Downhill skiing for my PE requirement, and Constitutional Law for my humanities requirement. Both were utterly useless to both my degree (Biology) and my work (IT consulting services) but both were loads of fun and the Constitutional Law class taught me really cool stuff that had me seriously considering changing my major to pre-law. The prof started giving me pamphlets about law schools!
In high school, I took a semester of weight lifting for my PE credit to graduate. It was fun, even if utterly pointless.
I also audited a class (when I was 12 or so) at the local college in Breakdancing. Hey - it was the 80’s! Breakdancing was cool!
For upper division linguistics, a class in Old Norse. Actually, this was where I first learned about the Norse Greenland settlements in any detail, and they have become an abiding interest of mine, so in terms of personal growth it wasn’t a total loss.
How are these ‘useless’? Through most of middle school, I was undersized so they put me in “bodybuilding” classes instead of regular PE. I was grateful…I much preferred working my way around the circuit in the weight room over being made to play team sports for which I had no interest and little aptitude.
I took a World Religions class when I first started out in college even though it was mainly for folks with Philosophy and Religion majors or minors. It was very interesting and well taught, plus there were presentations every other week by different clergy from around the area.
My other fave which I SO wanted to take but the prof died the week before the semester began was Astronomy. Yeah, the math would have run me over but I love the subject and was eager to learn more, and the prof was a very interesting fellow.
I didn’t say they were useless, just they didn’t have any bearing on either my degree or my career. They were both fun, and taught me useful and / or interesting things, and I got to do things I enjoyed so not useless in that sense.
I did a Comp Sci degree and had some decent options to fill in the non-Comp Sci gaps. I took Humor in American Liturature and Study of Film in the same semester and was able to use the same final term paper comparing & contrasting the book & film of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for both. There was also Comparitive Religious Philosophy and one intro to ROTC class where we got to play with weapons.
I took relaxation techniques - the meditation I was familiar with already but the biofeedback sessions were a blast. I think that because of them I was able to pass a lie detector test at a job interview
Abnormal Psych - we did Kraft-Ebbing mainly - I think I still have a copy of Psychopathic Sexualis somewhere.
A summer session down in Washington DC - went and had discussions at 8 or 9 different OPEC country embassies, our state department, and oddly enough the CIA. My political sci prof was also my advisor and he suggested the class. Cant say it was entirely unuseful as the CIA kept contacting me to see if I wanted to come work for them…which was rather odd to say the least :dubious:
studio in art: enameling. I dont ever enamel jewelry though I now know how to repair it if it is damaged, and can determine what form of enameling something is so if I ever wanted to go into antique jewelry scams I probably could, I do have a kiln=)
