Favorite subject

[webny99]

For some of us, this is current, and for others, it's old history (and for me, its recent history) but what subjects did you enjoy in school? Or college, if it applies.

Personally, I enjoyed history, geography, and math, but it will be interesting to see what others think and if certain subjects recur.

[7/8]

In high school, my favourite courses were math, physics, and geography (especially the Grade 9 class since they had trivia questions which I did well at ). In Grade 11 math, we had "clicker quizes", where students would compete by trying to be the fastest at entering the correct multiple-choice answer on our clickers. I enjoyed the AP math and science program.

I'm currently in university for Civil Engineering and this is the last term of my 5-year program. I've found that in university, my enjoyment of courses is strongly affected by the prof who is teaching the course. Right now, I'm enjoying my Transit Planning and Operations course, and Geotechnical Engineering 3. I actually started to dislike my math courses in engineering, since they went from easy-peasy (in fact, probably too easy) in high school to quite difficult in university. I wish the difficulty was more balanced betweem high school and university math (teach integrals in Grade 11 instead of first year).

[Max Rockatansky]

Planetary Science.  That was the only class in high school that I actually read the text box cover to cover without being told to.  I had an old Webster's Dictionary from the 1960s when space exploration was ramping up.  I loved reading about the planets, terrain, environments, and scientific speculation...even if a good deal of it was wrong.

I college my major was Criminal Justice.  I really liked the procedural law and constitutional law classes probably the most.  Procedural law included case briefs which I was pretty good at doing since I could type over 100WPM.  Most people hated that class because it required effort to do research and understand why decisions were made and then put them into an easy to read format. 

In Junior High there was an art class that I was forced to take that I thought that I'd hate.  Turns out the teacher was okay with me submitting my Lego skyscrapers and various other buildings for projects.  Turned out to be a hell of a boon in getting my parents to buy me new 2,000 brick sets since it was for school. 

[Roadgeekteen]

Ranking my classes from best to worst
Lunch
History
Bio
Strings
Math
Chinese





















English

[jp the roadgeek]

Math (up to pre-calculus)
Geography
Spanish
History
Accounting classes
Mass Media classes
Recess

[hotdogPi]

Math (up to pre-calculus)
Geography
Spanish
History
Accounting classes
Mass Media classes
Recess

Is that a list of your 7 favorites, or are you ranking them from best to worst?

[Roadgeekteen]

Math (up to pre-calculus)
Geography
Spanish
History
Accounting classes
Mass Media classes
Recess

Is that a list of your 7 favorites, or are you ranking them from best to worst?

Best to worst.

[Big John]

math
science (pre physics)
German
history
English
Phy Ed

[vdeane]

My favorite of the "regular subjects" was either Science or Social Studies depending on the year.

In high school, my favorite class was Sociology.  I also loved AP US History, AP Government and Politics, and Video Communications.

In college, my favorite class was HP 201 (which was about epistemology in academic disciplines and how paradigms shape how we gather and understand knowledge; alas, the Honors Program never got its course titles straight so we only referred to them by number - and now, the number refers to a completely different course due to curriculum changes).  I also loved Intro to Global History, European History: 1789-1914 (the long 19th century), and Intro to Sexuality.  Given that I listed four courses but only two professors, it definitely speaks to how the teacher affects enjoyment of the class just as much as subject matter (especially considering that I had many other fascinating electives as well).

[webny99]

Math (up to pre-calculus)
Geography
Spanish
History
Accounting classes
Mass Media classes
Recess

Is that a list of your 7 favorites, or are you ranking them from best to worst?

Best to worst.

Roadgeekteen, that's not your list 
He was asking jptheroadgeek.

[1995hoo]

My high school didn't have a geography class. Too bad, as I would have loved it. In Trivial Pursuit I always moved to the blue squares whenever possible.

In high school, my favorite classes were anything history-related (including AP US History and AP European History, the latter being what the teacher called "the ultimate elective class"), AP Government (one of the easiest classes I took in high school), Astronomy (THE easiest course I took in high school, plus I love astronomy, and the planetarium was the only air-conditioned classroom in the school), and Journalism. The classes they called "social studies" were always strong points for me–during my freshman year of high school, they had a competition that used some standardized test and I beat everyone else in the school, which was kind of weird because the award was presented at senior awards night and they made a big deal about how it was the only time the award had ever been won by a freshman.

In college, I majored in history and minored in religious studies (which really go together in a lot of ways when you think about it). I think the best course I ever took at any level of school was History of the Civil Rights Movement, taught by Julian Bond. What a fantastic course and what an interesting person to teach it. You know how people get antsy when a professor doesn't end on time? Bond ran over regularly and nobody ever moved a muscle because his classes were so interesting. The other class I remember being at the top of my list was Aspects of the Catholic Tradition, which is a much more complex subject than you might expect if you're not interested in that sort of thing.

In law school, I didn't get great marks in constitutional law and First Amendment, due in part to a very tough professor, but those were two of my favorite classes because of the subject matter.

My worst grades in high school were all in math classes. I took my "C" in junior-year calculus and never took another math class again since in college the requirement was for nine hours of either math or science (or some of each).

[jp the roadgeek]

Math (up to pre-calculus)
Geography
Spanish
History
Accounting classes
Mass Media classes
Recess

Is that a list of your 7 favorites, or are you ranking them from best to worst?

Best to worst.

Roadgeekteen, that's not your list 
He was asking jptheroadgeek.

In no particular order.  If it included the worst, then any kind of art class other than wood shop would be there.  Not much of a painter, and I can draw blood better than I draw a picture.

[webny99]

Given that I listed four courses but only two professors, it definitely speaks to how the teacher affects enjoyment of the class just as much as subject matter (especially considering that I had many other fascinating electives as well).

Definitely agree on this one. I had a few bad science teachers (to put it bluntly) in middle school, such that I never fully understood parts of the curriculum. I barely passed my final in 10th grade, using wits and common sense more than anything I'd been taught, and opted out of science in my final two years. Which, upon reflection, is too bad. It's a subject I should have enjoyed.

The impact the teacher ultimately has on the attitude, success, and even behavior, of the students, should not be underestimated.

[Hurricane Rex]

Me: "Meteorology."
School: "Sorry we don't offer those classes."
Me: "Okay, math then."
School: "Enjoy common core."
Me: "Get me to college faster."

Seriously my current class schedule in order of favorite:
Teacher Assistant 
Lunch
AP Calculus
Furniture and Cabinetry
Writing 121
Economics (People in the class suck and litteraly don't know anything.)

[kphoger]

Spanish

[Hurricane Rex]

Spanish

Try my Spanish listening tests and see if that changes your mind.... If it doesn't hey, we all have different views. Spanish was fine till my listening tests in 1st tri of this year.

[kphoger]

Spanish

Try my Spanish listening tests and see if that changes your mind.... If it doesn't hey, we all have different views. Spanish was fine till my listening tests in 1st tri of this year.

This coming March will be my 19th time across the Mexican border, and my 12th time to the interior of the country (not just a border town).  I've driven more miles in Mexico than I have in Oklahoma, whose state line is only 51 miles away from my house.  Not to burst your bubble, but I have a feeling I'd do OK on your listening test.

Having said that, I also want to encourage you to take the listening part of language study seriously.  I learned Spanish primarily in the classroom and online chat, but real-life conversation doesn't work the same way.  I still struggle some with listening comprehension (it's my biggest struggle when it comes to Spanish) even while being quite capable at making myself understood, whereas people I know who've had to learn Spanish while living in México have a much easier time at understanding others than at making themselves understood.  I do OK understanding people who are used to being around Americans (they've adapted how they speak to meet our needs), professionals (they tend to speak clearly and correctly), and the like.  But I struggle quite a bit understand rural speakers and children.  Probably the hardest people I've ever had to understand were a couple of hitchhikers we picked up on their way back home from working in the fields, who ended up helping us find a mechanic to replace a broken wheel bearing somewhere near here.  Listening comprehension is more important than you might think it is.

[Rushmeister]

1. Rush
2. Road stuff

[webny99]

I was expecting more people to say math was their favorite.

It's far from my personal favorite, but I never found it that challenging.

[Doctor Whom]

High school: Science (especially physics), math, Spanish.

Undergrad: Courses relating to quantum mechanics, of which there were a heck of a lot for my major.

Graduate school: Courses relating to quantum mechanics and thermodynamics.

Law school: First-year constitutional law, HIV legal issues, and LGBT legal issues.

[Roadgeekteen]

Spanish

Is that why you seem to go to Mexico so much?

[webny99]

Spanish

Is that why you seem to go to Mexico so much?

You probably won't get an answer for a few months. Its pretty well known that he tends to be really active and then really not active.

[Buck87]

Social Studies/History

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

Lunch


iPhone

[kkt]

Spanish

Is that why you seem to go to Mexico so much?

Or he could do well in Spanish class because he goes to Mexico so much...