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Most useless? Easily PE, I was an active kid, I am an active adult, PE was just a waste of time. Next home ec. I knew how to do basic sewing already, and can follow a recipe well enough. I did not need to know how to make a dress patterns or how to make a quiche. Oh and typing, what a waste of time. My daughter learned it on the computer in a couple of weekends.
Most useful are going to be my science and math classes as I was a science major. Besides that, Latin. I cannot over emphasize how useful Latin is for a science major.
Math was useless for me as an English lit major. PE was useful-took women's self defense. Think a lot of sociology/psych classes are essentially useless, unless you're getting your PHd. Foreign language is useless unless you're going to go through and be near fluent.
Another perspective:
Math skills seldom came up academically when I majored in English lit, as well. But I don't really find them to be useless in life as a whole.
P.E. was fairly useful for me, as a non-athlete (and the only one not so inclined in my family). It helped me stay fit when fitness wasn't otherwise embedded into my life in the form of sports activities, as it was for my siblings. I was required to take two fitness courses for gen eds in college... I took a swimming class, which was useful therapy for a chronic knee condition, and a dance class, which was just fun and relaxing, i.e. had numerous intangible benefits, from a social and stress reduction standpoint.
I use behavioral psychology fairly heavily every day, working with students with behavioral disorders, and I never took more than a handful of credit hours of psych in college, and an intro level class in HS...certainly not a PhD, though I have received post-baccalaureate training in applied behavior analysis.
I'm not fluent in any foreign language, although I have several years of study in Spanish and Latin, and have picked up quite a bit of vocabulary in a variety of other languages due to many years of vocal music. Despite my lack of conversational fluency, my exposure to a variety of languages is actually surprisingly useful. Latin, in particular, is invaluable in actually understanding the varied and arcane ins and outs of the mishmash that is English grammar and mechanics.
Perhaps most satisfyingly, all of the above and more makes me an absolutely kickass addition to virtually any bar league trivia team.
Just sayin'. Knowledge, as the cliche goes, is power. And just plain interesting.
I found almost every class I took to be "useless", particularly English, Algebra 2, Chemistry as well as health and Intro to Film.
English- I actually like reading books, but I dislike it when I'm told to read a certain book and have to do a report on it. I also disliked writing in the Jane Schaffer method.
Algebra 2- I DESPISED this class. It just seemed pointless to me. I could see it being relevant for some people- if you were going to become a scientist, an engineer, a "mathetician" or something of that sort. But for the majority of people, it just doesn't seem relevant. No one I know say they've used this stuff during their lifetime. Why do we need to know where x or y equals on the line or figure out odd looking equations? This class was just far too confusing and complicated for me.
Chemistry- didn't/don't care to know about the periodic table, how old a rock is or figure out algebraic like problems.
Health- the first half of the class was sex education stuff. It was pretty much stuff I knew already. The second half was consisted of PE. All we did was run 4 laps every Tuesdays and Thursdays, then sat around in the gym afterwards. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, we also just sat around the gym and talked to our friends.
Intro to Film- mostly watched and learned about different films and their genre types. My teacher was kind of snobby though.
The only class I found relevant and liked was Finance math. You learned a little bit about how to pay your bills, use credit cards, pay your mortgage, buy a car, build up your savings, etc. This class really changed my views about money and I find myself going back at my old notes to read over some stuff. Very useful and helpful! I also had a teacher who really knew what he was talking about.
Driver's Ed was another class I liked and found useful. It was fun when we got to drive around my town!
With maybe the exception of Algebra I don't think any classes I took in high school were really a waste. Every class taught be something, if nothing more than how to think better. Of course this was way before most of you were even born. Probably social studies type of classes, known to many as civics, were my favorite and the most educational for future understanding of our country and our goverment. Home Ec would be at the top of my list as well. My love for cooking started with my dad teaching me way before high school, but I learned so much in school and developed a love for it. Eventually I majored in Foods and Nutrition in college. I am sorry so many of these types of classes, as well as music and art are no longer part of the educational system. There is more to school or should be, than just basic book learning.
Most useless - Government
Most useful - Chemistry and Algebra
I'd say 21st century literature was useless except I developed a love of reading in that class. I've never used what I was taught there but reading science fiction became a passion that has stayed with me for life so it was useless but added to my life's quality.
Useless as in I never needed what was taught in the class. However, the class introduced me to science fiction books and I fell in love with them. However, I can't say I've ever used a single thing I learned in that class.
Most useless for me was ultimately chemistry. Since I started out as a biology major, I pretty much rehashed my entire high school coursework in 6 weeks. High school coursework was not enough to place me out of any college coursework.
Most useful was junior/senior English. This was because I had a teacher that focused exclusively on grammar, writing, and literary analysis. An astounding number of students from that class now write for a living. My own writing was atrocious going into the class and improved greatly in those two years. When I went into a science heavy major later, being able to write was an enormous edge.
Most useless for me was ultimately chemistry. Since I started out as a biology major, I pretty much rehashed my entire high school coursework in 6 weeks. High school coursework was not enough to place me out of any college coursework.
Then, and this is just my humble opinion, I would be less than impressed with your high school. In the high school on this end, we passed out most of the freshman courses because of our education, at a really hard university. My condolences.
Most useful was junior/senior English. This was because I had a teacher that focused exclusively on grammar, writing, and literary analysis. An astounding number of students from that class now write for a living. My own writing was atrocious going into the class and improved greatly in those two years. When I went into a science heavy major later, being able to write was an enormous edge.
Interesting. After being in a high-tech science-heavy occupation for two decades, I really couldn't care less if my engineers couldn't spell correctly (Microsoft Word fixes it). They could, however because they were the best. What mattered in those occupations is the analytical skills of the individual. Being able to solve the technical problem trumped the ability to recite 'Evangeline' by Longfellow in dactylic hexameter. While knowing the language of your country, and proper spelling, etc (I am trying to learn Thai now, and it is brutal), there are things way more important. I believe in being a polymath.
Mine in green.
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