Most Boring/Hated Subject That You're Forced to Take?

InvalidID

Studying for an engineering economics test. Most boring thing ever. It is supposed to be easy, but I find it hard because it isn't intellectually challenging enough to interest me.

Kholdstare

Anything coming out of humanities department.

Jimmy Snyder

Engineering economics. Is that like how to make a project come in under budget? Are you hoping to get a job with a govt contractor?

QuarkCharmer

I took a history of sciences course as an elective way back when. It was fantastic and even touched on the general idea of how many mankind-altering equations work (with simple algebra and intuition, it was an elective afterall). I took it around my third year when I was a music student and I think it played a major role when I re-evaluated my life and decided to go back to school for physics.


I really hate law/politics related anything. Economics, government, all of that.

InvalidID

Sweet. I am going to take that as an elective.

So far, all we've been doing is interest.

Astronuc

Engineering economics came in handy when I bought a new car while in graduate school. I had done some programs in my calculator, which was programmable. The dealer agent was going to give me a 'great deal' on the interest rate. I pulled out the calculator, put in the numbers, and showed him that it wasn't a great deal (I was paying more for the car). He looked at me, excused himself, came back, and gave me a better deal. I saved on the order of $1000, which is pretty significant for a grad student ~27 years ago.

The one class I did not like was an English literature class. I could not analyze poetry to save my life. I just didn't get it. Maybe today, I could do better.

WannabeNewton

I can only state high school classes because I'm still in my first year of college so I can't really assess anything yet in that regard, if that is ok. By far, english literature and french were two classes I was forced to take that I absolutely loathed. They were easily the most useless classes I have ever had the misfortune of being forced to sit through for 4 years; such a waste of time that it should be a crime.

FreeMitya

I haven't been to university yet but I hated having to take French. Useful and sometimes even necessary, sure, but entirely uninteresting to me. Moreover, I think even its so-called "beauty" is exaggerated. Hungarian, now that's a beautiful language.

FreeMitya

It's a shame how many younger people are beginning to loathe literature classes when the older people I meet generally liked/loved them. I guess it's a testament to how poorly they're often taught these days.

trollcast

I'm only at the UK equivalent of high school level but from the past I'd have to say that I actually enjoyed my literature class but hated the english language class (too much creativity and analysis of stupid stuff [like a book blurb wtf?])

Most hated class for me was probably religous studies, absolutely bored me to death most weeks, there was near zero biblical content and most of it was stupid ethics and morals issues.

WannabeNewton

I have no use for them. I have never had any use for them. I doubt this will change in the future. Like I said: it is a total waste of time. I can read books for enjoyment on my own time but I don't need some english teacher to pick apart every single sentence of a book and fabricate some metaphor or allusion or profound statement about the human condition when it was just some mundane line meant to be read literally. The things people do to make a subject more important than it actually is just blows my mind you know what I mean? English literature classes have ruined my love for reading fiction books. Everything from Catcher in the Rye to A Clockwork Orange, which sit on the pedestal of 'greatest books ever made', were totally picked apart and analyzed to the bone for no reason other than to make substance out of a no substance class.

micromass

Furthermore, forcing people to read certain books is not a very good thing, in my opinion. I actually love reading, but I want to read the books that I choose, not the book that the teacher chooses. Because I was forced to read certain books, that really made me hate literature for a while. It's only recently that I rediscovered how fun reading can be.

FreeMitya

I'm sorry you feel that way. I think a good teacher can really enhance the work or, more importantly, can turn people into lifelong independent reading addicts. Harold Bloom, for example, is known for that*. Unfortunately, it's very easy to screw up a literature class, especially if the teacher incorporates politics or something of the like. On the other hand, I've met many people who struggle to realise the beauty and importance of mathematics, which I also attribute to poor teaching.

*Perhaps I should say that that is form the description of my copy of How to Read and Why, just in case that is information that some think should be verified.

WannabeNewton

I love reading. The issue isn't reading. The issue is english teachers stripping apart every line of a book trying to extend some long discussion about the damn color of a room. I see no use in any of this.

trollcast

Exactly, obvious themes such as Animal Farm, 1984 et al. are good to talk about but trying to add meaning to something like a poem about frogs is silly

FreeMitya

Often teaching can be just plain bad, and you've provided a good example of it, but I don't think that necessarily means that the practice of studying literature in school is intrinsically useless. I'll say it again, and I know it's cliched, but good teaching can make a huge difference.

HeLiXe

I would prefer a chorus of people scratching their nails against chalkboards than to sit through another algebraic derivation in my astrophysics class.