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I suppose much depends on how "valuable" is defined.
My summer school typing class was extremely boring, but I've used what I learned ever since. But the classes which most impacted my life and happiness were English classes, particularly my junior year, when I was blessed with a rigorous teacher who loved both her subject and conveying that love to teens, and whose enthusiasm when we "got it" was unmistakable. She graded our many papers as if we were college students, and made learning about the Flowering of New England unforgettable. Of course, I had been a bookworm since childhood, thanks to my parents, teachers, school and public librarians and natural inclination, so that particular junior English teacher's class was a great fit for me.
The other subject would be instrumental music and orchestra. I started violin lessons at school in fourth grade, my city being blessed with excellent music instruction in its public schools, and continued through high school. I enjoyed it but never was that good, and the fiddle remained in its case for over a decade afterwards - but emerged when other forms of music entered my life. I got better fast when this happened, as I practiced and played a lot more! It was a social/artistic skill which led me to meet many cool people who shared my interests, and contributed to lots of travel, both domestic and foreign, to many interesting places. So it expanded my life in very positive ways.
Music enriched my life rather than my bank account, but I'd pick music over typing any day, if forced to choose.
Music over English? Probably not, as literature contributed to even more good things throughout my life, and books and reading are always great joys.
I cannot imagine living without books - and can barely imagine living without music.
Useful though it is, typing doesn't come anywhere near literature and music.
When my son was ten years old, he asked me, "Hey, Dad. What kind of computer did you have growing up?" He was shocked to learn that I didn't have one. In fact, I didn't own my own computer until I was 25.
Back in the Dark Ages, relatively few people had typewriters at home. Electric typewriters in the home were rare. And even the most basic computers were unbelievably expensive to the average family. That's why just about every business of any size had a slew of clerical workers to bang out correspondence.
Today, my kids learned to be touch typists by the time they hit 2nd or 3rd grade. Computers are just that pervasive.
Even manual (non-electric) were expensive because of their mechanical complexity. Our first computer was pretty much a waste of money because of the lack of useful function, a Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer II with audio cassette drive. Came with a book of basic software you had to type in to run a program. If you got every letter and punctuation correct it worked and then you could record it onto a cassette tape. Once the tape began to stretch or deteriorate you lost the software.
Even calculators of those days were fairly expensive. My dad had to save up money for a calculator to use once a month to balance the check book and do taxes. When not in use it was in a cabinet like a valuable appliance. Now for maybe a buck or two you can get a disposable solar powered calculator. Wasn’t until high school in the 80s that we had affordable calculators.
Physics. Got me interested in mechanical engineering, which helped me in my first career as, (and get this, I SWEAR I'm not making this up,) a TYPEWRITER repairman!
When my son was ten years old, he asked me, "Hey, Dad. What kind of computer did you have growing up?" He was shocked to learn that I didn't have one. In fact, I didn't own my own computer until I was 25.
Back in the Dark Ages, relatively few people had typewriters at home. Electric typewriters in the home were rare. And even the most basic computers were unbelievably expensive to the average family. That's why just about every business of any size had a slew of clerical workers to bang out correspondence.
Today, my kids learned to be touch typists by the time they hit 2nd or 3rd grade. Computers are just that pervasive.
Art. There were a few good ones that influenced my life, but since I have to pick one, Fine Art is the one. I was lucky enough to have art as part of my public school education from Kindergarten through to junior high school where I chose it as part of my elective courses until I graduated.
It exposed me to the world, history, creativity, happiness, sadness, love, hate...imagination. Three-dimensional thinking. It allowed me to believe that anything was possible, and anything I didn't have I could create.
Probably 5th grade Language Arts/English because I first learned to write research papers (very elementary at that time of course). My work requires me to break down sometimes very complex subjects into small, understandable chunks of material that when put together flow in a logical way. It was in 5th grade that I first learned to outline material. I use that skill all of the time. I also often need to do research on a subject and pick out the best, most important and relevant pieces to fill out whatever I'm working on at the time. I also have to frequently write scripts, notes, or material.
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