Grondar

Thinking back over your schooling life, are there any classes you considered to be a complete waste?

Myself, I am a junior in college, and my major (English) requires me to take 2 semesters of a language at Intermediate level.

I took 2-3 years of German in high school, so I never really worried about the language requirement in college. I didn't like being forced to take a foreign language in high school, and I don't like it in college. So I pushed it off. Now, I find out I remember almost zero German from HS, and I have to take two semesters of elementary German (which I won't get credit for), just to know enough to pass the two semesters of Intermediate German that are required.

This is also causing me to have to go at least one extra semester at college, and other than this foreign language issue, I was right on schedule to graduate in 4 years.

I have no desire to learn a foreign language, yet I am forced to. I consider this requirement to be a complete waste, as I have no desire to speak a foreign language, and myself and classmates have enough trouble with "mastering" the English language without putting our effort into a foreign language we have no interest in.

I also have to take physical education at college. I consider that more of a joke than anything, as it is easy. But realistically, it is a waste too IMO.

What are some of the classes you have considered to be a waste throughout your schooling life?

SaltPork

Art History and Mexican Cooking...

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It was like that when I got here....I swear.

TaLoN

An english comp class that concentrated on analyzing poems by homosexual black men (from the slavery period) This is pretty useless for an Industrial Management major who will be running a manufacturing plant

etla

Gym. Specifically those parts that involved dressing up in weird, smelly, ill-fitting, costumes and then smashing into other badly dressed people. I hated Gym and haven't missed it in the least these last 15 yrs.

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Subvert the Dominant Paradigm

shalafi

I had to take an intro to operating systems class. It was about 2 years ago and they were doing DOS for the whole semester except for about an hour of unix. Now dos is handy dont get me wrong i use it all the time when im fixing pcs but they were teaching things like "copy con" now im not sure when the edit command came out but it was there when i got my first AT

wolfman101

Me fail English? Thats unpossible!

I would say english 7-8 in HS. If you dont know the english language after 11 years of school, how exactly is 1 more year going to help?

gov135

My first Business Systems class was taught two years after Windows 95 came out. It was taught on Windows 3.1.

Now that was awful.

ninety09

Sex ed ...

mykockle

Creative Writing.... I totally want to take it at the time, but all I ended up doing was sitting there and writing about 2 pages of story per week. Also, Chemistry in the Community was a joke.

BoCo

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phoenix1002

Definitely would have to say the Computer Skills class required to graduate. I learned a few things that I didn't know already, mainly how to use Access, but I already knew how to type (I got something like 85 wpm the first day on the exercises), how to use Word (better than the teacher did...) and how to use Excel. So, instead of letting me sleep in 3 days a week, or take another class, I had to go "learn" how to use the computer. Then the teacher had me go around and defrag and erase the internet temp files, cause she didn't know how to do it.... I loved high school...

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I'd rather be climbing...

I approach college much like a recovering alcoholic--one day at a time...

zf0enix

100-level Marketing. What a joke. All of the quiz/test questions were straight out of the bold sections of the book. Maybe it was the prof, but it was a waste of time. Although, after I figured out how the tests went, I only showed up for exams and still got an 'A'.

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One step closer to the edge...

fienna

most pointless class? in college - i'd have to say it was "Transport Phenomenon" You see, it's supposed to be the study of electrons travelling through semi-conductors on a physics / quantum level (i was a computer engineering major) but in reality, it was my teacher complaining about the staff, administration, and mistreatment he'd received during his tenure. (he was one of the pioneers that helped invent fiberoptics, apparently, and the school tried to shaft him out of the credit, etc. etc.)

so at the end of the course, he had us write a paper about some "interesting topic" that we could pick for ourselves. i wrote it in 3 hours, handed it in as my only work for the whole semester, and he gave me high honors. cake.

in high school i overloaded on college prep courses and stuff like that, but if i had to pick one, i would say general health, because it was like "well, duh, that's where babies come from???"

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to leave is never easy
perhaps it shouldn't be
but return is even harder
yes return is harder still

Lebell

Hmmmm,

I found most of my college courses had value even if I didn't know what that was at the time. They've helped make me a well rounded individual who could talk intelligently about a variety of issues and who could at least follow technical discussions in many areas.

So I'm struggling to find a subject that I was forced to take and was worthless, but I'm coming up blank. Even the more esoteric ones such as Soils and Concrete, Macro Economics and Gym had a place (although I hated having a PE requirement when I hit college.)

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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

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sierra2774

Definately gym class and Biology...I hated them both and still don't know why they were required.

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Plummie

Anthropology - The History of Coffee and Sugar.

What a friggin joke.

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Kim

boatguy234

00

greytone

I don't think it would be a bad idea for any English major to take at least a semester or two of both German and French. After all, they were the sources for modern English.

Language classes are valuable for several reasons. They teach something about other cultures as well as just the language. They help us understand the strenghs and limitations of our own language as well as language is general. Knowing just a few words in a foreign language can be invaluable in relating to people when they visit us or when we visit them. More importantly they bring depth and texture to our own lives.

Back in 1985 I took the most worthless class I ever enrolled in. It was intro to computers and was about an already obsolete language. Our second assignment was all about how to use some command that had not been included in the version on our mainframe. Somehow the teacher had missed that important fact. After wasting untold hours I dropped the class. I am still computer illiterate, but I know that class would have not made any difference.

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I was there to see beautiful naked women. So was everybody else. It's a common failing.
Robert A Heinlein in "They Do It With Mirrors"

RAMONES!!!

keyboarding (business) it was so boring

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Come on

degrawj

any health class. i hated those heath classes.

Somenosuke

Let's see.. In HS, I can't think of any, but now that I find myself in college, having to take some of the same crap I did in high school...

Grrr.

English 101. My teacher told me at the end of the semester that I was in the wrong class, and had wasted my time. Should have been in 106. But I have to take 102 because the advisers at my school don't care about getting you into the right classes, really. I also have to take Intro to Speech Communication 101. Same class I took in high school and passed with an A.

Gotta love Gen Ed.

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Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. Yes is the answer.

double

A class in basic finnish... when my mothertongue is finnish,...that was a waste of time

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World's King

I noticed that I had take a shit load of math classes being and English major...

I still don't get it.

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heavy is the head that wears the crown

snowy

any science class...being an english major they won't let you into any of the more difficult science classes, so you're stuck taking all the ones with nicknames like "stars for tards" and "physics for dummies". i took hard science classes in hs, and so these classes are just a waste of time for me.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

uncle phil

my second semester senior year in college, i needed a 4-credit elective to fill out my schedule. all my other basic requirements were met. i took "the politics of personal experience." all we did was sit around playing "killer" all semester. what a waste, but an easy ace...

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never wrestle with a pig.
you both get dirty;
the pig likes it.

Prophecy

I have to go with my Recorder class in middle school. I've never seen anyone make a career out of playing that instrument. The class was boring, we just basic learned scales. The teacher never taught anyone how to read music, we just played by numbers. Yeah, we learned a few songs, but other than that the class was just waste of time.

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La Disciplina È La Mia Spada,
La Fede È Il Mio Schermo,
Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza,
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Pack

Statistics, i went to half of the classes, studied for 4 hours, got a VG grade (thats A in sweden). Didn't learn anything.

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> confused by earlier errors, bailing out
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scarebearjinx

in highschool, my most useless class was health and pe, in college it was freshman seminar. we did nothing in those class. psychology as well, but only because the teacher was a "rich bitch know-it-all".

Atropos4

the most pointless would have to be when i was a sophmor in hs ...the class was intro to computers....i had to take this as a prerequisite to take advanced classes...soooooo boring....the teacher didn't believe me when i told her i already knew how to type and all the basic computer functions...she actually would stand behind me and watch me....she realized real fast that i was going to bored out of my mind in her class

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i8one2

all of my computer programming courses

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LordEden

Everyone of my CIS classes, I hate them all!

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SexyCat

I am currently taking "American Popular Music" and I find it very pointless.

gibber71

Fourth year musicology class deciding how to objectify the meaning of music,while being taught by an ultra-feminist who hated men(mysoginist,sexist bastards) and knew nothing about music. Told her one day the reason she hated men was because she didn't have any balls(literally and figuratively). I had to get the rest of my papers marked by the dean of the program and still got my music degree before getting turfed out.

laconic1

When I went to Community College I had to take a 100 level computer class, intro to computers, or something like that. It was a summer class, so the teacher had us write three one page papers that had to be computer related. I made it up about if I were to buy a computer what I would look for, and a couple of other things. I learned absolutely nothing about computers in that class. I knew mothing about computers until three years later when I finally built one because I was embarrassed about how little I knew. The sad thing is that class transferred and counts for my degree here as well.

Cuball

chemistry !!!

oh I hate it !

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WildZero

Windows NT administration, required class, taken a few months after Windows 2000 came out.

Useless.

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onodrim

I haven't taken it yet, but I know as a Vocal Performance major, I'm gonna have to minor in piano. Now I understand mkaing us learn to play so you an learn music on your own, but the extra time and work that goes into minoring it in is jsut way overboard! Silly music school.

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Cubby

A counsellor in like grade 10 convinced me somehow that taking a Tutoring class woudl be good for me (Tutoring a great 8 student who was having problems). The course was marked by a teacher based on how well I was organized, etc....probably would have been great if I went into teaching....but I didn't..and it was a waste of a class.

There were other classes I should have taken instead.

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taog

excuse me sir, but did you go to my college???

I had to take a bullshit OS class just like that last year, and it sucked my ass. We did basically the same things as you are talking about, but we didn't learn much about any useful dos things, like fdisk or anything like that.


As for another, i would say first year math in college.

Hell, how about the whole first year all together.

I learned it all in high school, and on my own like 3 years prior to taking the program i was in.

stupid fucking school.

high school was more useful than first year at college.

now i am starting my own business and i am loving it!!!!

i am learning on my own, and it's great!!!

K-Billy

All English past 7th grade (or earlier) was pointless. I can read, write, and speak English. That's enough for me.

"English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England."
-Homer