I took a course on the New Testament of the Bible. It was incredibly eye opening and it provided me a far more nuanced understanding of Christianity as whole. I feel like plenty of people regard the Bible as important and many people are in some way compelled by it to some extent, but very few people truly understand its anatomy, philosophies, and theologies.
I filled an elective spot with an anthropology class and felt like I finally found a discipline that thought and observed as I did. Half-way through that semester, I swapped my major for that (I was a first sem junior,) added sociology before I even took the first class. In all these years, and despite a tech career I loved, I still feel the social sciences are my academic home.
The class that changed me intellectually- when I had to repeat college physics (I wasn’t about to dissect and hated hs chem. At that point,there were no other options.) They had just changed the gen ed to a brand new practical class taught by a young PhD candidate. The topics came alive. I thrived. Now it made sense. And eased me into the tech world.
Public speaking was very useful. It was tricky though because you couldn’t study for it and do well like you could in other courses; thank goodness I took it pass/fail.
Public speaking was my go down in flames class-not because I have any trouble with public speaking, but because the teacher had such a heavy southern drawl that I couldn’t understand her. At the time I still had a fairly heavy Boston accent, and she despised me, and I her.
“Theater” does NOT have three syllables, and once I pointed that out to her, there was no way I was getting an A. Discretion is the better part of valor was probably the only thing I learned in that class.
@MotherOfDragons that was not wise to criticize your teacher…you knew that right?
Not that this is probably wise, but I’ll just leave this here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/theater?s=t
the·a·ter does not have 3 syllables? How else would you pronounce it?
Well, this is certainly one of those “live and learn” moments. I say it in two syllables (and write it either way.) Definitely surprised to see it as three.
Reminds me of how DH was always annoyed at “literature,” people who say lit-rature.
Hmmm…Doesn’t seem quite right to me. Let me try it this way:
There. Fixed that for ya.
Well NOW I know college professors have varying levels of humor (ranging from epic to absent) but way back then I was clueless. Also, Bostonians (ok, Massholes) have a very different sense of humor than escapees from the Paula Deen School of Hair and Makeup who teach night classes at a local CC.
I am late to the game, as always.
Here are my favourites:
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Statistics. Goes without saying.
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Symbolic logic. I ran out of logic classes, or I could have had a philosophy minor.
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International relations. It occurred to me early on that “national interest” is simply “personal self interest” writ large. If true, then concepts from IR can be applied to interpersonal relationships seamlessly.
Two graduate level Education courses. One was Botany- Identifying Wildflowers of New England. Every class we had to identify several fresh wildflowers by using keys from a handbook. At first I was lucky to get one or two. By the final, I could identify almost every one of them. I felt like I had entered the world of plant life.
The other course had mainly veteran teachers as my classmates, and we each had to teach a class in our specialty using what we were learning. I was an Intermediate Level science teacher and my “night” was scheduled for a week before Halloween. I decided to teach my class of 30-somethings the history of the Gourd Family, and brought in several different kinds of pumpkins, gourds, and squashes. We carved, ate pumpkin seeds, and acted just like the 10-year old’s that I would soon be teaching this same lesson to. The lesson was a smash and came at an important time for me as a first-year teacher.
Mine was “Science, Pseudoscience, and the Paranormal” which gave a critical look at paranormal claims. Though it focused on the paranormal which made it more interesting, it really was a great foundation for reviewing any type of claim with a more critical eye. I took this class well before the internet was popular and now get to really appreciate what value it had as I have encountered many who seem to lack the “internal Snopes” needed not to pass along bogus news and alerts to everyone.
Most useful: How to cut hair (beauty school)
Most enriching: Every English class I ever took
Most enriching: AP Language and Composition. My writing dramatically improved after I took the class because I learned many great and useful writing skills. Plus, I had a great teacher.