NationStates Jolt Archive

I just read an article about PE in schools... and that brought all that horror back to me in a way I wouldn't have thought possible.

Bossy teachers, that stench in the dressing room, and then in the sports room, the uncomfortable sports clothes, the pain when falling flat on your face after having been shouted at for not being able to do one of the exercises, or when getting hit by a ball you were supposed to catch...

I hated it. I mean, I really, really, really, really, REALLY hated it. And looking back I have to ask myself how on earth I managed to survive it for years, 2 hours each week...

So, which subject/lessons did you hate?

English literature, dissecting a book like a frog, and leaving it just as lifeless.

In terms of boredom it was always History that won out but in terms of pure terror it was German. The teacher would scream and shout at anyone who messed up but the result was a class who all passed their GCSEs with A* grades and their A-levels with A grades. I'm very thankful to her for that

I hated PE and arithmetic.

PE, hands down.

On Friday, you'd have double maths, and at the end - and the worst - double Physics, with the most boring arrogant bastard on the planet. Time ceased to move. It was just him going on, and on, and on, and on.....he'd make anything and everything fucking boring.....

Anything academic was fine. PE, I loathed, because I've always been small, delicate, and klutzy as heck, so I was pretty much eternally the kid all the people who inexplicably care about PE games screamed insults at.

No PE after grade 9, so, I can't complain.

I hated math though... yet I had a teacher who seemed to think I should have taken advanced level math. I only took general level because that was the requirement for my undergrad. I spent the last two years of high school being asked why I wasn't taking A-level math by my grade 10 math teacher after he found out I opted for general level math...

English literature, dissecting a book like a frog, and leaving it just as lifeless.
This.

I tended, with most of the class, to read ahead and ignore what the teacher was saying. The po-mo-lite style of teaching Eng Lit in UK schools is (or, at least, was) terrible. Everything must be deconstructed and relativised , dryly.

Though, as ever, there are fantastic exceptions to the rule.

P.E.

"hey lets make the fat girl run a mile every day"......great fucking idea......and if that wasn't sadistic enough "lets make the fat girl play dodgeball".......

evil.

This.

I tended, with most of the class, to read ahead and ignore what the teacher was saying. The po-mo-lite style of teaching Eng Lit in UK schools is (or, at least, was) terrible. Everything must be deconstructed and relativised , dryly.

Though, as ever, there are fantastic exceptions to the rule.

Don't worry, they subject to the same horrible style of "literature" - if one can even call it such - here in Canada. Novel dissection was so boring. It was even worse when the teacher brought out the snore-fest known as 'The Stone Angel' - or as I called it, 'The STONED Angel' - by Magaret Laurence. What a waste of trees... 300+ pages of an old lady being all emo, then dying in the last paragraph.

Don't worry, they subject to the same horrible style of "literature" - if one can even call it such - here in Canada. Novel dissection was so boring.
At least you don't have to contend with 'Scottishness'.

Every bloody lit class has (or, again, had to) to involve a nod towards Scottish writing, so we had to suffer through a ton of mediocre, nationalistic pish instead of reading great literature.

However, at least we got to read some Norman MacCaig, one of the greatest modern Scottish poets:


November night, Edinburgh

The night tinkles like ice in glasses.
Leaves are glued to the pavement with frost.
The brown air fumes at the shop windows,
Tries the doors, and sidles past.

I gulp down winter raw. The heady
Darkness swirls with tenements.
In a brown fuzz of cottonwool
Lamps fade up crags, die into pits.

Frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves
Scraped up on paths. – I look up, there,
A high roof sails, at the mast-head
Fluttering a grey and ragged star.

The world’s a bear shrugged in his den.
It’s snug and close in the snoring night.
And outside like chrysanthemums
The fog unfolds its bitter scent.

Every bloody lit class has (or, again, had to) to involve a nod towards Scottish writing, so we had to suffer through a ton of mediocre, nationalistic pish instead of reading great literature.


Rabbie Burns must be a real bitch

Didn't much mind school until I hit Algebra class. Up until then I could get by without studying, didn't work on Algebra. Probably because I couldn't listen to the teacher, his voice sucked. One of those horrid sounds that makes you feel like it could saw through steel.

PE was hell. And we can leave it at that, can't we?

For me, it was math...though whenever I had a halfway decent teacher, I did better, but still not good.

Math was certainly my toughest though...most any other class I could mail it in and still get a B or better...in math, I had to WORK, and that work was usually still for a shit grade.

EDIT: Am I the only one who, while not particularly athletic, actually liked PE? :tongue:

Rabbie Burns must be a real bitch
It's not the classics, Burns and Scott et al, that I object to; indeed, I love Tam o' Shanter and other of Burns' works.

It's the huge amount of mediocre poetry/prose, usually made between the 60s and the 80s, that shoves its (largely fabricated) Scottishness in your face, i.e., folks writing in Scots who don't speak in Scots, or further, unneeded romanticisation of the Clearances, Culloden, etc.

IT, because I was far better than the teachers we had (one was an Arts teacher, the other an RE teacher after the Arts guy left) and so spent all my time fixing everyone's computers. Got an E on the coursework, but my 100% marks A* in the exam meant I got a C overall so hurrah.

Didn't much mind school until I hit Algebra class. Up until then I could get by without studying, didn't work on Algebra. Probably because I couldn't listen to the teacher, his voice sucked. One of those horrid sounds that makes you feel like it could saw through steel.

My Trigonometry teacher was so utterly mockable...his voice, his build, his posture, his fucking silver toupée.

I spent too much time mocking him, and not enough time studying...I got a D, but I consider it a moral victory.

IT, because I was far better than the teachers we had
Tell me about it... we were just the wrong side of schools realising IT was important.

Luckily, my last year in school was accompanied by a shake-up in their IT department, so at least we had one god year of teaching. Prior to that we had a French teacher and a substitute teacher, both with little or no knowledge of the subject. I distinctly remember arguing with one of them, trying to explain why Windows 98 could handle more than one program at a time.

Though, to be fair, it wasn't their fault. I imagine teaching IT in the 1990's, early 2000's, was more a punishment than a vocation.

I actually liked PE...

Subject I hated....Religious Education was boring, as was Classical Civ. Classical Civ should have been one of the best classes but the teacher had not control, backbone or anything that he was walked all over like a doormat.

Erm and physics. I hated Physics.

I actually liked PE...

Subject I hated....Religious Education was boring, as was Classical Civ. Classical Civ should have been one of the best classes but the teacher had not control, backbone or anything that he was walked all over like a doormat.

Erm and physics. I hated Physics.

But... but... seriously, what's to like about PE?

Mind you, I failed maths once, and physics once, and I was total crap in Latin. But they were just lessons. PE was... wrong on every conceivable level.

I never really hated any of my classes in high school, but if I had to pick a least favourite it would probably be the health classes I had to take in 9th and 10th grades. Nothing in particular against them, I just didn't enjoy them as much as my other classes.

But... but... seriously, what's to like about PE?
It's a chance to kick a football about or play tennis or whatever instead of sitting indoors with a bunch of morons who couldn't tell their avoirs from their êtres?

But... but... seriously, what's to like about PE?

Mind you, I failed maths once, and physics once, and I was total crap in Latin. But they were just lessons. PE was... wrong on every conceivable level.

Got out of the classroom, had some fun. Then again I am someone who does like to play sports occassionally.

English literature, dissecting a book like a frog, and leaving it just as lifeless.
Then you were doing it wrong.
Which is understandable, at least in High School English classes, because the teacher has to contend with the unwashed, preliterate masses who must be spoonfed easily digestible interpretations.
Yeah, I hated most of my High School English too, but PE was the worst. Some of the sports were pretty fun, but too many idiots got way to into it.
Plus, we spent three weeks every Winter playing motherfucking basketball. Baseball was pretty tedious too, but at least it was outside so I could slip off the field at the first opportunity and spend an hour or so contemplating my navel in the woods near the class.

History - though only when it was being taught by the idiot who insisted on teaching 'in the character' of Paul Daniels.

Also PE mainly because all PE teachers are scum. I have never understood why intellectuals are first against the wall in any revolution - I would always start with the PE teachers

History - though only when it was being taught by the idiot who insisted on teaching 'in the character' of Paul Daniels.
wtf?
Also PE mainly because all PE teachers are scum. I have never understood why intellectuals are first against the wall in any revolution - I would always start with the PE teachers
The worst PE teachers are the ones who are Geography teachers as well, though :D

But... but... seriously, what's to like about PE?


For me it always depended on the sports being offered. I was never a huge fan of rugby although I played for the school for a few years. The people involved in it were the main reason I didn't enjoy it properly and as a result I always got much much more in to the individual sports

It's a chance to kick a football about or play tennis or whatever instead of sitting indoors with a bunch of morons who couldn't tell their avoirs from their êtres?

Let's hope their spelling was a bit better ;)

So, why is it so much more fun to get into physical contact with those people, rather than just sit in one room with them?

Got out of the classroom, had some fun. Then again I am someone who does like to play sports occassionally.

Get out of the classroom into the smelly sports room? :confused:

Let's hope their spelling was a bit better ;)

So, why is it so much more fun to get into physical contact with those people, rather than just sit in one room with them?

Different form of intelligence used in the two different classes (i would assume)

Let's hope their spelling was a bit better ;)
In English yes.
So, why is it so much more fun to get into physical contact with those people, rather than just sit in one room with them?
Because it breaks down a whole load of dangerous substances that lay around your body like excess serotonin, get you some fresh air and some daylight.

5 minutes in the changing rooms - "oh no"

The lesson I hate most? The one where the arrogant kids think they have far better things to do (like chew gum, pass notes, play on their phones, call each other names, insult the teacher) than get themselves a decent education, provided by a great teacher who works bloody hard in a very vain attempt to make some kind of passable purse (very rarely silk) out of the grottiest sow's ear!

Chemistry, far and away.

Chemistry, far and away.
Chemistry, prior to it turning into equations and calculating moles, is ace fun.

Then it all turns into maths. :(

none. Im good at everything.

Get out of the classroom into the smelly sports room? :confused:
They didn't let you play outside (or at least in a decent, large and well-ventilated gym)? That's just inhumane.

wtf?


Seriously I sat through two years of history lessons by someone doing a Paul Daniels impersonation.

In English yes.

Because it breaks down a whole load of dangerous substances that lay around your body like excess serotonin, get you some fresh air and some daylight.

5 minutes in the changing rooms - "oh no"

Where would you get any fresh air?? :confused:

The worst PE teachers are the ones who are Geography teachers as well, though :D

Hah! Still doesn't top this: my grade 9 French teacher Monseiur Belfleur, was also the grade 9 dance teacher. And I'm not joking. He taught my class both subjects. I was traumatised by this; seeing my French teacher in a leotard did not help matters.

My PE teachers were nice. I just hated the running drill; the one where they play the asinine tape with the long droning bell-like noise. The stupid exercise where you have to run from one end to another before the noise times out, and the noise time is shorter and shorter...

They didn't let you play outside (or at least in a decent, large and well-ventilated gym)? That's just inhumane.

Well, they did, now and again, when they thought it was to hot in the sports room.... then they would let us run around the yard, in well over 35 degrees.

...I just hated the running drill; the one where they play the asinine tape with the long droning bell-like noise. The stupid exercise where you have to run from one end to another before the noise times out, and the noise time is shorter and shorter...

..and the thing with finding the cheese in the maze with the electrified floor..

..and the thing with finding the cheese in the maze with the electrified floor..

Never did that, though for some reason, my teachers always thought it was amusing to make the short girl play basket ball... yea... I'm sorry, but there's no way that at less than 5 feet tall in grade 9 am I going to have a chance at playing when all my peers are at least 3 inches to more than a foot taller than me.

Seriously I sat through two years of history lessons by someone doing a Paul Daniels impersonation.
Hah awesome :D
Where would you get any fresh air?? :confused:
Im Außen, same as you. PE was largely done outside at my school.
Hah! Still doesn't top this: my grade 9 French teacher Monseiur Belfleur, was also the grade 9 dance teacher. And I'm not joking. He taught my class both subjects. I was traumatised by this; seeing my French teacher in a leotard did not help matters.
Monsieur Belfleur :D What an awfully French name :D
My PE teachers were nice. I just hated the running drill; the one where they play the asinine tape with the long droning bell-like noise. The stupid exercise where you have to run from one end to another before the noise times out, and the noise time is shorter and shorter...
Ah, the beep test. Aye. Bit of a bitch.

Im Außen, same as you. PE was largely done outside at my school.



What, in any weather?

What, in any weather?
Pretty much - if it was raining we just played rugby or football.

Hah! Still doesn't top this: my grade 9 French teacher Monseiur Belfleur, was also the grade 9 dance teacher. And I'm not joking. He taught my class both subjects. I was traumatised by this; seeing my French teacher in a leotard did not help matters.


What? how lucky you are to have a dance class. Like actual dance. We had country line dance.

Pretty much - if it was raining we just played rugby or football.

I don't know... I think I would have hated that even more, to be honest.
At least inside it was dry, and usually you didn't run the risk of freezing to death in the snow in winter, or getting a sun stroke in summer (happened to me twice during PE. Teacher told me to stop being such a cry baby and keep on running.... and then yelled at me when I threw up.)

What? how lucky you are to have a dance class. Like actual dance. We had country line dance.

It was modern dance; ballet, and every class started with yoga exercises, and the first thing was "Salutation to the sun"... And yes, boys had to take it too.

Problem with PE teachers is that they have no interest in those who aren't as good at sports. They look out for the talented and get them into the school teams, and then ignore (or harass) those who aren't as coordinated or interested in sports. In other classes the teacher will attempt to help everyone to improve.

Not that I disliked PE itself, I enjoy sports, just that the teachers were annoying.

EDIT: Kyro, your avatar makes me sad :(

I don't know... I think I would have hated that even more, to be honest.
Yeah well the girls stayed inside and played netball or knitted or something, I dunno.
At least inside it was dry, and usually you didn't run the risk of freezing to death in the snow in winter, or getting a sun stroke in summer (happened to me twice during PE. Teacher told me to stop being such a cry baby and keep on running.... and then yelled at me when I threw up.)
Aye well if you get sunstroke then not liking PE is very understandable.

Get out of the classroom into the smelly sports room? :confused:

Nope. We had quite a large field as well as a purpose built sports hall and some hockey pitches.

citizenship/forum/form time

watching the most horrendous videos mankind has ever made wouldn't be too bad if the teacher didn't have a monkey up her arse about it

I hated it. I mean, I really, really, really, really, REALLY hated it. And looking back I have to ask myself how on earth I managed to survive it for years, 2 hours each week...

you' know you really should be getting more than that in your own time, now assume the press up position and count to 10

"hey lets make the fat girl run a mile every day"......great fucking idea......and if that wasn't sadistic enough "lets make the fat girl play dodgeball".......

you'll really hate me *puts on 80's sex pest outfit and hides in your closet*

also I so convinced my old head teacher to turn the school into a sports college, apparently I have become some sort of bogey man

Also PE mainly because all PE teachers are scum. I have never understood why intellectuals are first against the wall in any revolution - I would always start with the PE teachers

am I the only one who had fairly awesome teachers? I mean yeah if you get lazy they are gonna make you fit but they are always the kind of people you can have a laugh with

For me, it was math...though whenever I had a halfway decent teacher, I did better, but still not good.

Math was certainly my toughest though...most any other class I could mail it in and still get a B or better...in math, I had to WORK, and that work was usually still for a shit grade.

EDIT: Am I the only one who, while not particularly athletic, actually liked PE? :tongue:

I enjoyed PE, sure I hated the running, and the warm up exercise, but then we get to play sports. I loved flag football. Although I never really understood why we just couldn't tackle people....which is what I did....and five assault charges later....

Seriously though, I hated math, everyone was telling me that all I had to do was to put the numbers into the formula and I'd get the answer. Well I did that, and I still got the answer wrong! >.< Honestly, I do not use any math beyond algebra. The only reason I use algebra is because you do need to know it for aviation.

Ahh high school, when I wasn't yet misanthropic, but was on my way to being.

PE, along with Tech and Art. When someone's so bad at something, and has little or no prospect of getting better at it, does it really make sense to force them to do it for years? PE I can sort of understand from a health point of view, but Art and Tech? Inexcusable.

Generally speaking, I liked PE. Lots of opportunities for 'self expression' aka mischief.

I disliked sociology and psychology courses in high school and college. First, because I had terrible teachers and second because I don't need the constant reminder that I'm fucked up. :)

So, which subject/lessons did you hate?
there was a teacher... on the first day of class he explained how his class would work. Let's see if you can guess the subject.

all Lectures would be taken out of a book NOT on the class list. the book is out of print thus unavailable in any form.

all homework will be given out of the text book we purchased (because he felt some use should come from those books.)

tests on the homework assignment will be given every Friday.
Homework will be reviewed and corrected the following Monday (yes, after we've been tested on the subject matter.)

Before this class, I could do puzzles baised off this subject, now I can barely stand to look at them.

by the end of the first month, everyone thought they were failing the class. by the end of the second month, everyone was certain they were failing the class.

the Dean did a spot check and each of us were asked to see her individually to express their concerns about that class.

we were all given passing grades by the Dean and that professor no longer teaches that subject... (he was still employed but in other areas.)

can you guess the class that destroyed my love for this subject?

there was a teacher... on the first day of class he explained how his class would work. Let's see if you can guess the subject.

all Lectures would be taken out of a book NOT on the class list. the book is out of print thus unavailable in any form.

all homework will be given out of the text book we purchased (because he felt some use should come from those books.)

tests on the homework assignment will be given every Friday.
Homework will be reviewed and corrected the following Monday (yes, after we've been tested on the subject matter.)

Before this class, I could do puzzles baised off this subject, now I can barely stand to look at them.

by the end of the first month, everyone thought they were failing the class. by the end of the second month, everyone was certain they were failing the class.

the Dean did a spot check and each of us were asked to see her individually to express their concerns about that class.

we were all given passing grades by the Dean and that professor no longer teaches that subject... (he was still employed but in other areas.)

can you guess the class that destroyed my love for this subject?

Sex Education?

P.E.

"hey lets make the fat girl run a mile every day"......great fucking idea......and if that wasn't sadistic enough "lets make the fat girl play dodgeball".......

evil.

... yep. I couldn't do one chinup... one push up... jog around the feild? HA!

but when it came to dodge ball... they couldn't hit me with a guided missle! :D

Sex Education?

sorry. :tongue: but the screwing we got from the teacher would've been appropriate... :(

sorry. :tongue: but the screwing we got from the teacher would've been appropriate... :(

American Lit?

sorry. :tongue: but the screwing we got from the teacher would've been appropriate... :(

Well, the homework gets a little tedious, but the puzzles can be fun. :D

While PE was pretty bad and I wasn't fond of Chemistry, I'd have to say the lessons learned from experience were the worst. There's no safety net in the real world.

While PE was pretty bad and I wasn't fond of Chemistry, I'd have to say the lessons learned from experience were the worst. There's no safety net in the real world.

Unless you're a window cleaner and you work on tall buildings. Or a trapeze artist in a circus.

French. Between the condescending teacher, and my lack of interest in the language, I felt like that class was hell.

P.E., yeah *joins the chorus* (of overweight internet nerds, eating crisps) ;)

that said, rugby was pretty cool. and electing to do the shot-put every year at Sports Day a) made it over very quickly, and b) made me feel i could actually do sports cos i always won.

Latin was also a complete brainfuck. why learn a dead language? but more than that, why learn one that has a million different rules for modification of past-present tense gender-neutral transsexual verbnouns that make no sense? :mad:

also hated maths. cos i suck at it. and we had like 6 teachers in 2 years

Uh, well.
As for the most hated, clearly Catholic Religion (I dropped it after the third year of the elementary, when I was given a chance to do so).

Apart from indoctrination, my worst memories of the lyceum are:

Philosophy. Really, I liked the prof, but I coulnd't understand the subject, at all - it looked to me more like a course in psychopathologies. I got through it scraping generally between 5 and 6/10, until the last years when I had my moments of glory with Kant, Marx, Comte and Russell and I rose to a decent 8/10.

Ancient Greek. I liked the subject but I hated the prof, mostly because of politics, she being a christian democrat on the lines of Don Camillo (she even came from the lowlands of Reggio Emilia, and had THAT accent!) and I being my usual commie self. (And she hated me, by the way).

Physical education. Hate hate hate. I hate playing volleyball, and that's what we were supposed to do, five years long. I also sweat a lot, and we hadn't a changing room, so we had to take the class in our usual clothes and to keep them on afterwards. Ugh... adolescent sweat + sneakers... whenever I could I isolated myself in a corner and started studying for the next class.

Maths. :eek2: For the first three years. I love maths but the prof was a total idiot. A hopeless cretin who deemed himself very witty. What a waste of time (as a matter of fact I finished the maths book three times before he realised I was reading the book under my desk during his classes, instead of listening to him).

Latin was also a complete brainfuck. why learn a dead language? but more than that, why learn one that has a million different rules for modification of past-present tense gender-neutral transsexual verbnouns that make no sense? :mad:


Quia ises coolum speacare latinum in partybus. ;)

Quia ises coolum speacare latinum in partybus. ;)

*sigh* How I wish I knew Latin. *laments*

P.E. but not Games because we would get Snapey for Games and we would always end doing rugby 90% of the times

C.D.T because i forced to use tools and make things and i had bally nearly none exsistant fine motor skills or corodination and the one of the Teachers was a moustached Prat who drove a a kit car jeep

H.E. beacuse i dont want to be forced to make stupid puppet things and cook buns or lasange

Speech Threapy - because I want to say Now Then instead of hello and its yon side if its otherside

American Lit? :mad:

actually, i had a fun HS teacher who was soo good, I slept through American Lit in College and still passed with an 'A'.

Well, the homework gets a little tedious, but the puzzles can be fun. :D
well, TBH, the peices can only fit in so many ways... :p

French.

A level Maths.

I hated history and english in school, and here I am: A poet and amateur historian. Life is funny that way.

I hated PE, until I was about 15. At my school - that basically meant you got to choose what you wanted to do, and some friends and I got to do cross-country long distance running on schooltime, instead of after schooltime.

I hated 'Art', because the idea that you can 'teach' the subject, and 'pass' and 'fail' people in it is - if you'll excuse my french - fucking stupid.

All the way through my senior school career, I hated Chemistry - only to find, when I went on to college, that I love Chemistry. I'd just hated the way the Chemistry teachers at my school raped the subject to death.

H.E. beacuse i dont want to be forced to make stupid puppet things and cook buns or lasange

They cooked french monkeys at your school?

They cooked french monkeys at your school?


Perhaps the school was in Hartlepool

Alegbra... WHO CARES WHAT X IS!

Oh and deciding to read "Centinnenal" for a book asignment...
700+ pages of painstakingly indepth history of the most boring town in the country.

Cursive. No one uses it any more; things are usually typed or requested for in plain text. Actually it was mostly obsolete by the time I hit 9th grade.

Cursive. No one uses it any more; things are usually typed or requested for in plain text. Actually it was mostly obsolete by the time I hit 9th grade.

your signature is in Cursive. ;)

your signature is in Cursive. ;)

Nope. Like the rest of us, it's in scribble.

your signature is in Cursive. ;)

I have a signature?..
Oh, you mean on paper. Well like most people its was more like a quick scribble; barely legiable like most people. Even people older than me are reverting back to plain text writting.

Looking back learning cursive was a total waste of time. I also hated that capital "Q" in cursive looks like the number 2, and what the hell is "Z" suppose to be?

English literature, dissecting a book like a frog, and leaving it just as lifeless.

Yes, English classes can do that to a good book. On the other hand, they can be really good. I for one liked my Grade 12 Literature class more than anything else except maybe History. It probably depends on what the class covers, how it covers it, and what the teacher's like. Unfortunately, too much of the public school's cirriculums are PC garbage or simply teaching on the level of the dumbest student, too many students are idiots, and too many teachers aren't deserving of their degrees.

Of course, I took a certain pleasure in arguing with the teacher and other members of the class whenever I could. If your teacher lets you get away with that, you can make even the dumbest classes quite entertaining.:)

French but only because the teacher and the students were FAIL. Biology as well, for some reason.

EDIT: Am I the only one who, while not particularly athletic, actually liked PE? :tongue:

I also loved PE

Hah! Still doesn't top this: my grade 9 French teacher Monseiur Belfleur, was also the grade 9 dance teacher. And I'm not joking. He taught my class both subjects. I was traumatised by this; seeing my French teacher in a leotard did not help matters.

I laughed when I read this.

My PE teachers were nice. I just hated the running drill; the one where they play the asinine tape with the long droning bell-like noise. The stupid exercise where you have to run from one end to another before the noise times out, and the noise time is shorter and shorter...

It is called the beep test and is a good measure of your fitness level.

I am not to sure on what lesson I hated the most. I have been racking my brain thinking about it. There were those that I enjoyed because the teacher was good at teaching and I enjoyed the subject material (Chemistry, History, Economics). There were those were the teacher was poor and the subject was easy and/or laid back so basically that meant I was able to muck around and just enjoy myself (Tech studies, Art). There were those where I just had fun sometimes being a little prick (Drama, Italian, physics). There were those where I felt I needed to learn and would be useful (Maths). So I am not to sure about any of my topics.

Actually there was one lesson I disliked quite a lot and that was English Communications in Year 12. It was a piss poor topic and I disliked the way it was run and what we were doing, the teacher was something to look at though. I wished I had done English Studies instead I think that would have been more suited to the way my brain works, but no I had to take the easy option out in year 11 and thus ruined my chances of being able to do english studies.

I hated history and english in school, and here I am: A poet and amateur historian. Life is funny that way.

Well, that's the thing, I hated the subjects I loved the most, especially English literature. Main reason was essay titles such as this:

"Explore the use of weather in describing the growing tensions in A Passage to India".

I mean, I strongly objected to these essays, I'm to try and eke out 5 pages of an essay to sum up what could quite easily be explained in a half page. It made the book utterly laborious.

Next up: Explore the use of wild landscape to explain Heathcliff's passionate nature in...

Oh bugger off!

PE... wasn't all that bad in HS (Junior high was another matter, but just about everything in junior high sucked). Of course, my school had a zero hour PE class, so while getting up that damn early to take PE around 7 am was hard, especially in winter, it was actually kind of nice given that everyone else in the class tended to be more laid back and taking the zero in order to get an academic class later on. Even the coach was a bit more lenient at that hour.

The cross I had to bear was math. Gods above and below, I hated every minute of it. It didn't help that I have a learning disability so I got ranked in with the lower levels (To be fair, that's where I should have been) but they decided to assign either brand spanking new teachers to teach rough classes OR coaches. My "geometry" (In actuality, the track coach) teacher's idea of teaching us was to tell us to go read the book and if we couldn't understand, ask another student to teach us (Great idea, especially if you happened to be the class target). He would offer extra credit by way of getting us to mark out the track field for a meet.

What REALLY annoyed me was the year I failed math and had to make it up during summer school. They had a good, experienced, actual honest-to-goodness-usually-teaches-the-honors-and-AP-sections teacher who got through to me and for the first time in a very long time, I actually understood what he was talking about.

PE ruuld as did maths.

The classes I hated the most had more to do with manual skills, like arts, music or woodwork....Just didn't see them in any way useful back then.

However, the course I *still* despise was one maths course where we had to construct a "product container" out of cardboard and measure its velocity. Why? Just *try* to glue up any complex shape out of cardboard (IIRC I went with a cylinder and a cone, impossible to construct! :tongue:) and pretend it has something to do with maths!


I also liked English but (regretfully) despised Swedish and disliked French, Latin and Finnish.

PE was... wrong on every conceivable level.
It is kind of a sick joke. "Hmm, these children really seem to enjoy 'sports.' How can we guarantee they will forever associate them not with childhood fun, but with regimented misery?" And lo, there was P.E. Health was the same way, once they* realized teenagers seemed to enjoy physical pleasures like eating or sex.

*"They" of course being the Central Committee that runs the world. The one that put a man on the moon, but can't do a variety of tasks that, at first glance, should be much easier than putting a man on the moon.

I just read an article about PE in schools... and that brought all that horror back to me in a way I wouldn't have thought possible.

Bossy teachers, that stench in the dressing room, and then in the sports room, the uncomfortable sports clothes, the pain when falling flat on your face after having been shouted at for not being able to do one of the exercises, or when getting hit by a ball you were supposed to catch...

I hated it. I mean, I really, really, really, really, REALLY hated it. And looking back I have to ask myself how on earth I managed to survive it for years, 2 hours each week...

So, which subject/lessons did you hate?

When I was in middle school I hated PE too. I was always a sports jock, I loved sports and atheletics and all, but jesus christ I felt PE was useless. I was secretly a nerd of course, more interested in history class and science than anything else, but sports were fun...I loathed PE chiefly because all we ever did was learn trivial things. Like I spent an entire semester being taught to dance "The Electric Slide" in PE. Or how to hulahoop. Or how to jumprope. They were stupid. Now when I went to a private school for highschool, and the gym teacher we had was purely awesome, that was fun. We played a plethora of sports, and for the disinterested and unatheletic, there was a workout center which they were allowed to use to their hearts content. In the gym we played basketball, hockey, football, tennis, all kinds of things and had an absolute blast doing it.

For HIGHSCHOOL, my least favourite class was Algebra 1, but that was only because I hated my teacher. She was a bitch. I loved every other class. In college I never liked physics...lol...I was a History/International Studies Major after all.

Quia ises coolum speacare latinum in partybus. ;)

damnit, not even google can tell me what that says :headbang:

see what i mean? ;)

I enjoyed PE, sure I hated the running, and the warm up exercise, but then we get to play sports. I loved flag football. Although I never really understood why we just couldn't tackle people....which is what I did....and five assault charges later....

During the winter, we'd usually play floorball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floor_hockey)

I was fucking awesome at goalie...so much so that people would literally beg me to not play other positions, since the opposition almost never scored against me. :tongue:

Social dancing, wrestling = Cooties, gay cooties*

*Yes there were gay students, but that doesn't mean that anybody should refuse to wrestle them in a match.

Cursive. No one uses it any more; things are usually typed or requested for in plain text. Actually it was mostly obsolete by the time I hit 9th grade.

Huh? I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about there... you mean, just handwriting?

Huh? I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about there... you mean, just handwriting?

Joined up handwriting as opposed to printed handwriting

Joined up handwriting as opposed to printed handwriting

Printed handwriting? :confused:
Why would anybody bother to do that?

Printed handwriting? :confused:
Why would anybody bother to do that?

Because loads of people have completely illegible handwriting when using cursive

Because loads of people have completely illegible handwriting when using cursive

Well, yes, you probably would use it on a form or something, but why would you use it everyday? :confused:

Well, yes, you probably would use it on a form or something, but why would you use it everyday? :confused:

I have a tendency to print rather than use cursive and I write just as quickly as most so my question would be why wouldn't you use it everyday?

I have a tendency to print rather than use cursive and I write just as quickly as most so my question would be why wouldn't you use it everyday?

Well, why would you use something you've used every day since the age of 5?
Why bother using something else if it's not explicitly necessary?

Well, why would you use something you've used every day since the age of 5?
Why bother using something else if it's not explicitly necessary?

Perhaps it's a difference in teaching methods. I was taught to print first and then when I was 8/9 I was taught cursive (using those horrible trace sheets). So my answer to your question is basically to mimic the post i've quoted and change the age slightly

Perhaps it's a difference in teaching methods. I was taught to print first and then when I was 8/9 I was taught cursive (using those horrible trace sheets). So my answer to your question is basically to mimic the post i've quoted and change the age slightly

Ok.... no, still doesn't make sense, sorry.
"Print", as the name suggests, is a way that is best suited for printing. Handwriting tends to flow better when using, well, handwriting. So why bother teaching kids the clumsy and awkward way first, and then get to the normal way much later?

So why bother teaching kids the clumsy and awkward way first, and then get to the normal way much later?

You would have to ask the Northern Ireland Department of Education for that answer but I don't find my style of writing to be clumsy and awkward. In fact I find cursive to be clumsy and awkward. It's all down to how much you practice each style I suspect.

You would have to ask the Northern Ireland Department of Education for that answer but I don't find my style of writing to be clumsy and awkward. In fact I find cursive to be clumsy and awkward. It's all down to how much you practice each style I suspect.

I'll have to take your word for it.

I've been raking my brain for the last 15 minutes, but I don't think I've ever seen anybody actually writing in print (other than on forms and such, that is).... how very odd.

I'll have to take your word for it.

I've been raking my brain for the last 15 minutes, but I don't think I've ever seen anybody actually writing in print (other than on forms and such, that is).... how very odd.

friends of mine used to at secondary school. and my g/f writes in an odd mix of both cursive and print. its not that odd imho

I'll have to take your word for it.

I've been raking my brain for the last 15 minutes, but I don't think I've ever seen anybody actually writing in print (other than on forms and such, that is).... how very odd.

I probably would have used cursive just like everyone else if it hadn't been for the way cursive was taught i.e. having us spend an hour a day tracing cursive sheets like this :

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2009/01/cursive.jpg

I probably would have used cursive just like everyone else if it hadn't been for the way cursive was taught i.e. having us spend an hour a day tracing cursive sheets like this :



Hmm...
We had a very different approach to it.
I remember that when we started school, we would just do lines and lines of loops, at half-height, then at full-height, then as lowers. We had paper with special lining so that we could keep them even-sized.
From the loops we went on to learn the e's, and l's, and g's, then n's and m's and so on.
It wasn't nearly as decorative as on that pic you posted, just plain handwriting, all in one flow.
You sort of went on to develop your own style in the years after, so my brothers have a rather loopy writing, while mine is slanted forward and slender, a bit like Sindarin.

I probably would have used cursive just like everyone else if it hadn't been for the way cursive was taught i.e. having us spend an hour a day tracing cursive sheets like this [/IMG]

Ugh... horrible memories! And all those red marks because I couldn't stay in the lines. I loathed those sheets. I print everything, though a couple of my letters are combinations of cursive letters.

Why does everybody hate P.E.? Anyway my least favourite were Technology ( dyspraxia + little fiddly bits + angry teacher = bad), Chemistry and Maths.

P.E. shouldn't even be a class.

I'll have to take your word for it.

I've been raking my brain for the last 15 minutes, but I don't think I've ever seen anybody actually writing in print (other than on forms and such, that is).... how very odd.

Actually we learnt print as well and then went onto cursive. Some schools even required you to get your 'pen license' in which they would teach you cursive and you had to be able to write cursive neatly before you were allowed to use a pen at school. It was something I in not so many words to stick it I will use a pen anyway. While I can write cursive I usually just write print myself it is much faster than bothering about linking the letters together. My hand glide across the page. I still fall into that looks cursive sometimes when I have two letters together such as 'h' and 'e' or 'q' and 'u'.

I didn't mind PE. *dissents*

Not that I was terribly good at...anything. But it was a bit of craic. Now Irish, that was a right pain in the bollocks. Maybe because Irish students come to resent having to learn the language at a very young age.

In Year 11 when preparing for GCSEs we had a revolving door of incompetent teachers for English that destroyed for me a subject I'd hitherto enjoyed.

First: The English Teacher who could barely speak English
Second: The temporary member of staff who wanted more job security and spent the lessons describing her rows with staff and quit during the middle of a class
Third: An Australian guy who seemed a lot more interested in being popular than in teaching the subject. He even went as far as grading people in a manner designed to gain the support of the popular kids. As soon as he came in, all the self-appointed "cool" kids went up from Ds and Es to at least a B grade, while the "losers" who had previously been getting A* in their work suddenly drop to Bs or Cs without any change in the quality of their work. And then the exams came, shock horror, the grades not only returned to normal, but the 'cool' kids didn't bother doing any work because they thought they were dead certs to pass, and failed the subject.

PE was terrible in my school.

I'm all for having kids get designated physical activity time. But PE in my schools was not physical activity. You'd spend 10 minutes getting changed into your gym clothes, then stand around for 25 minutes waiting in line to do your Bent Arm Hang test or pre-test or post-test or second-test or whatever the fuck, and then 10 more minutes changing back into your normal clothes.

PE at my high school was great. We had access to the gym facilities of the college our school was based on, so we had swimming, soccer, tennis, baseball, etc.

Personally I always hated baseball the most. I could never get the hang of it. We had badminton as well, during the colder months, and I'd always kick ass at that.

Third: An Australian guy who seemed a lot more interested in being popular than in teaching the subject. He even went as far as grading people in a manner designed to gain the support of the popular kids. As soon as he came in, all the self-appointed "cool" kids went up from Ds and Es to at least a B grade, while the "losers" who had previously been getting A* in their work suddenly drop to Bs or Cs without any change in the quality of their work. And then the exams came, shock horror, the grades not only returned to normal, but the 'cool' kids didn't bother doing any work because they thought they were dead certs to pass, and failed the subject.

How long ago was this? Sounds like an Australian guy teacher I had who went over to the UK.

PE: I didn't mind PE too much. I like swimming and running, and I was ok at gym, or at least, less bad than other people. I do remember the Bleep test being pretty soul-destroying, though.

Other lessons I didn't like:
- Design Tech. I made a mug holder with arms that point down so every now and then all the mugs suddenly fall off as gravity slowly exerts its sultry seduction.
- GCSE Latin. I liked the language, but they sucked all the fun out of it and reduced it to rote learning set texts. Boring.
- Medieval history, which was originally my degree subject. Biggest mistake ever.
- History of Southern [US] violence, which I have on Thursday. It's amazing they can make a subject as diverse and interesting as this a dull slog through a litany of case studies.

Third: An Australian guy who seemed a lot more interested in being popular than in teaching the subject. He even went as far as grading people in a manner designed to gain the support of the popular kids. As soon as he came in, all the self-appointed "cool" kids went up from Ds and Es to at least a B grade, while the "losers" who had previously been getting A* in their work suddenly drop to Bs or Cs without any change in the quality of their work. And then the exams came, shock horror, the grades not only returned to normal, but the 'cool' kids didn't bother doing any work because they thought they were dead certs to pass, and failed the subject.
Perhaps it was all part of a cunning plan on his part. Getting revenge on the next generation of popular kids in response to his own status as a loser during school.
"First I shall lull them into a false sense of security, then they shall all fail their exams! Muahahahahaha!"
He might even travel around the world doing it. First, hitting one school and then moving on to the next country leaving a trail of summer schooling, repeated grades and remedial English classes in his wake.

How long ago was this? Sounds like an Australian guy teacher I had who went over to the UK.

This would be...hang on...let me do the maths. Counting myself back through the education system, it must have been the academic year 2003/2004, probably in the 2004 bit, since we had two previous failteachers before him, and they must have lasted the first term at least. Memory fuzzy.

PE, Swedish and Finnish.

This would be...hang on...let me do the maths. I think it was in the academic year 2003/2004, probably in the 2004 bit, since we had two previous failteachers before him, and they must have lasted the first term at least. Memory fuzzy.

Early 2004 (straight after our 2003 year ended we don't have school over the December-January months) was the time he went over there. You wouldn't remember his surname would you?

Early 2004 (straight after our 2003 year ended we don't have school over the December-January months) was the time he went over there. You wouldn't remember his surname would you?
Please don't. If you reveal his identity, he'll have to kill us all before continuing his campaign of error.

Please don't. If you reveal his identity, he'll have to kill us all before continuing his campaign of error.

haha, only the surname it is quite common.

haha, only the surname it is quite common.

After reviewing old school newsletters on the interwebs, my memory has been jogged. Surname was Kenny. He "left" in 2005 (I think that is probably a nice way of saying they fired him), and he's now gone back to Australia supposedly. If it isn't the same surname, he probably just changed his last name to avoid the attention of his authorities and safeguard his secret evil plan of touring the world ensuring that kids fail to pass English examinations.

After reviewing old school newsletters on the interwebs, my memory has been jogged. Surname was Kenny. He "left" in 2005 (I think that is probably a nice way of saying they fired him), and he's now gone back to Australia supposedly. If it isn't the same surname, he probably just changed his last name to avoid the attention of his authorities and safeguard his secret evil plan of touring the world ensuring that kids fail to pass English examinations.

Oh ok fair enough, I knew the similarities had to end somewhere. Thanks for going to the trouble to look it up.

Why does everybody hate P.E.? Anyway my least favourite were Technology ( dyspraxia + little fiddly bits + angry teacher = bad), Chemistry and Maths.

Because we are a bunch of lazy-ass geeks and always were.:tongue:

Get out of the classroom into the smelly sports room? :confused:

No one ever paid attention in gym class so you could sneak off after attendance. Our gyms had 2 doors one in the front and one in the back. In one door change get attendance and then go to the bathroom and out the backdoor. Next thing you know we were at the corner store. I did stick around sometimes when it was outdoor sports. Climbing ropes just doesn't do it for me. Running also sucks so you jog out and then as soon as you are far enough away walk. Arrive just as class was ending.

damnit, not even google can tell me what that says :headbang:

see what i mean? ;)

Aie, ego seeo itum. :D

Always disliked French, fortunately the only modern foreign language I studied, and the Sciences.

The only class I never liked was French. The teacher rocked and all but French just wasn't my thing. Those until the last five minutes each day it never was boring because my teacher always mixed it up.


As for that Beep Test. I LOVE doing it and can usually get up to the 70s to 80s and I one day dream of beating it like a guy did in grade 12 last year in my school.

Man was I ever lucky to have teachers that rocked. Those I heared that my old school K-8 has a bunch of crappy teachers now that its going to be torned down in about a year.

PE was awful, agreed.

Maths. So dull, at least when it became difficult - the first 3 years were a breeze. And I had to study 'higher level' and I've never used any of it.

Religion - normally the worst teachers in the school with absolutely no ability to control a class so it was basically an embarassing display of who could be loudest/most annoying in class. Or indeed any sort of 'we're trying to fill up the timetable and have a couple of empty slots so let's invent a class where you talk about apparent issues like racism or how you're feeling - don't fall to peer pressure! - when in fact the same 2 or 3 obnoxious people will talk evey week while everyone else remains silent' class. Oh GOOD times...

I liked P.E., especially in gradeschool. Dodgeball was hilarious. Track and swimming were fun in high school. Chemistry and history were my other favorite subjects. Biology was my least favorite, mainly due to my biology teacher being humorless and having no enthusiasm for the topic.

As for that Beep Test. I LOVE doing it and can usually get up to the 70s to 80s and I one day dream of beating it like a guy did in grade 12 last year in my school.

70s to 80's do you mean level 7 and level 8? As for beating it that must be some feat Christiano Ronaldo only gets tothe high 14s about 14.15.

PE. Physical activity is surprisingly not inherently awful, but regimented in that way... ick.
There were a few classes in middle school that I didn't like either, like woodshop. I just asked other kids to do it for me. Never had it in high school, thankfully.

Shop classes are dangerous in no other class can you lose a finger if you mess up. I was hopeless at shop. I still am later in life if it requires tools I am going to get a professional. Except for the computer.

PE just because it was so utterly pointless, but the PE teachers (not being real teachers) felt the need to compensate for their subject being a total joke and tried to make PE seem super important.

Shop classes

:confused: What is a shop class?

:confused: What is a shop class?
Metalmeccanica and all that.

Aie, ego seeo itum. :D

*runs away* :P

*runs away* :P

He's mixing it with English... sort of like when Brits go abroad and will ask questions like "Ou est le beach, s'il vous please?" ;)

:confused: What is a shop class?
Shop class is AWESOME.

Shop class is this big room with a concrete floor that always smells like burning and sawdust, and the teacher is this guy who's missing several fingers and who will scream at you to put your damn safety goggles on while his are perched on the top of his head, and he lets you play with band saws and power sanders and drills that can go through sheets of metal and your final project is to build a rocket or a diesel engine or some such crazy shit.

I LOVED SHOP CLASS.

I liked PE. What a bunch of wimps we have in NS. Here you are, pounding on your keyboard when you could be running around the block so that you become sweaty and fit and then everyone will admire your physique.
GET DOWN AND GIVE ME TEN PUSH UPS NOW!

For me it was woodwork when I was twelve but when I was older I started to hate Maths because of a couple of bullying and incompetent maths teachers - a pity, because I was quite good at it and with the right teacher, I think I could have done well.

I always loved History and English and ended up teaching them.

He's mixing it with English... sort of like when Brits go abroad and will ask questions like "Ou est le beach, s'il vous please?" ;)

but that just makes it even more confusing! :mad:

I liked PE. What a bunch of wimps we have in NS. Here you are, pounding on your keyboard when you could be running around the block so that you become sweaty and fit and then everyone will admire your physique.
GET DOWN AND GIVE ME TEN PUSH UPS NOW!


yeah, well, that's fine for you because you're in Australia. PE in Britain is a dangerous thing as children start to rot if they go outside for too long ;)

PE! I HATED! it. I still do not get the point of leaving the comfort and supervision of a classroom for an accident- and humiliation-prone gym. Especially the last class was a punch into my face. I told the teacher that I can not see well and can not do ball sports. She pretended to understand this but only did these crap things and expected me to participate. I was no longer a child, who can be freely humiliated and flat-out refused. The teacher saw it as personal insult. I threatened to inform the headmaster. eventually she accepted it but I still had to walk the 15 minutes to the gym and back to college every time and watch the others have fun.

Needless to say that I gave the teacher a 9 in the evaluation when 6 was the lowest grade, we could assign.

PE was awful.

But now in college I'm taking a self-defense class and it's very fun, which I'm happy about.

So apparently exercise isn't all bad and to be avoided at all costs, the elementary, middle, and high school PE classes just made it seem that way.

I just read an article about PE in schools... and that brought all that horror back to me in a way I wouldn't have thought possible.

Bossy teachers, that stench in the dressing room, and then in the sports room, the uncomfortable sports clothes, the pain when falling flat on your face after having been shouted at for not being able to do one of the exercises, or when getting hit by a ball you were supposed to catch...

I hated it. I mean, I really, really, really, really, REALLY hated it. And looking back I have to ask myself how on earth I managed to survive it for years, 2 hours each week...

So, which subject/lessons did you hate?

I actually don't give that much of a fuck about gym, despite having no endurance or muscle mass. I've got a year before I have to take it again, cause it was half a year this year. For pure soulcrushingness, I nominate AP World History. I like history, but this class sucks the soul out of you. It has caused me to break down in tears. Why am I still taking it?