Most usefull course you took?

[Montgomery Scott]

Trigonometry.

[Jim McFarland]

+1 re typing as most useful high school course. Another benefit was 18 girls and only 1 other boy in the class!

[Gene Howe]

Most useful? American History. It was also the easiest 'cause there wasn't as much of it.

[Alan Trout]

Typing and speed reading. I use both every day of the week.

Alan

[Brian Kent]

Marching Band and Math. I enjoy my music all the time and use the math all the time.

I wish I had taken typing because I am looking at the keyboard right now.

[Jon Lanier]

I hate saying this, but English. If you can't communicate the other things are useless.

[David Duke]

+1 re typing as most useful high school course. Another benefit was 18 girls and only 1 other boy in the class!

Sounds like me, only I was the only boy . All kidding aside typing has been the most obvious useful course outside of the core classes.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Trigonometry in high school, and calculus in college.

[Jim Becker]

Remembering High School isn't easy...but I don't think there was any one course that was a standout over another. In college, I'll say that my accounting courses have had the most use since graduation, although not recently.

[Eddie Watkins]

Typing has been useful but speed reading has been the high school class that has benefited me the most. In college, I took a Personal Finance course that explained all the basic financial areas from balancing a checkbook to understanding insurance choices to a basic understanding of stocks and bonds. I use knowledge gained in that class still, and reading 600-700 wpm helps a bunch. I wish I typed that fast.

[Mark Patoka]

Trigonometry ended up being the most useful. When I enlisted in the Air Force in 1985, having taken Trig allowed me to become an Engineering Assistant where I learned drafting and surveying. It also paid a cash bonus at the time. It led me on a very successful AF career and if I hadn't had HS Trig, I wouldv'e ended up in some other career field.

Typing was also very beneficial just from a functional standpoint.

[Ben Hatcher]

Latin. It helped my english more than you might expect.

[Jerome Hanby]

Geometry. Proving those theorems was pretty close to writing a computer program. I was really good at that kind of reasoning and never looked back.

[Dean Karavite]

Russian Studies. I took it as an elective from a teacher who was rumored to to be the hardest teacher in the school. He turned out to be a great guy. I was not known for my scholastic attitude, so I did this as a way to prove to myself I could handle it. I did well and learned a great deal, not just about Russia, but in how to study and be a serious student. It paid off in college and grad school.

[Eric Larsen]

High School - Economics. I had a great teacher for economics. Great teachers are few and far between, and this guy was great. He taught college level macro and micro economics in the span of one semester, and also ran an investing club that more than doubled my investment over the course of a few months. (Although, our class had the highest return ever. And he might have had insider information. In fairness, I cannot substantiate that. It may have been a hot tip from his broker.)

College -- Too many to list. I went to a good school.

First: My first professor in my first class on my first day of school. Western Civ 101. He made history come alive. And he also handed me my diploma. (Luck of the draw.) Our picture together is framed and hanging in the house to this day.

He started the class by saying, "Look to your left. Look to your right. These people won't be here for the final exam. Just kidding. This is Western Civ. Let's have some fun with this."

Here's an example from his class:

"George Washington. Here he is in the iconic painting about to cross the Delaware River into New Jersey to fight the Hessians. Anyone know what he said just before that historic crossing? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

He said, "Shift your fat ass, Harry. But don't swamp the ------- boat.*" (Referring to Harry Knox, artillery officer from Boston.)

Second: My journalism professor. I had this guy for roughly a dozen classes. He taught me how to write well. I will always be indebted.

Writing for him was like masonry:

"Here's the foundation (a bunch of writing tips). Here's the brick (more tips). Here's the decorative stuff."

Notable quote: I don't care if it follows the rules. Does it work?

You have to hand it to someone who teaches the rules. And then teaches how to break all the rules as long as the end result is professional.

*From a scholarly article written about the Battle of Trenton:

"The general, in an age noted for forthright language, had a most extraordinary command of gutter language; and whatever the exact words at the moment, it broke up the men on the dock. Half-hysterical already, their laughter was contagious. "What did he say? What did he say?" went down the line of waiting men. The story grew in the telling, and the men, wet, miserable, dispirited, became hysterical with laughter.
A few hours later, as dawn was breaking, two thousand half-naked, bearded, screaming kids, with no shot fired - a flintlock musket is useless in the rain - poured into Trenton and captured the entire Hessian garrison without losing a man; and once again, the United States of America became a possibility."