I had several; some useless & some dangerous.
In 7th grade, a class called "Wood Shop" was required. I had no plans to become a carpenter & I thought it was really dangerous and stupid to allow 12 & 13 year olds to operate power saws & drill presses without much supervision. There were 15 kids in the class & one teacher wandering around. I had to witness one student cutting off four fingers on a band saw & another student losing part of a finger with a manual saw when it slipped. I didn't want to use power tools, so I just accepted a bad grade on projects that didn't turn out right.
In 8th grade "Metal Shop" was required. I'd seen enough mayhem & stupidity in Wood Shop by then, so my parents wrote to the school administrators & I was able to avoid that class, as well as "Electric Shop" that was required in 9th grade.
In 8th grade, an English Literature class was required. I couldn't think of anything more boring than listening to the teacher talk about "Chaucer & Shakespeare." I'm sure they were great, but I had no interest. I spend most of the class staring at the clock & when the bell rang, I'd spring out of the seat like someone shot out of a canon at a circus after 45 minutes of pure misery.
In 7th grade, a class called "Wood Shop" was required. I had no plans to become a carpenter & I thought it was really dangerous and stupid to allow 12 & 13 year olds to operate power saws & drill presses without much supervision. There were 15 kids in the class & one teacher wandering around. I had to witness one student cutting off four fingers on a band saw & another student losing part of a finger with a manual saw when it slipped. I didn't want to use power tools, so I just accepted a bad grade on projects that didn't turn out right.
In 8th grade "Metal Shop" was required. I'd seen enough mayhem & stupidity in Wood Shop by then, so my parents wrote to the school administrators & I was able to avoid that class, as well as "Electric Shop" that was required in 9th grade.
In 8th grade, an English Literature class was required. I couldn't think of anything more boring than listening to the teacher talk about "Chaucer & Shakespeare." I'm sure they were great, but I had no interest. I spend most of the class staring at the clock & when the bell rang, I'd spring out of the seat like someone shot out of a canon at a circus after 45 minutes of pure misery.