What's the best class you ever took

[TrogL]

Sex Role Stereotypes in Education

The instructor never mentioned sex, roles, stereotypes or education in the first two weeks of class - she taught symbolic logic. Then we applied logic to everything we thought we knew about sex roles. Two freepers had to drop out because they couldn't cope.

Q: Why should men be given preference for business jobs?
A: Because they're more aggressive.
Q: ...and aggression accomplishes what during a normal business day?
A: Um...um...um...duh...um...

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

1. In HS so far?

Graphic Design (Got to work with Macs and Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, digital cameras, etc.)

Global Studies 2nd Year :)
I like Global Studies, but this was more RECENT Global Studies which I liked better than 1st Year Global which was the old stuff.

[leftyandproud]

46. WOW everyone!!!

I've never seen so many ridiculous and utterly USELESS classes!

bravo for finding them!;)

[leftist_rebel1569]

2. so far it's been

Intro to CAD. I've only been in high school for one year, and middle school classes don't count, they all were horrible.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

6. Intro to CAD was a fun course

Yeah it was among my favorites. I had a partner for the class, but I designed everything :grr:

[leftist_rebel1569]

10. well, that sucks

I guess...I really didn't mind the designing part, I just liked the CAD program. I'm taking CAD Architectural Drawing I this year, I hope it's as good as the intro class...

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

23. I didn't mind it at all

But I just was angry she was receiving 90s and 100s for stuff I did all the work on.

[proud patriot]

3. UC Berkley Extension Seminar " The Sixties"

a three day class ,
The speakers were
Timmothy Leary
Abbie hoffman
Mimi Fariena
Joan Biaz
Country Joe
Dr. Spock
Betty freidan(sp?)
and many many others...

It taught this Generation Xer a lot about that time , vision
the mistakes and victories..I got to shake Abbie's hand and
tell him thank you .

[TennesseeWalker]

4. Botany

[JVS]

5. Number Theory

[kodi]

7. "language in human affairs" 1973 , great class

taught by the retiring english dept head who told us he always wanted to teach it. a mix of semantics and propaganda techniques.

first place i encountered noam chomsky's works in linguistics.

[Dookus]

8. High-school typing....

on an old manual typewriter.

[Safi]

9. Mexico, Central America and the Human Condition

Cluster course at University of Missouri-Kansas City. First time I had heard of the US overthrowing democratically elected governments.

Mexico, Central America and the Human Condition (PDF)

A brief snippet from the above linked syllabus:

This cluster course, offered jointly by the Departments of History, Economics, and Foreign Languages, surveys the
politics, economics, and cultures of Mexico and Central America from political independence in the early nineteenth
century to the present. The course emphasizes the importance of the historical perspective to an understanding of the
contemporary human condition in this troubled region. Major themes include the indigenous and colonial legacy, the
persistence of poverty and economic malaise, the rise of authoritarianism and technocracy, the emergence of reformist
and revolutionary socio-political movements, the border cultures and on-going trade initiatives. The course stresses
the important role played by external powers, principally the United States, in the region's recent history and
development.

-Safi

[Nikia]

11. Tolstoy and Doestevesky

We only read two books: War and Peace and Brothers Karamavoz. It was a small class so I talked a lot in discussion because I liked both books. It was funny because the professor was an agnostic but he ended giving sermons sometimes while explaining things about Russian orthodoxy and Doestevesky and Tolstoy's spiritual views. Then he'd say "I don't know why I'm preaching to you, I'm agnostic."

[Don_G]

12. Welding

I have a college degree (3.89 GPA) but I also like to work with my hands and I'm currently restoring a '36 Dodge D-2 Flathead 6-cylinder Car with a Mohair interior and Suicide Doors.

Know where I can get tubes for the dealer-installed Philco radio at a reasonable price?

[TheBigGuy]

13. In College..."History of the New South"

I wasnt even a history major, but this was a graduate level course (w. undergrads and grad students in it) that i took as an elective just out of curiosity.

It was taught by this lady PHD who went on to be involved w. the womens studies or womens studies publishing at IU.

The course covered the history of the South from, roughly, the end of Reconstruction to modern times.

Texts where "The Rise of the New South" by Odum, "History of the South" by Simkins. "Race Relations in the Urban South" by Rabinowitz (excellent work of primary history), "Black Boy" by Richard Wright...plus alot of other readings like "That Strange Career of Jim Crow" by C Vann Woodward, etc.

"The central theme of Southern History is race" was what the prof wrote on the blackboard the first day (a quote from another historian). And we learned alot in that class. Probably one of the most informative and eye opening classes I had. I still use what I learned in that class, in helping me understand things re race issues and Southern politics.

Oddly enough most of the undergrad history majors dropped out leaving me and the grad students and maybe two other history undergrads in the class.

[Nikia]

17. I took History of the Old South

That was another one of my favorite classes.

[Mz Pip]

14. Perspectives on Cyberculture

It was offered through UC Berkeley extension online, so probably anyone with Internet could take it.

MzPip
:dem:

[Fixated]

15. ...

"What's the best class you ever took?"

You mean, what's the best class that I have ever taken? Basic English.

[demon67]

16. History of Rock and Roll

Was a very popular and, for many, a very challenging college course. Truth is, you can learn a lot about history, sociology and politics from studying popular music.

[Zorba607]

18. parasitology

oddly enough. Sounds terribly boring to most but the prof was incredible. Worked with WHO and was passionate as all hell. Parasites are actually very interesting, probably among the single most important life strategies in organisms. D. dentriticum (sp?) has an amazing life cycle.

[newsguyatl]

19. Gender Studies

was definitely my favorite class throughout all of college... taking feminism and masuculinity beyond the usual contexts and parameters...

[Kellanved]

20. That's hard to answer

High-School:
European History 1-4
Advanced Physics 1-4
Advanced Maths 1-4

University:
The German nuclear programs 1920-1980
Psychological Aspects of Software Ergonomics
numerics and parallel numerics
Security Aspects of Software-Engineering

[Forkboy]

21. Art History

everyone said I'd be bored to tears but I was fascinated.

[kayell]

27. I loved art history

maybe it was just the prof, but I learned more real history in that class my first semester of college than I had through most of high school.

[_NorCal_D_]

22. I love Trigonometry!

Actually I don't. Maybe advanced composition/rhetoric instead?

:shrug:

:bounce:

[Lady President]

24. Social and Political Philosophy

Not only was the subject matter interesting, but the professor I thought I would hate was wonderful. Obviously, the reading was interesting (affirmative action, women's rights, gay rights, death penalty, etc). The professor was also a minister which I thought would be a nightmare because I am not religious. Unlike all the ministers you see on tv, he really believed in doing the right thing, helping others, and learning from one another~ had a Jimmy Carter quality. He was also one of the few professors I had who wasn't an adamant conservative.

[supernova]

25. Tie between my English Comp and Shakespeare profs

Both of them worked us really hard. Papers every week; a new play every week. :crazy:

It was optimally challenging for me.

[Cocoa]

26. Genetics

never have I loved a tough class as much as this one. Unfortunately it inspired me to impulsively choose biology as a major, which was a huge mistake.

But it was a great class. One interesting thing was that the professor continuously pointed out the role of women in the history of genetics, and he did it without us really realizing he was doing it. It didn't seem like some PC obligatory thing, it really fit in naturally with the material.

[USAF Brat]

28. My top 3 classes were:

1. Deceptions in Advertising (pretty amazing for a High School class!)
2. Logic 101 - has helped me win many arguments!
3. Advanced Marketing or Political Science -both extremely interesting classes that demanded great analytical thinking skills to keep up with the Professors.

[Kat45]

29. Mass Media and Popular Culture

A sociology course that covered music, television, film--pop culture and society. My project was a content analysis of the top 5 television programs for depictions of people by social class. A really interesting class.

[Breezy du Nord]

30. So far, my Global Studies in 8th

because we debated the Israel issue there.

I also really like my American Studies teacher in 7th. He was the first teacher I had on 9/11 and he didn't sugarcoat the truth like some of my other teachers. He talked about current events and told us the truth behind bushie's lies. And his name was Mr. Finger. How could you not like a guy name Mr Finger? :P

[Kat45]

31. And also, German Expressionism in its European Context

This was a class in an auditorium with 200 students, most of whom took it for an easy 'B'. But the professor, Sol Gittleman, is one of the most interesting and entertaining speakers I've ever heard; I've even attended lectures he's given outside of the school long since my graduation. And the folks taking it as a 'gut course' actually learned something despite themselves.

It covered Germany as it lead up to Hitler--film, theater, art, music. We saw Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" as well as "Triumph of the Will." Plays we read included Brecht's "Three-Penny Opera," which in a nice coincidence was the play put on by the school's theater program that year. It was the first time I saw Munch's "The Scream." I learned so many things in that class, things I previously had no clue about. And I got a better idea of the climate conducive to Hitler's coming to power.

[mitchum]

32. There were 2 of them:

poetry seminar with James Dickey. By that time, his powers had certainly diminished, but the man could teach.

History of fascism with Robert Herstein (the scholar who uncovered Waldheim's Nazi past)

[Elidor]

33. Art 101

Basic art principles, Drawing on the Left Side of the Brain, getting funky and creative. Most valuable class I ever took, and pretty fun, too. Of course, my instructor was great. A good teacher is worth their weight in gold.

[jburton]

34. Political Conflict & Social Change

This was the title. I always think of this class when all the right-wingers say the rioting/turmoil in Iraq was "unpredictable"

Yeah, this undergrad political science class predicted it several years ago. Jeez. Read a damn book.

[Lady Freedom]

35. TV Practicum!

Lights, Cameras, Roll'em!

[JohnKleeb]

36. easy keyboarding

I didnt seem to get how to type right at the time but in the end I have became a great typist.

[DEM FAN]

37. PE.

;-)

[BurtWorm]

38. European Intellectual History, Part I

with professor Henry Abelove at Wesleyan. Great teacher! Great books: Montesquieu's Persian Letters, Voltaire's Candide and Letters on England, Rousseau's Second Discourse, Johnson's Journal of a Trip to the Hebrides, Dorothy Wordsworth's Journals, Michelet's The People...

My second favorite class was on Milton and the Canon. (I can't believe I've forgotten the professor's name.) It was an innovative class at the time, combining study of Milton's prose and poetry with the way it was received by other writers in the UK and US, including Blake, Phyllis Wheatley, and Mary Shelley.

[grasswire]

39. the most useful...

...classes I took in high school were graphic arts (with a heavy emphasis on calligraphy) and touch typing. The calligraphy taught me that people who can make great signs always find a niche in any group, and the touch typing has allowed me to put my thoughts on paper or pixel nearly as fast as I think them.

I think I enjoyed my German classes most in high school. The instructor had actually lived under Hitler in Germany, and was quite peppy and interesting. Plus, we could distract her from giving us tests by getting her to talk about the times she saw Hitler speak.

My best college classes were journalism and writing. The worst college class was a 7 a.m. ethics course. Gad. I could never stay awake.

[carpetbagger]

40. There was this weird sex class in medical school...

It was some bizarre effort to desensitize us to things, I think. We watched two days of people talking about and having sex. It started out with straight, youngish people, and then they showed old people, a couple with cerebral palsy, and so on.

So they show this flick of two guys doing it, and talking about doing it. I'm sitting next to a bonifide freeper. His brother used to shoot squirrels from the windows of our (undergraduate) college dorm, and had the typical western Maryland political views to match. So this guy's watching the movie. here I am, having a hard time sleeping thruogh it, since he's incessently squirming in his seat, and then the movie's over, they turn on the lights, and dude's sweating profusely.

It was a bright moment in an otherwise nasty grad school experience.

[sandnsea]

41. Art History

Very cool way to learn world history and the influences of religion, culture, and leaders by looking at the art and architecture of the time. I learned more, and remember more, from that quarter history class than I had in the previous years combined.

But don't ask me anything now, it was a long, long time ago. It's all just sort of muddled in my head along with Thanksgiving recipes, toilet training and how to meta tag a web site. My head is a tangled web of disconnected information!

[pfitz59]

42. Psychology of Human Sexuality

Final was naked party at Prof's house! (Hot tub sex!) Oooh I miss the '70's!

[KinkyDem]

55. Damn!

When I took that class in the early 90's we had to do papers and take a test.

I did get to bring my friend in for show and tell though. He's a cross dresser. Good day all around.

[KeepItReal]

43. Military Science

Where else can you learn how to clean and shoot an M-16 rifle and M-60 machine gun, learn how to use a map and compass (no wussy GPS), and lead a squad of your friends on a patrol? :-) Unfortunately, I also got to see my friends in the Guard activated for Gulf War I (luckily they never made it out of Ft. Hood, TX).

2nd favorite was Dr. King's Sex Education class. Invaluable.

[redeye]

44. Probably German History...

...mainly because it expsoed me in full to what Hitler did, how the Nazis came to power, how German democracy failed in the 1930s, etc. I took it in Semester 2, 2001/2, and it was then that I started comparing Bush to the Nazis and saluting "Heil Bush."

[leftofthedial]

45. Reading

First grade.

Best class of them all.

[RetroLounge]

47. Intertextuality and the works of William Faulker

really.

[Born_a_Democrat]

48. World Mythology and Religions @ Boston University

really opened my eyes...

[GOPisEvil]

49. History of Low Intensity Conflict

It was a "Special Topic Class" taught by an ex-Green Beret PhD student. I learned A LOT about the actions of the CIA and other "black" operations. You'd think the material would have been presented with a slant FAVORABLE to these actions, but actually it was a fairly balanced portrayal. I learned a lot and had lots of fun.

[OldSoldier]

50. "The AN/GTA-19 Conventional Telephone Monitoring System"

This was the week-long class in my Army training when I learned how to install wiretaps. Wiretaps are fun, so long as it's not your own phone that's being tapped.

[qb]

51. On Being A Christian

an interim class based on the book by Han Kung. It taught me to be an atheist!

Explanation - in trying to explain why we don't see "miracles" everyday as described in the bible, the professor explained that perhaps the bible's authors exaggerated a bit, and perhaps god didn't really perform the miracles exactly as described. However, god is still all-powerful and capable of performing miracles, even if he chooses to never do act on these abilities. This struck me as extrememly flaky, and it prompted me to examine the beliefs I'd taken for granted since childhood.

[Cheswick2.0]

52. chorus

I also took several great socialogy classes 20 years ago, with a prof named Abe Bernstein, that were great.
And this last semester I had a Environmental Science class that was very interesting.

[Liberal Veteran]

53. Thanatology.....

: the description or study of the phenomena of death and of psychological mechanisms for coping with them.

Strangely enough, it was in high school and we had a fairly diverse group of students. Fascinating.

[bookworm65t]

54. Christian Marriage

I was engaged to my then-boyfriend at the time, and it opened my eyes to him, that he was less than perfect husband material. The instructor for this class was pretty cool. He didn't shove religion down our throats, even though he was living according to Catholic beliefs and teachings.

[chenGOD]

56. Life.

Best. class. ever.