm55]

195. Great post. I thought it was just my school but it was all schools, thank you,

[Wonder Why]

84. Homeroom. The only class I failed.

[debm55]

209. HAHAHAHHAH

[doc03]

86. I hated Gym, I was overweight, had no athletic ability and hated organized

sports. In My Junior and Senior years, I took electronics in the vocational program. The kids in vocational class didn't have Gym class. Then as adult in my late 40s I started going to the gym, there I could do as I wanted, elliptical, stationary bike,
rowing and weights, no ball games. When I see the jocks from high school now most are now overweight and have had multiple
joint replacements. Maybe it paid off being a klutz.

[debm55]

210. TY doc03. I am so glad things worked out for you.

[Rastapopoulos]

87. Shop class

Specifically wood shop. I had no confidence around the machines and would end up cutting myself and going to the school nurse.

[debm55]

211. I hear ya. But I would have liked the opportunity to try to make some . In our school shop was closed to girls.

[ProfessorGAC]

89. Booooo!!!!

I made a career out of chemistry! Now, I have to be mad at you the rest of the day!
The answer to your question, for pre-college, was religion classes. Waste of my time and I was an altar boy in grade school!

[debm55]

212. Nay, we have our likes and dislikes. I did however married a man who had his PhD in Chemical Engineering. Does that help

[ProfessorGAC]

214. All Is Forgiven!

I retract my boo.

[BlueKota]

93. Anything to do with Math

I have always sucked at it. Although I did have a wonderful Algebra teacher when I re-took it in 10th grade. His wife was my English teacher, and she told him she considered me gifted in reading and creative writing.

He said, they both found it puzzling that Math was such a struggle for me. They theorized I might have a learning disability because my right side of my brain was overpowering my left side. So he actually devised a way to use my right brain skills to help my left side. It worked. I went from getting a 55 percent on my Algebra Regents freshman year, to getting a 93 on my Sophomore retake. I was in shock. 🤣 I didn't get the same teacher for Geometry the next year though and ended up dropping it because I was getting an F.

So math and I were only temporarily friends. I also loathed gym.

[debm55]

179. Wow, BlueKota what a wonderful teaching couple. I am so happy they helped you. Wonder why your Geometry teacher couldn't

do the same? Gym=hell. Thank you for your insightful post.

[BlueKota]

182. They were amazing

I still remember what my Geometry teacher's response was when I asked him for help. "Read your textbook." When I told him I did, and still didn't understand it, he replied, "well I don't have time to explain it to you. I have to go coach the bowling team."

[YoshidaYui]

96. Spanish.

I wanted to learn Japanese, my parents would not teach me, finally in college!! I looked stupid speaking spanish -I’m ASIAN!!!

[debm55]

215. YoshidaYui, did you find a class in Japanese in college?

[YoshidaYui]

218. Yes at the time, CAL Berkeley had Japanese classes and I took THREE years of it

i also took a year at UCSB when I lived in Santa Barbara.

[YoshidaYui]

221. Yes

Ii found a school in the city that taught Japanese.

[debm55]

222. Thank you YoshidaYui

[no_hypocrisy]

102. Gym, hands down.

Nothing seemed to be worth the effort.

Climbing ropes
Balance Beam
The Pommel Horse
Unequal Bars
"Tumbling"
Volleyball
Basketball
Dodgeball

And I hated the stupid gym suits we were required to wear.

[debm55]

205. Oh my. We had white cotton shorts and a white cotton top. TY no_hypocrisy.

[Bluethroughu]

105. Sociology.

[debm55]

185. I enjoyed the class matterial but hated the teacher. She announced in class , that there was one student that never

missed a answer on any quiz or test. Perfect 100% on all. We didn't do any projects or papers in the class. She said the student got a C because she did not participate in class. It was me. I got my report card and was so angry that I went to her homeroom. She said you didn't participate so I lowered you grade, She only had discussions about the Steeler and allowed students in use the "n' word in class. I went to the principal' office and report her. I got A after that.

[Bluethroughu]

196. You are awesome.

My teacher was a nice guy, but looking back now, I had a right wing white supremacy bias to most of my education.

He was an Archie Bunker type, if he knew you then you were not included in those others.

Yuck.

[debm55]

216. My school was very large, in the suburbs and lily white. There were bigots in my Soc, class and they made no attempt to

hid it.

[MichMan]

107. Probably hated gym the most

I changed schools a lot, but in 10th grade it was really unstructured.(It was the 70's after all) Went to an inner city big school, and we could choose daily the activities we liked. Basketball (highly favored by Black classmates as our HS was one of the best in the state) swimming pool, weight room and a bunch of other stuff. Once we figured out we could go to the weight room and hang out for the hour without actually having to lift weights, that was what my friends and I did.

The next year, I went to another HS, and they broke it up into 10 week blocks that you had your choice of. Softball, Tennis, Track and others including a Wilderness survival course. I had my appendix out, so I got excused for part of the year. The only gym activities I really excelled at was the rope climbing and 50 yard dash

My favorites were always biology classes; especially Anatomy and Physiology, since I wanted to be a veterinarian and the teacher was a former vet.

[debm55]

125. I took Anatomy as I wanted to be a nurse., I remember the open classrooms of that time, TY

Last edited Wed Feb 14, 2024, 02:08 PM - Edit history (1)

And I hated Gym too.

[debm55]

181. We had to dissect a cat in Anatomy. It was required for nursing and medical students. Hated it.

[MichMan]

192. We did a shark, a fetal pig and the cat

My favorite class

[debm55]

194. That was in HS right? We did the shark, Feral pig also. But the cat is to me as it was more of a pet.type animal' Did

Last edited Mon Feb 19, 2024, 10:19 AM - Edit history (1)

you go into the medical field? TY

[MichMan]

198. Yes, HS.

Fortunately I am a dog person, so the cat wasn't an issue. I suppose if you had pet cats at home it would be tough.

I entered college with the hope of being a Veterinarian and took the required 2 years of pre vet.

Pre Vet was a 2 year program, but with only a few dozen Vet schools in the entire country, there were 1000 applicants at my college for 100 spots. That meant that virtually no one got in after 2 years, so you had to change to another major and complete your 4 year degree and keep trying. Once you finally get admitted, it is three additional years with no summer semester off. Very demanding rigorous program.

I changed to Engineering and never really looked back with regrets until I had a couple dogs that needed extensive treatment at the same college I attended. Very impressed with the students and professors at the adjacent hospital and wondered sometimes, what if?

[debm55]

200. I had friends who went to Ohio State for their Vet School. As far as I know , there are none in PA.

[Permanut]

108. History..

Did well generally in high school; history was the only "D" I ever got

That was before I found out how interesting actual history can be.

[debm55]

118. Very true, Permanut. and how it is taught. Thank you for your post.

[Permanut]

135. Exactly right about the way it is taught..

Nothing more boring than hearing about how

Columbus sailed the ocean blue

in fourteen hundred and ninety two.

Now, if we'd had Zinn's book it would have been different.

[Bayard]

121. Chemistry, fer sure

The teacher had just moved in from Boston, and with that accent, he informed us that he was going to fail every one of you little bastards. It went down hill from there. I had always been a straight A, honor roll kid until then. A few of my other teachers pulled me aside and wanted to know what was going on.

I was more into classes like, "Greek and Elizabethan Drama and Derivatives," (I kid you not,) Art, and Creative Writing.

[debm55]

124. Wow. that would be very crappy to be in his class. I am surprised he was wasn't reprimanded for using that language.

Hey join the club of "oh shit , Chemistry is my next class" i do have to say, my husband has his PhD in Chemical Engineerinng. While I almost had mine in Art Therapy, Opposites do attract.

[Jeebo]

126. Physical Education class.

I was WAY too bashful to be able to take off my clothes in front of the other kids. The sports were fine, as long as I could play them with all my clothes on. But being expected to take off my clothes in front of all the other kids? That was something I just could not do. And in fact never did. They finally put me in what they called the "adaptive" P.E. class. I think that was in the 10th grade. The other kids called it the "spastic" class. I felt stigmatized just by virtue of being in that class, and it was as humiliating for me as the regular P.E. class. At the age of 74, more than 60 years after some of the experiences I had in P.E. class, I still think often about some of those experiences and how I wish I had handled them. Is the fact that I think often about those things that happened to me 60-plus years ago mean that I was traumatized by those experiences? I think it does. I had all kinds of problems that sort of cascaded off my problems with P.E. class and that made my six years of high school absolutely miserable. I have a niece who says school was "fun" for her, but it was not fun for me, it was six years of daily torture, with a Sword of Damocles hanging over my head every single day of those six years.

-- Ron

[debm55]

144. Jeebo, I am so sorry for you. They can could have found a way to have you undress in a separate room or just wear your

clothes. I 'll tell you a funny story that might cheer you up. I was small all over. The first time I changed, the Kleenex fell out of my bra.---in front of everyone. I was so embarrassed. I ran to the bathroom and cried. I threw the kleenex away and never wore again. Accept me for who I am. Love you, Debbie

[Silent Type]

128. Typing. I needed a credit, took it and hated it until college research and then

writing long reports — even books (small, specialized distribution) — for various entities.

I can type faster than I can talk. Glad I stuck it out, and now appreciate the instructor.

[debm55]

143. Silent Type , Ty for your post.

[Mad_Dem_X]

139. Phys. Ed.

I am no good at any kind of sport. Gym for me was absolute torture.

[debm55]

145. And the bully gym teachers who would tease, hit, make fun out of kids that didn't measure up to their standards.

[Mad_Dem_X]

151. My gym teachers weren't exactly bullies, but...

they didn't interfere when the bullies would start on kids like me.

[debm55]

153. Mad_Dem_X I am so sorry that happened to you.

[Mad_Dem_X]

208. Thank you!

[yellowdogintexas]

150. Any math more complicated than checkbook level.

I do know how to figure out square footage for a rug and a few other things.
For some strange reason, I know how to apply the Pythagrian Theorum.

[debm55]

152. That's funny, TY yellowdogintexas.

[sakabatou]

154. Math.

[debm55]

155. TY sakabatou. In my experience, it was more of the teacher"s lack of caring if some of the students got it or not.

[electric_blue68]

156. I suffered through Algebra, Trig, Calc...

Although I was good at Geometry! I credit my visual artist abilities.

If I had chemistry, I probably suffered through that, too.

[debm55]

158. I agree. I loved Art and Geometry. Got a BS in Art Education in college. Chemistry, I hated.

[electric_blue68]

160. I noticed you, ?Diamond Dog, and I both loved Art and we're good at Geometry...

Definitely think there's a connection there.


Art Ed👍

[debm55]

178. I really think it's a left brain/right brain thinking. Ty you for bringing that up. I was noticing the amount of

posters not liking Geometry. I loved it.

[electric_blue68]

168. Typing. In HS we were sent 1x/wk for a semester to another school for typing!...

We went down from Western Harlem to Midtown Manhattan! Wth?! 😄

As a budding feminist (mid '60s), and young artist I associated typing with being a secretary; something I had No interest in being.

In Art College I rarely had to write any papers so typing wasn't even really needed there.

The only time I got excited about typing was in Art College!
I don't remember just where we had a IBM Selectric Typewriter bc it wasn't an actual classroom; we could change the Type Font ball to italic, or to bold! 😄👍

I can remember doing it at some point a long column of type, but not what I typed! I don't remember whether it was for any class, or for my own enjoyment.
Fun to remember that. 👍

[debm55]

169. Gee my school must have been big as we had five wings . The center wing was fpr business class. As a college prep

student, I had to take it as an requied elective for a semester everyday.

[electric_blue68]

170. Wow! Well, I went to the Specialized HS Music & Art...

Which some years later merged with the The HS of The Performing Arts and moved to a brand new building.

🤔 So maybe typing was required but since our HS didn't provide it - we were sent elsewhere.

[debm55]

176. Guess what? They are downsizing the school. They had 2 junior high schools. Closed both and merged with high school. The

Six Grade school closed also.No more boomer mega schools.. I would have loved to be anywhere else beside the HS , The students were snobby. You must be very talented to be the HS of the Performing Arts. That would have been a dream come true for me. TY

[Runningdawg]

183. PE because the coach/teacher was perv.

[Xolodno]

188. College Prep Algebra

Shortly after the start of school, my brother came down with a rare condition that left him hospitalized for almost a year. My parents would drag all of us to the hospital long term care facility every day, no choice. Trying to study was very difficult. I got the concepts, but couldn't keep up with the homework as the teacher had the title every year as giving out the most homework in the year book. I explained the issue and she more or less told me it wasn't her problem. Had to take consumer math the next semester due to a sub par grade....and aced it. Next year, took Algebra again, but got a different instructor and did well.

I'm an Analytics Manager now. Some people's ego's.....

[debm55]

203. So sorry for your family, brother and you. My situation was the same in 9th grade--sister had a brain tumor, She was

was very vicious after the operation and went to Mental Health clinics. They found nothing wrong with her, so this and my brothers psychosis made my home a living hell. That;s not including my parents. I explaned to teachers and they didn't give a shit what was going on in the house. Especially the Algebra I teacher. I did a Math project that brought my grade up to a C. Never got below an A in Math again. I am glade you made it.Very good career.

[PufPuf23]

189. Military Science and French

Went to 4 different schools for junior high and high school.

1) 7th grade; Orleans Elementary, a two room elementary school in the Klamath Mountains of extreme northern California.

2) 8th and 9th grades, San Rafael Military Academy owned and operated by the Episcopal Church. Sick place. Had chapel every school day before classes and military science the last class period of every school day.

3) 10th and 11th and part of 12th grades; Athenian School, then a new boarding school for smart and many rich kids in East Bay Area.

4) Graduated 12th Hoopa Valley High School on the Hupa Reservation.

Military Science is self-explanatory and a function of bad parents. Not much respect for Episcopalians either.

French because I could not hear nor speak foreign languages and was class laughing stock even to the teachers. Madame Ehat and Yvette Kapinsky were good teachers and great humans and very kind to me. Could do French reading and writing as a code (got 700 on Level II SAT Achievement and resigned from 4th year French) but never progressed as a speaker and all my ears could hear was gibberish.

[debm55]

201. PufPuf, that was alot of moving around and adjustments for you. No wonder it was hard. In my Catholic grade school it

was Mass everyday for the entire school. It was said in Latin. Had no idea what was being said. Had a Missal that had Latin and the English translation on the adjoining page. Why was the Military Academy a sick place? Ty.

[PufPuf23]

206. Went to Catholic school in 2nd grade, St. Isidore's.

Neighbor and Mother's best friend was Catholic and St. Isadore was a new school; only grades 2,4,6, and 8 the first year of existence.

This was in East SF Bay.

Sister Underwood was teacher and pretty cool. She had been on a mission to Guatemala. Had many slides of the ancient sites being rediscovered and rainy days or just about any excuse to break out the slides, she did. Also did that Catholic thing of slapping hands with ruler as punishment. Four years later, Sister Underwood was Mrs. Hermes with a child and taught my younger sister in 2nd grade but in the public school where I was then in 6th grade.

SRMA was in San Rafael in Marin County north of the Golden Gate Bridge. SRMA had about a 100 year history, closing in early 1970s several years after my time there. There was an Episcopal Church from the gold rush era in my home town. There was a 2nd church property next to my maternal grandparents fishing and hunting resort. hat occurred at SRMA? Much bullying and hazing. Group punishment. Sexual abuse scandals that were covered up by the administration. Suicide attempts and runaways. Cadets would just disappear after incidents. Got dosed with LSD (this was Fall 1966 less than an hour from Haight-Ashbury). Learned to smoke pot. But I was a good student and by nature not a rebel and met some good friends at the beginning and survived.

Thank you.

[debm55]

217. Pufpuf23, I am deeply saddened with what you went througn. We are both survivors of a system that should be child

centered but wasn't. Mine was my immediate family and your's was the school. But we survived as hard as it was, we survived. Bless you,

[jmowreader]

190. History

At the time I went to school, the State of Idaho required you take a history class every year you were in high school. The progression was basic history in 10th grade, more advanced history in 11th and Government in 12th. This was before all the hard-right people began fleeing California so the government class was pretty neutral.

In basic history we started at the Pilgrims and made it all the way to World War I by the end of the year. In more-advanced history we started at the Pilgrims again. Uhh...wouldn't it have made more sense to pick up in Grade 11 history where we left off in Grade 10?

Like most of you I enjoyed art class. Check this shit out: in one year's art class some of us got assigned to paint the school library windows to look like stained glass windows. A few windows were done in teams, but the teacher assigned others of us solo windows. I got a solo window because the teacher liked my particular artistic style and wanted to see where I'd go with it. I figured that since there were only 11 churches in a town of 2500 people a Birth of Jesus theme would be great and did this whole thing with angels, a nativity, and so on, and there wasn't a curved line in the whole thing. Not having made stained glass before I didn't realize you could cut curves in it so I'm thinking, why not do something that could be feasibly accomplished in real glass? Everyone else did windows that would have been more appropriate for Easter and that had all these curves in it that couldn't ever have been done on a real window. So at the end-of-exercise review the teacher asked us all, "how come it is that the atheist kid is the only one here who knows the Christmas story and what a stained glass window looks like?"

[debm55]

199. HAHAHAH Way to go, jmowreader.. As i look at your post I think the teacher should have assigned scenes. and let the

pick. Your's sounds beautiful. Thank you for sharing.Our History was the same. It was reguired. But we had American History I in 10 grade, American History 2 in 11th grade. In 12th grade you got to pick a History elective.

[RKP5637]

202. Gym. We had a lot of jocks in my class year. I didn't care for Latin my last 2 years.

The teacher was OK, but Latin and I did not agree. My father was well educated and helped me through it. I never would have passed without him helping me.

[debm55]

204. Ty RKP5637, gym stinks, It was great for your dad to help you in latin.

[limbicnuminousity]

219. Trig

Gym would have ranked but circumstances allowed me to take the 2nd year of gym as a senior. The coach looked at me and said "just don't get in trouble" and allowed me to spend the gym period at a nearby daquiri shop for the year.

[debm55]

220. TY you lucked out.