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SpeedwayFan
SpeedwayFan Reader
8/30/22 11:57 a.m.

I just started school and in forensics we get to go on a field trip later in the semester to a firing range and we'll get to disassemble an M4. Anyway what was your favorite high school elective and what made it fun?

mtn
mtn MegaDork
8/30/22 12:04 p.m.

Two favorites were autoshop and weight lifting. 

But the best one, not the favorite, but the best, was something like "basic computer skills". Easiest A ever. It walked us through the Microsoft suite - Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Access, Vizio, and Publisher. Through all of my schooling, this is the single most important class I ever took in terms of my career. 

 

SpeedwayFan
SpeedwayFan Reader
8/30/22 12:06 p.m.

In reply to mtn :

Lol all they offer at my school is word excel and powerpoint I am proud to say I am certified in 2 and for some idiotic reason didn't take the certification for one of them

Beer Baron
Beer Baron MegaDork
8/30/22 12:06 p.m.

Theater / Drama club.

Really good and disparate people. I made friends for life. Girls are cute.

Not only was it fun and satisfying in the moment, it built some incredible skills and experience for the future. Talking in front of people, woodworking, electrical work, running a light/sound board, dealing with different types of people, doing all the work to make a show happen.

pres589 (djronnebaum)
pres589 (djronnebaum) UltimaDork
8/30/22 12:10 p.m.

Autotech for a class.  I actually took Auto 2, the second level class, twice so I could have shop access both my jr. and sr. years.  

For extra curriculars, I was also in scholar's bowl, the thing that looks a bit like the game show Jeopardy but teams based.  

SpeedwayFan
SpeedwayFan Reader
8/30/22 12:14 p.m.

Bro they don't have any kind of auto class at my high school D:

pres589 (djronnebaum)
pres589 (djronnebaum) UltimaDork
8/30/22 12:15 p.m.

And?

Powar
Powar UltraDork
8/30/22 12:15 p.m.

Philosophy. The teacher was excellent. The content was excellent. 

(... and the teacher introduced me to Southern Culture on the Skids. I ran into him years later at one of their concerts.)

SpeedwayFan
SpeedwayFan Reader
8/30/22 12:16 p.m.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

I wish they did

barefootcyborg5000
barefootcyborg5000 PowerDork
8/30/22 12:36 p.m.

Welding and shop were both fun.
I disliked the piano/guitar teacher, though she seemed to like me. Piano didn't take, and the guitar stuff was a repeat from jr high. 
Basic electronics imparted some very useful skills. 
Graphic arts was fun, but if you're going to screen print a shirt, bring an extra and don't take off the one you're wearing that day. 

My favorite by far though was the skatepark two blocks away. Bad move, city planners. Bad move. 

I DO NOT CONDONE CUTTING CLASS 

einy (Forum Supporter)
einy (Forum Supporter) Dork
8/30/22 12:40 p.m.

Metal shop, and wood shop.  I did great in the other classes, but these were just fun as **** to go to.  My parents still have a table that I made in wood shop during my senior year, and it still looks good in their living room if I do say so myself.  

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
8/30/22 12:59 p.m.

I'd have to say Mechanical Drawing.  As a full-on college-prep student, it was the only "shop" class I took, and yes, I might have been a little out of place, but I really got a lot out of the class.  And the teacher was an absolute hottie.

Toyman!
Toyman! MegaDork
8/30/22 1:03 p.m.

Drafting. This was in the days of mechanical pencils, multi-sided scales, drafting powder, and T-squares. I was extremely good at it, too bad it was a dying profession. 

By the time I bailed on school, the writing was on the wall. Computers were going to be the new age of drawing. Faster, more accurate, minimal skill needed. They sure did take the soul out of it.

 

 

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
8/30/22 1:12 p.m.

I really, really enjoyed Theory of Knowledge (TOK):

https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/theory-of-knowledge/what-is-tok/
 

I'd also recommend taking as much science as possible now, while it's free. HL Biology was free in high school or thousands of dollars in college, so I took it even though I had no plans to be a biology major. I still use it all the time, as it's just enough info to understand the basics of the natural world. If nothing else, HL bio means I know what doctors are talking about when I'm making decisions. 

bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter)
bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
8/30/22 1:35 p.m.

Definitely Grade 12 Technology because the teacher had a big class, zero berkeleys and did not take attendance. I would skip to go to my girlfriends apartment because she had dropped out a year earlier and she was usually still in bed. I still got a B.

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
8/30/22 2:22 p.m.

Art. It gave me focus and an outlet. Otherwise I probably would have been building successfully larger explosive devices until I blew myself up.

I was the only student Mr. K ever saw create aviation art, and I excelled at it.

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
8/30/22 2:35 p.m.

Non-western culture. Essentially philosophy "lite" compared to college courses. 

Introduced me to the book Ishmael which I thought was fantastic. I should read it again now that I'm 40 and not 17. 

It's why I ended up going on in college and getting a philosophy minor. 

Datsun310Guy
Datsun310Guy MegaDork
8/30/22 2:44 p.m.

9th-10th Metals 1,2,3,4

11th-12th Machine Tool - Vocational School

Our Metals class had a teacher that had a girl get her long hair caught in a lathe so following that accident every one wore Dutch boy hats and tucked their hair up - it was the late 70's and the class had a lot of burnouts in it.   

That accident was bad and the teacher left and went to OSHA to fo more safety education.   Awesome guy.  

J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
8/30/22 2:44 p.m.

Creative writing. I guess it led to something.

The big mistake was having the same teacher for creative writing and English. She once threw my English paper at me, calling it garbage. She told me she knew how I could write and it was nowhere near my abilities. D'oh! She was a great teacher, though.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter)
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) PowerDork
8/30/22 3:11 p.m.

I'm not sure. It's been a long time, and I wasn't there much. 

jgrewe
jgrewe HalfDork
8/30/22 3:17 p.m.

Photography. I think it was the only class I cared enough about to get straight A's for 2 years.

The teacher was an avid auto-x'r, he had a 1st gen RX7.  We crossed paths at about my 4th event, neither of us knew the other played in the cones. I had to remember to use his last name in school because he was just "Chris" out on the asphalt.

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
8/30/22 3:27 p.m.

Band. By a massive margin. 

ShawnG
ShawnG MegaDork
8/30/22 3:29 p.m.

Metal shop and Drafting.

 

KyAllroad
KyAllroad MegaDork
8/30/22 3:36 p.m.

Man, I'm jealous of some of these HS stories.

My podunk county in the mid 80's treated HS like a minimum security prison where we all had to spend 4 years.  I took a drafting class like Toyman but there was nothing to follow it up with.  The guidance counselor didn't seem to do much of anything and I knew higher education wasn't an option until later on.

Spring break of my senior year I went to the recruiting station and signed up for the army (delayed entry). 

Wally (Forum Supporter)
Wally (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
8/30/22 3:37 p.m.

Woodshop and photography. Shop class had a really good teacher and few fun projects, we spent December making fire trucks and taking them to area hospitals. Photography got me onto the school paper and to some interesting things I wouldn't have done otherwise. 

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