Ummm I hate to say I thought school was just a big social event....I am glad my kids take their studies seriously though...I wish I had....Stacy

Nothing really interested me, subject wise. I did like typing though. And cooking in Home Ec. and PE (we got to bowl one year).
Leslie

I liked Social Studies and English, but any math subject just met with a closed brain!

History classes. Second would be the science classes...Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

I loved math and science classes, mainly because they were an easy A for me. Physics, chemistry, algebra, trigonometry. When I decided to go to an agriculture college and get a degree in horticulture my physics teacher called me into his office and told me I was throwing my life away. I'm sure I could've made a lot more money in one of those fields but, I like doing what I'm doing and would have been miserable confined to a lab or an office someplace.
Ron

Loved Science up until the 8th Grade. Then it got tougher. I disliked Math until it got to Algebra, "loved it".

High School I liked Government Classes.

College I enjoyed English Comp and Art.

I've been to 6 Colleges. LOL!

Gayle

I liked English, loved writing essays and stories. Working on the yearbook staff was the highlight of high school for me. I still like writing, but it doesn't come easily anymore.

I hated history, didn't understand why anyone cared what happened so many years ago. I like History now.

I went to a small school (70 in my graduating class) and we didn't have many classes to choose from.

I'm with grinch...4 years of social events. I did however kind of like English, since it seemed a lot more 'useful' than Latin, Social Studies, and other things.

Sue

English and Math were my favorites, absolutely loved Algebra, and marketing intrigued me. Don't remember much from any of them, so that makes it difficult to apply them. I'd recognize but couldn't possibly factor an Algebraic equation if my life depended on it. Should have gone into Engineering. LOL

Lydia, I had the same experience with history. Dumb then, fascinating now. I think in high school there was too much emphasis on memorizing dates. You should write more. If you loved it then, you can love it again.

Ron, you did the right thing. Loving what you do will keep you healthy, if not rich.

I'm remembering that the principal and guidance counselor called my parents in and told them tests revealed I had the highest aptitude for math in the city of New York. At the time I believed them because I used to make up algebra problems for fun. But today I think they must have gotten my test mixed up with someone else's. :-)

I was always in the "honors" classes back then and I guess the only good thing about that was that the "honors" teachers were the best. That seems to still be true w/ my GDs who are in honors classes here. I have always said the most beneficial thing I learned in high school was typing.

Vannie, that's what Main Man said. He was a Marine during Vietnam and Typing kept him in the states.

Gayle

In high school I took cosmetology, but never became a beautician. I enjoyed English and Math. I loved reading, but hated literature. I think I wanted to read what I wanted to read and nothing else. I was always good at spelling and won several spelling bees. The highest I ever won though was only a west Tennessee bee. In the past few years I have forgotten some basic spelling rules and have to go to dictionary.com to check on the spelling before posting some things.
I think math has helped me a lot in my factory job. Before we had automatic settings for syncronized cooking of corn flakes and other cereals I had to figure out when to add vitamins and minerals etc. and when to add steam and when to bleed steam. There were 9 cookers going at once and each held more than a ton of raw food. Each cooker had to be started at a certain time in the sequence so that by the time the last cooker was done and sent down the line, the first one was ready to start over. I could do all of that without writing down my schedule, but I always wrote it down anyway in case of power outage or any reason someone else might have to take over my job. I liked juggling those numbers and seeing the finished product leave the line.

Linda

English, history and geography. What I remember from geography is the economics aspect of how a town develops and grows.

Math has never been a favorite of mine. My older sister ended up being a math major in college. During high school, she couldn't get down to my level to help me understand it. College was worse, the professor couldn't make me understand it also. If I were to ever finish my degree, I still need math credits.

BOYS! Is that a class? I would have taken it if it was.

Cardamon...we are on the same wave length.
I loved English,History and Geography,and still do to this day.
I hated math subjects with a passion and thank God every day for machines that do it for me...LOL

English and History. I loved the newspaper staff. Still dabble with some writing. Funny - I NEVER use the word dabble! Wonder where THAT came from!? LOL

Loved Literature, along with being the editor, publisher and reporter for the school newspaper.

To this day love books...any kind of books. In fact one of my weaknesses is going into any kind of bookstore and coming out with an armful.

No Latin? No fellow Latin fans?

I took four years of the subject in high school. It was the best course I ever took. Many English words have their basis/root in the Latin languages. Knowing this has enabled me to instantly glean a word's meaning without having to grab a dictionary.

However, I have to say that typing has really been the savior of my working life. (I am old enough to admit that when I took typing, the singular purpose was to enable me to type my own term papers..no desktop PCs back then, LOL).

It is interesting the comments I have read about history. I was in AP history in high school and LOATHED IT. And now, I find it immensely interesting and just cannot get enough.

Science.....I absolutely loved all the Science classes. Became a nurse. If I had to do it over again I think I would have loved going into the forensic field.

In grade school I loved it all! I hadn't known there was so much to learn, and it was all exciting to me. Good reader, speller; wrote some essay type things. I still remember being amazed learning about Robinson Crusoe, the Vikings, and South America, etc. In 7th grade we started a newspaper and I was elected Editor!

In High School we had a choice of General, Academic or Business curriculum. I chose Academics, even though I knew College was not in my future. Loved Literature, Spanish, English, and floundered with Algebra and never understand Geometry. History and Government were so-so.

Any and all of that has been useful at some time or another during my lifetime.

Good teachers make all the difference.

I see schools failing their primary purpose now, because they are required to include so much beyond what used to be the Basics.

Sue

Girls, I can't believe that next spring it will be 60 years since I graduated from high school! Where does the time go?
My brain never believed there was any such thing as math and still doesn't. I liked science (biology, mostly) and English Lit. Hated history but love it now. I went two years to college but quit and went to work because I had no idea what to major in and felt like I was wasting money. Got married and found that I was pretty good at having kids so I guess that was what I was meant to do. We had four.

I loved journalism and took it for four years.
But, I hated algebra! Terrible teacher. I took it again in college with a great teacher and I loved it, then.
I have always been interested in the sciences, too and became an RN.

1st was HomeEc! I loved everything about that class...'cause I was good at it! LOL I had my first sewing machine by the time I was 9, and sewed the majority of my own clothes. Then cooking/baking...I was doing that by the time I was 12 after my mom died. I loved that teacher also.

Next was typing! 135 wpm...couldn't do THAT again, but still pretty fast. I got an ELECTRIC (woohoo) typewriter when I was 13, so I loved typing. (I typed sooooo many term-papers for others while I was high school!)

Boys, Partying, Drinking, Boys, Partying, Drinking...and when I wasn't involved with that, I especially liked my Radio and TV class...if anything it helped me stand up in front of people and not be shy...I was not fond of high school at all, hated the book learning and have realized after 35 years that what I use most today is from the school of CS and HK...(common sense and hard knocks)!!

I was a "Band Geek". Most of my social life revolved around music.
I loved history, but my father said "I'm not wasting good money paying for a Batchelor of Arts degree"
I loved sewing and Home Ec. My mother was a home ec teacher and my home ec teacher was her roomate in college, so I was given free reign to finish any and all sewing projects I had started at home.
But my true love was drafting and wood shop.
Took the drafting to college and ended up with degrees in Residential Design and Construction.
Throughout my career, I have earned the most money in Surveying and Building/Fire Codes.

CindyB...I also had for years of Latin in HS(Omnes Gallia, in tres partis divisa est), and 3 years of French.

I never took Home Ec..no time for it, but I did win the Betty Crocker Homemaker of the Year award for my school - beat out all the home ec students. I only entered because it got me out of a couple of classes for a day - boy, was I suprised when I won.

World Religion, Geography and History were my favourite subjects. I wanted to be an Archaeologist so these classes were of interest to me.

I couldn't afford to go to University so went to a Community College instead and took Advertising which trained me to be an Ad Sales Executive which is so far removed and not something I was interested in. I took Advertising so I could use my creativity but very few of the courses focused on the creative side. Too bad. Now they offer more creative courses like Graphic Arts which they didn't do when I went.

I also liked Social Studies - now called Civics in highschool. I became involved in politics and the political "machine" at 16 years old and many times was a delegate at Party Conventions discussing Party Policy, etc. Some friends of mine who stayed in politics now hold or have held some high portfolio MP/MPP positions in Government.

Now I am non-partisan and work behind the scenes as an official in the local Riding Returning Office during Elections. History, Social Studies and even Georgraphy were very worthwhile subjects.

I love anything historical and live in a community that is rich in a history such as the War of 1812, UnderGround Railroad, the Prohibition Era with RumRunners and gangs such as the notorious Purple Gang. Al Capone used to come to a house on my street. LOL I just devour anything I can find on local history.

In highschool I also enjoyed Data Processing and making flow charts. I loved flow charting! Wonder how I use flow charting in my everyday life? LOL

I loved highschool. I hated typing class, go figure???

Anne

cindyb and monica, I loved my Latin classes too. Latin is the root of sooo many words that we hear every day, especially in the medical field. Thirty-four years after high school graduation my Latin classes were still helping me when I graduated with a 4.0 grade in the Medical Assisting classes that I took for fun. I also loved physics, had a great teacher. The teacher can make all the difference in how we feel about any learning experience.

Omnes Gallia, in tres partis divisa est...
Ah, yes...all Gaul(France) is divided into three regions. Our latin teacher was very cool. She would re-write secular Christmas carols into latin and we would sing them..."tiniat, tiniat, tintinabulum..." was Jingle Bells. We also had Saturnalia parties where we wore togas to school. We were such nerds!! But I loved it.

Glad to see fellow Latin geeks here.

Did you also have to read "Winnie ille Pooh" ?
A great tool.

It always come down to the teacher, don't you think? A good teacher can make the dullest subject interesting, while a bad teacher can make you dread even your favorite subject.

I took 2 years of Latin, as well as mythology and a class called "Human Values" from the same teacher. She was very old even then, not just 'cuz we were so young, and some of the kids made fun of her. But I just loved her! Everything she taught was the most interesting subject to me. The human values class was something she created in 1978 (and I took it in 1988) and won an award for from the state education dept. The text was a compilation she put together, "Human Values: Insight Through Ancient Greece and Rome." But the writings also included Shakespeare, Emerson and Thoreau and even passages from the Bible and other religious texts. They are divided into sections based on the subject matter, the human value it represents: love, friendship, pain, pleasure, etc. I still have it, right here the drawer of this desk. I couldn't find my yearbooks or anything else from high school that quickly (well, except DH). Then there were assignments for response writing and group discussion. I would really love to incorporate that into my own teaching someday.

Her class focused on Greek and Roman mythology, but she also discussed the myths, legends and religious stories of diverse cultures. Once, she has a guest speaker come in who had lived with natives in Venuzuela called Yanomamos. I mean, that was 20 years ago and my mind still lights up to think about how she introduced young people to a world bigger than themselves. She was so passionate about her subject and for sharing it with her students. She was a visionary.

She liked Athena, the goddess of knowledge, and collected her symbol, owls. Nothing but that teacher's enthusiasm could make me remember that bit of information after all these years. I don't know that I use what she taught me in a practical, task oriented kind of way. But I know what she taught me made me a better person, a more informed, more curious, more open-minded. So that, I of course use every day.

Did you also have to read "Winnie ille Pooh" ?

Nooooo (LOL!), how cool is that?

And, you are so right, stephanie, it is all about the teacher. My all time favorite teacher was my 5th grade Social Studies teacher, Dr. Sauer. He made us understand that the world was more than lines on a map with blue stuff in between.

I graduated HS in 1970 and all music and business subjects intrigued me.

I ended up being a HS business teacher teaching keyboarding, powerpoint, business law, business math and e-business! I married a HS music teacher/performer!

As Stephanie said, a good teacher can make the dullest subject interesting. Well-prepared lectures, interesting research projects, and making my subject matter relevant to the "real world" hopefully made my classes lively and worthwhile.

~ Carol ~

I have to say that a good teacher is the best tool! When we lived in texas I had a excellant Algerba teacher had a A in that class...then we moved to Ok. and in Algerba 2 and Calicus got a F!! The last teacher would say turn to page 64 do problems on 65...I would ask something and she would not explain it...hated it hated it hated it! Stacy

I took all honors subjects in high school, and my grades were good. I made honor roll every single semester in high school, 24 times, and I graduated tenth in a class of 330. But I never use any of the subjects. My favorite class was Latin, which I took for six years, from 7th grade right through 12th. I love all the words in English that have Latin as their base, viaduct, sincere, etc. The person who made the biggest impact on me was my guidance counselor, Mr. Gourlay. He called me into his office one day and asked what my plans were for after high school. I stammered, well, I guess I'll be a secretary and get married, like my Mom. "You're college material" he told me. I applied to seven colleges, got accepted at all of them ,went on to earn a Bachelors degree in English and I had a 31-year career with the federal government.

I didn't like school, altho I did pretty good. Sure didn't have the quality of teachers that my daughter did in school.
She was also in honors classes all thru school, loved school and her teachers.

I was interested in horses, and I guess they still have a little relavence to me today, I still have horses.

I won the Homemaker of the year award in my school too, Monica. :))) I remember having to take a test and write an essay. Had no interest in it and one of my friends who majored in Home Ec was very disappointed that she didn't win it. I always cooked, since about the age of 5, and I thought it was a freakin' easy test!

I loved Latin. In fact our whole class did and begged (and got) a 3rd year. I'm surprised to see so many people here that took it. I liked English and Civics, too (which is now called Social Studies--just opposite of Anne (cherryfizz). Oh, and psychology for the great field trips. One was to a state mental hospital.

None of them ...

Although I was very good in English...

I was on the Year Book staff for three years and Edited it in my Senior year.

I did love my art class. I've always loved anything tied to arts and crafts.

But I think school was a social thing for me too.

I never missed a day in my four years of high school.
I might have missed out on something.

patti

Great question, alisande. I loved biology, chemistry and math. I did become a math teacher but really wish I had pursued more in the bio sciences - math can be really boring. I later on in life did some computer studies - this was in the dark ages of computers (who remembers Radio Shack Commodore?). I let that go for a number of years to raise my daughter and by the time I got back into it, I realized I had a prehistoric education re computers. I still have not kept up... But, I try, and that is the important thing.

Physiology and French. I think I liked them because I had GOOD teachers in those subjects.

I remember one English teacher was so terribly boring, every tick of the clock seemed like an hour. I had to force myself not to look at the clock. She was a large woman and rarely moved out of her chair behind the desk.

Loved business courses, music, Algebra Could not understand Geometry (Cute boys) and loved Algebra II, loved taking the notes to classes, would heaved love swimming classes, but Mom would not allow it, loved Chemistry helped almost blow up lab- liked History, especially when student was of one party, and teacher the other--most interesting debates-instead of tests etc.
Wanted to go into business, but parent insisted I become teacher (following relatives), but learned the hard way I am not a leader, but loved keeping records.
Remember that was in the late 40's when our parents decided ( or tried to) determine what occupation we should go into. Especially liked getting out of school when it snowed in Inglewood CA in 1948 a whole inch or so.

Another super-nerd Latin lover here. I took it for four years and did very well. Our teacher was outstanding. She interwove Roman history, customs and religion into the course. Every year we had a Latin Banquet (no Saturnalia for us - this was a Christian prep school!) and dressed in togas and did everything Roman-style. Once our teacher invited some of us to her home and we were amazed to see that she didn't have any altars to gods and goddesses - we had assumed that she worshipped them. I also loved history, social studies and English.

I didn't think how Latin might help me until I went to live in Israel and began, on my own, to learn Hebrew and some Arabic. I just fit them into Latin grammar, even though the grammars are very different. Eventually, through a twist of fate years later, I found myself teaching Hebrew at a university, and then for many years teaching it for the DOD. So what ended up as a serious career in foreign language began as "just for fun" decades earlier.

If I could have two more serious careers, I would study Home Ec for my own benefit, and then carpentry, which would lead to a career as a contractor-builder. But I would always want to teach. My incredible Latin teacher gave me that.

This is a terrific thread!

My favorites were Business Law (thought I wanted to be a lawyer at one time)and Business Mgmt. Even liked Accounting. Typing was what I use most now! I was in FBLA Future Business Leaders of America. Sociology was also interesting, but most people took it for an easy A. I got good grades all through high school, but I hated math Alegbra 2/Trig and sciences classes! I remember Psychology was offered my senior year and now I wish I had taken it as I loved it in college!

My mom made me take Latin! I protested, since I already finished 3 years of Spanish, but now I understand why she wanted me to learn. Taking Latin first would have helped immensely with Spanish! I can't say I loved it, but it came in handy around SAT time! And it is the root of so many words (Legal/Medical fields)

My 2nd year Latin Teacher was wonderful!! She was the kind that if you didn't do your homework, you felt like she was personally offeneded! And you definitely did not want to hurt her feelings! She cared about the kids doing well. She had cancer before she was my teacher, and it went into remission. I heard recently that it came back and she passed away-how sad!! The school lost an awesome lady that day! She was so loving and brave! There weren't many teachers that I felt cared so much about their kids!

My Spanish teacher was a hysterical little man! He was quite short, so literally little. He was strict, made us recite oral presentations in front of the class (all in Spanish of course), so woe be to you if you weren't prepared, but he used to make up funny stories about living in a cave in Spain with his pirahnas. I think he did them to see if we were paying attention lol! And to this day I'll always remember how to say-Take out your homework and Do you have gum in your mouth?? Very useful, no? lol

English and journalism were my favorites. I was editor of the high school newspaper. I also studied journalism in college. My Spanish teacher was one of my favorites, she was from Boston and was very young. We teased her about teaching us Spanish with a Boston accent. Years later she was the principal of the high school.
I wanted to take auto mechanics in high school but was told it was only for boys.

I loved English, especially writing essays and research papers, as well as grammar. I also enjoyed typing and shorthand because they were things I was good at. I didn't do as well in math and history in high school, but did in college because DH was/is a whiz in both and taught me more than the teachers did.