German. My son-in-law is German, and he is teaching my grandsons it, so it would be nice to talk to them in two languages.
Writing. Only somewhat for me, mostly to recruit for the writing club I just took over. We need more people under retirement age.
Stranger
Electronics sounds like it might be fun. I’ve always felt I should have a better grasp of things electricity related especially back when I used to futz around with circuits in my Arduino days (well enough to interface an old Commodore 65 synth chip with it, playable through a MIDI keyboard.) But I had no real idea of what was going on in terms of capacitors and resistors other than I needed certain ones in certain places. Like a vague notion of filter caps and pull-down resistors I had, but not much else, and certain not anything I had to do math and apply Ohm’s Law to or anything.)
I was paging through the (Oakton) community college catalog at my parents’ and saw an Intro to Upholstery class. I remember pointing it out and laughing at the time. And bringing it up later as just the dumbest thing. But now I wish I’d signed up for it.
Upholstery is really an in-demand skill now that people are realizing they are often better off redressing old, well-built furniture rather than buying expensive but curiously poorly constructed new furniture, and also a good way to get into the furniture refurbishing and building business with a low overhead cost, as all you really need is a garage-sized open space, a decent layout table, a second-hand industrial or sailmaker grade sewing machine, and some basic hand tools. If I knew someone graduating high school who is at least somewhat handy, and not inclined or able to afford college I’d recommend it as an option because there is no shortage of work, and its a good living until your garage band gets discovered.
Stranger
For me:
Economics
World history
Cooking
Physics
Astronomy (I promise to pay attention this time)
Word & Excel
That makes me think that another good one for me is a chair caning class. We have some old (first half of the 19th century) chairs with caned bottoms. We checked, and it costs a fortune to recane professionally but it would be fun to do in front of the TV.
Languages (all available)
Literature, esp. world literature
History other than US
Algebra refresher
Web design
Bookmaking
Quilting
Lithograph printing
Cooking
In CA and several other states, Community colleges are already virtually free.
But there is a class I’d like to see- “economic literacy” How to do a simple tax return, balance a checking account, and spot common scams. In fact i think it should be taught to all HS seniors, even.
Yep.
I’d also add a new law- no one can get a student loan over $1000 to attend the first two years of college. Push students into two year colleges, so they can find out whether college is right for them, without getting stuck with $50000 in student loans, after they drop out.
I would take some literature and history classes, and maybe spanish and ASL.
I’d take:
Remedial Poetry for Overly Literal Adults
Babby’s First Drawing/Painting/etc.