Physics is the class I should not have taken. Seniors who are meeting their academic requirements were permitted to take one class session off for the year. If I had wanted to, I could have had an extra hour to catch up on some sleep. It probably would have been a lot better to do that than take Physics.
Physics is listed as a science class, but it's really a math class. In the years leading up to me enrolling, all the students had to buy slide rules to do their calculations. By my senior year, scientific calculators had eliminated the need for that device. I remember there being this six-foot slide rule in the lab that was used to teach the students how to use one.
Probably the biggest problem I had with the class was that all the jerks I had to deal with were also in there. I'm talking about Pid, John and Jend, and some other twerps whose names are not even worth writing. There were some people in there who I thought were friends, but would join in the ribbing I was subjected to on a daily basis.
My attitude toward the class started forming along the lines of Math Analysis. I sat in the back, away from everyone else. After awhile, I stopped doing the homework. The only problem with doing this in Physics was that we were required to turn our notebooks in. We were supposed to leave them outside the classroom door for the teacher to pick up. Mine was incomplete, so I didn't leave one.
The teacher said she didn't get my notebook. I told her I turned it in. Because she was aware of what the other students were putting me through, she knew it was possible one of them could have stolen my notebook. She gave me a B for the semester. That kept me from going on the academic trip that year, but it didn't matter because I didn't want to do the classwork in the first place.
My Mom found out about the incident and suggested I withdraw from the class. I thought it would be a good idea and I would just go home at lunch every day and take a long nap. However, my Physics teacher talked me into sticking it out, saying that a withdrawal wouldn't look good on my transcript. I stayed with the class, coasted and got a C for the second sememster. That was the only C I had received since the fifth grade. I should have just withdrawn and caught up on my sleep.
In college, I was required to take only one Science class. I chose Biology because I remembered how easy it was in high school. However, I was doing poorly in the Biology class at the point in which I could have withdrawn. I decided to stick with it. After that deadline had passed, the Music Department announced that the next semester, it would have a class called "The Physics of Music" that would count toward our Science requirement. A Music major I knew was in my Biology class. She was also mad that we didn't find out about the Physics class until after we were no longer able to withdraw from Biology. We both would have taken that.
So, here I am, so much later in life. I really did not have much need for Physics, except to be able to make a couple of nerd jokes.
One other note: This is the last of my class-by-class synopses. I will not be doing this for my college years because I took a lot of different classes each semester and the breakdowns will cause this blog to go on another year before I finally reach the point in my life in which I am considered an adult. (Actually, I still don't think I've reached that point in my life.)
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