ADVERTISEMENT

What was a class, lesson, chapter, teacher, language, etc., that you struggled with in school?

strummingram

strummingram

Hall of Famer
Gold Member
Oct 1, 2010
46,133
19,944
113
Let's keep it to k-12. I flunked-out of college. I didn't apply myself at all.

But, back to school...

I hated diagramming sentences! It still makes no sense. I even have trouble remembering Jr. high. grammar sh*t like "predicate nominative" and "transitive verbs." Then, when I started taking French, I thought I was going to learn to speak it. I didn't know I was going to have to do all of that useless shyte like "transitive verbs" in FRENCH!

But, most of all, aLgEbRa! I have nightmares to this day!
 
Math of all kinds but in college someone knew how to teach me and I made it to calculus with an A-.

History bored me back then but I love it now.

Language arts and sciences I did well in but they were pretty boring.
 
strummingram said:
Let's keep it to k-12. I flunked-out of college. I didn't apply myself at all.

But, back to school...

I hated diagramming sentences! It still makes no sense. I even have trouble remembering Jr. high. grammar sh*t like "predicate nominative" and "transitive verbs." Then, when I started taking French, I thought I was going to learn to speak it. I didn't know I was going to have to do all of that useless shyte like "transitive verbs" in FRENCH!

But, most of all, aLgEbRa! I have nightmares to this day!
Click to expand...

English.

I was always a math / science wiz...Aced every math-related test I ever took, and often had to re-take them b/c the teacher swore I had cheated b/c I just wrote down the answers and didn't prove out my work.

But for the life of me, I never understood why I had to memorize Shakespeare quotes. To this day, I do not understand the significance of having to do that. Maybe it had something to do with being Bi-polar and ADHD...I still, to this day, can't concentrate long enough to read 5 minutes worth of a book. But I can fly through any puzzle, match problem, etc you put in front of me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chick_bleeds_carolina_blue
Chemistry is also a blur... I mean, really. those Chemistry equations with the periodic elements and the small numbers under them with -----> in between them???

This stuff?

aid221334-728px-Balance-Chemical-Equations-Step-2-Version-2.jpg



It's like a horror movie in Japanese.
 
Blue2010 said:
English.

I was always a math / science wiz...Aced every math-related test I ever took, and often had to re-take them b/c the teacher swore I had cheated b/c I just wrote down the answers and didn't prove out my work.

But for the life of me, I never understood why I had to memorize Shakespeare quotes. To this day, I do not understand the significance of having to do that. Maybe it had something to do with being Bi-polar and ADHD...I still, to this day, can't concentrate long enough to read 5 minutes worth of a book. But I can fly through any puzzle, match problem, etc you put in front of me.
Click to expand...
I loved literature and history. I never "had to memorize" Shakespeare quotes. I wanted to memorize them!

History, too! I could have just taken history all day and been thrilled!

I was never meant to do mathematics or science. I was even struggling a while back to find the center of a circle!
 
  • Like
Reactions: carolinablue34 and chick_bleeds_carolina_blue
Struggled with? Nahhh ... I would say maybe "dominated a little less." Chemistry and foreign languages have never really come easily to me but I did well enough, just had to study a little harder. Now whether I've retained anything from those classes xx years later is another question entirely.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: tarheel0910
strummingram said:
I loved literature and history. I never "had to memorize" Shakespeare quotes. I wanted to memorize them!

History, too! I could have just taken history all day and been thrilled!

I was never meant to do mathematics or science. I was even struggling a while back to find the center of a circle!
Click to expand...

I have read that studies have shown a consistent pattern where people strong in Math / Science generally struggle with English / History...and vice versa. So, this would make sense.
 
strummingram said:
Chemistry is also a blur... I mean, really. those Chemistry equations with the periodic elements and the small numbers under them with -----> in between them???

This stuff?

aid221334-728px-Balance-Chemical-Equations-Step-2-Version-2.jpg



It's like a horror movie in Japanese.
Click to expand...
And now that you know me, don't you find it odd that all of that makes perfect sense to me lol?????
 
strummingram said:
I loved literature and history. I never "had to memorize" Shakespeare quotes. I wanted to memorize them!

History, too! I could have just taken history all day and been thrilled!

I was never meant to do mathematics or science. I was even struggling a while back to find the center of a circle!
Click to expand...
I think you have a photographic memory, no kidding. He remembers being in the womb! lol
 
Blue2010 said:
English.

I was always a math / science wiz...Aced every math-related test I ever took, and often had to re-take them b/c the teacher swore I had cheated b/c I just wrote down the answers and didn't prove out my work.

But for the life of me, I never understood why I had to memorize Shakespeare quotes. To this day, I do not understand the significance of having to do that. Maybe it had something to do with being Bi-polar and ADHD...I still, to this day, can't concentrate long enough to read 5 minutes worth of a book. But I can fly through any puzzle, match problem, etc you put in front of me.
Click to expand...
This is me all the way. Algebra was my favorite subject by a long shot. Solving for 'x' was my profession.

English and Literature, on the other hand, pissed me off. It wasn't that I couldn't do it or anything, I just wasn't motivated and found it completely redundant. Why do I have to write term papers about things I have no interest in just because the teacher said so? Why do I have to read something some jackass wrote in 1892 and write something about how I relate to it or whatever? It's just busy work, and I had zero patience for it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chick_bleeds_carolina_blue and Blue2010
coolwaterunc said:
This is me all the way. Algebra was my favorite subject by a long shot. Solving for 'x' was my profession.

English and Literature, on the other hand, pissed me off. It wasn't that I couldn't do it or anything, I just wasn't motivated and found it completely redundant. Why do I have to write term papers about things I have no interest in just because the teacher said so? Why do I have to read something some jackass wrote in 1892 and write something about how I relate to it or whatever? It's just busy work, and I had zero patience for it.
Click to expand...

Standing ovation. I long thought I was the only one who felt English class was a complete waste of time. I feel like I have a decent command of our language, and I think I have a keen sense for how our punctuation works (sans typos on this message board)....never has memorizing quotes and spending hours on essays influenced my ability to properly speak our language.

I did figure out one trick, though -- Read the 1st, middle, and last chapter in the book...read the back cover summary, and bullshit the rest. It got me to a C average in that class and saved me a TON of time. My excellence in Madden was a direct result.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chick_bleeds_carolina_blue and coolwaterunc
Typing. No shit. We had this awful teacher that would hit your knuckles with a yard stick if she walked by and saw you resting your wrists on the table. I was in that class 4 weeks before I dropped it and took Chorus. (8th grade)

I also didn't do too well in Earth Science (9th grade). But it wasn't because I didn't like the subject matter. I love science. The teacher was a dick. And I told him he was. Needless to say, I didn't fair too well in that class either.

I guess I struggled in any class where the teacher didn't respect my authority.
 
strummingram said:
I loved literature and history. I never "had to memorize" Shakespeare quotes. I wanted to memorize them!

History, too! I could have just taken history all day and been thrilled!

I was never meant to do mathematics or science. I was even struggling a while back to find the center of a circle!
Click to expand...

Dude same. I hated math and was no good at most subjects within the realm of science. But I could write you a 100 page paper on World War 2 and its effects on Western Europe in a matter of days and enjoy the hell out of it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chick_bleeds_carolina_blue and strummingram
carolinablue34 said:
Did you go to a school with nuns or something?
Click to expand...

No, which is the kicker. This was a public middle school with the local city school system. She was a middle aged, angry black woman. And it's not like this was eons ago. We're talking 1988. And this wasn't an isolated situation. This was this woman's teaching tactic for years. Upperclassmen would warn you and tell you to steer clear. But all of us continued taking it because we thought, "it's typing and how bad can it be?". In retrospect, I'm stunned that she was allowed to teach.
 
gunslingerdick said:
No, which is the kicker. This was a public middle school with the local city school system. She was a middle aged, angry black woman. And it's not like this was eons ago. We're talking 1988. And this wasn't an isolated situation. This was this woman's teaching tactic for years. Upperclassmen would warn you and tell you to steer clear. But all of us continued taking it because we thought, "it's typing and how bad can it be?". In retrospect, I'm stunned that she was allowed to teach.
Click to expand...

Mavis Beacon?

51BUtcXTKLL._SX425_.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: gunslingerdick, carolinablue34, Raising Heel and 1 other person
Raising Heel said:
Dammit! LOL. I just bust out laughing so hard I woke up my dogs.
Click to expand...

My day is complete. Thank you, sir.

In all seriousness -- this is exactly who I thought he was referring to. I had to use this program in elementary school to learn how to type. I'm sure she was an actual teacher "somewhere" - why not GSD's school?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Raising Heel
gunslingerdick said:
No, which is the kicker. This was a public middle school with the local city school system. She was a middle aged, angry black woman. And it's not like this was eons ago. We're talking 1988. And this wasn't an isolated situation. This was this woman's teaching tactic for years. Upperclassmen would warn you and tell you to steer clear. But all of us continued taking it because we thought, "it's typing and how bad can it be?". In retrospect, I'm stunned that she was allowed to teach.
Click to expand...

I grew up in North Carolina, and what you just described reminds me of this bus driver I had in 9th grade called Ms. Johnson. Toughest, sassiest black lady I've ever met in my life. If you gave her any trouble, you'd be sitting in the front of the bus with her and get a whap upside the head.
 
I loved math. Still do. My first year of college a made a D in Biology I think. He told us the first day the separate lab which was part of the class was important but didn't count towards the grade. So I didn't go until the last one because he told us if we didn't go he would fail us. His tests were hard as hell. They were 20 page fill in the blank assessments. The questions were also gone over in labs apparently so the joke was on us. Oh well, I had a hell of a lot of fun doing what I was doing instead of going to lab though. Didn't hurt me in the long run anyway.

I struggled some in elementary school because I didn't give a crap. I was kind of a bad kid back then. My mom recently told me in Kindergarten I hated coloring so much I would color the entire picture black and tell my teacher it was night time. I got in tons of trouble at home for not doing my work and misbehaving at school as well but I still misbehaved too much. I pretty much straightened up once middle school hit, at least until college.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tarheel0910
carolinablue34 said:
Dude same. I hated math and was no good at most subjects within the realm of science. But I could write you a 100 page paper on World War 2 and its effects on Western Europe in a matter of days and enjoy the hell out of it.
Click to expand...

Speaking of 100 page papers for fun, I think we all know what end of the English-Math spectrum Dsouthr was on as a kid.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blue2010 and carolinablue34
coryfly said:
My mom recently told me in Kindergarten I hated coloring so much I would color the entire picture black and tell my teacher it was night time.
Click to expand...
This deserves a round of applause.

I took astronomy as my science elective at UNC. The midterm was nothing more than 2 essay questions. I can't remember both, but one of them was this: if you could travel back in a time machine to the year 200 B.C. (or whatever), what three objects would you take with you to prove to the people of that time that the earth is round? There were all kinds of stipulations about what you couldn't bring. It had to fit in the time machine, it couldn't be books or videos, etc. The grade distribution for that exam was something like 2 Bs, 3 Cs, 10 Ds, and 50 Fs. I got a D- hahaha.
 
  • Like
Reactions: strummingram
Raising Heel said:
This deserves a round of applause.

I took astronomy as my science elective at UNC. The midterm was nothing more than 2 essay questions. I can't remember both, but one of them was this: if you could travel back in a time machine to the year 200 B.C. (or whatever), what three objects would you take with you to prove to the people of that time that the earth is round? There were all kinds of stipulations about what you couldn't bring. It had to fit in the time machine, it couldn't be books or videos, etc. The grade distribution for that exam was something like 2 Bs, 3 Cs, 10 Ds, and 50 Fs. I got a D- hahaha.
Click to expand...
So... what did you say you would take? I've got to know if that D- was warranted or if you were just getting/giving a little something on the side from the teacher.
 
tarheel0910 said:
So... what did you say you would take? I've got to know if that D- was warranted or if you were just getting/giving a little something on the side from the teacher.
Click to expand...
Uh, considering the professor looked like an even uglier versions of Steven Wright, there were no shortcuts to that well-earned passing grade. I don't remember exactly but think I said yardsticks or something to replicate Eratosthones' attempts to measure the circumference of the earth. I botched a bunch of the details though.
 
My wife was not a big fan of school. I think it was in second grade that she told the teacher, "My daddy says it's a free country," walked out of the class, out of the building, and a couple of blocks home, where she used the spare key to let herself in.

Always been kinda shocked the school let that happen back then, and can you imagine the heat they'd take for it now?
 
  • Like
Reactions: strummingram and Raising Heel
JuleZ '02 HEEL said:
My wife was not a big fan of school. I think it was in second grade that she told the teacher, "My daddy says it's a free country," walked out of the class, out of the building, and a couple of blocks home, where she used the spare key to let herself in.

Always been kinda shocked the school let that happen back then, and can you imagine the heat they'd take for it now?
Click to expand...
Girls don't belong in school anyway. They should be at home learning to cook and clean like their mother.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chick_bleeds_carolina_blue and TarHeelNation11
JuleZ '02 HEEL said:
My wife was not a big fan of school. I think it was in second grade that she told the teacher, "My daddy says it's a free country," walked out of the class, out of the building, and a couple of blocks home, where she used the spare key to let herself in.

Always been kinda shocked the school let that happen back then, and can you imagine the heat they'd take for it now?
Click to expand...
Your wife is so cool! Belle comes from good stock! That is an awesome display of individualism at that age.

The sad part is' school indoctrinates that kind of thought and action OUT of people. But, maybe it's necessary to assimilate.

Education comes from everywhere. My grandfather made it through the 4th grade. He was always ashamed of that. I don't think he ever understood or knew how truly wise and knowledgeable he really was. I learned more from a man with 4 years in pre-1920 public school, than countless "teachers" that I can't even remember their names.
 
So.... are we "smarter" as a society since school has become mandatory over the last, say, 100 years? Knowing more facts doesn't make you wise. It kinda just makes you a good Jeopardy contestant.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JuleZ '02 HEEL
You must log in or register to reply here.
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back