My high school is pretty amazing in its course offerings. There are a lot of classes taught by a lot of PhDs and really smart people. Now in my junior year I have a variety of electives to choose from. If I didn’t place into a low spanish and low math class freshman year, I’d have even more exotic choices. Nevertheless, starting in a week, I will be devoting some amount of brainpower (although probably not enough) to studying the following topics:
1. US History AP – This is a big course with a lot of random dates and memorization. But I’m happy that by the end of the year I will know about every facet of United States history (wars, legislation, presidents, etc.) The question is how much can I retain afterwards.
2. The Big Payback: Literature of Revenge – Semester long course with some crazy books that examine how revenge has worked its way through pre-20th century literature.
3. Spanish III – I can drop Spanish after this year. That’s all I can say.
4. Trigonometry – This will be a battle…to stay awake.
5. Environmental Science AP – 99% of the junior class takes physics. I have no interest whatsoever in learning how light bends. Or why I can drop a ball and it hits the ground. I do have an interest in environmental politics and ecology. But I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of corporation-bashing.
6. MIDI Class – We have a recording studio (an alum in the music industry donated it) which is very sophisticated. This class allows me to get trained in this facility so I can oversee the recordings at KUHS Radio, the campus radio station I founded last year.
7. Comcate Foundation – This is my community service, I’ll be doing entrepreneurship education and promotion through the Comcate Foundation. I have thoughts on community service at school, will post them at a later time.
8. KUHS Radio – I started a radio station last year, I’m going to post on it more later. Right now it’s webcast and includes student music and other talk radio. Here I mainly oversee recordings, bring in guest speakers from the radio world, and get people involved.
9. Quasi-Chess Club – I’m starting this club this year with a couple friends. It’s called “quasi” because it’s not an official club (avoid paperwork). We basically try to play chess whenever we can.
10. Newsflash – A friend and I are heading this up for the next two years. At all school meetings we facilitate someone reading a bipartisan report of current affairs and news.
11. Devils Advocate – School newspaper. I’m op-ed editor. We are going to hold the administration’s feet to the fire! I love school newspapers.
1. US History AP – This is a big course with a lot of random dates and memorization. But I’m happy that by the end of the year I will know about every facet of United States history (wars, legislation, presidents, etc.) The question is how much can I retain afterwards.
>>The most important thing to learn, which I think you already have, is how to think critically about issues that aren’t always clear-cut. It’s very easy to look at history as “good guys” vs “bad guys,” but I appreciated the way that my AP teacher asked questions like, “If you were Truman, would you have authorized dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?” The interesting thing is that though my answer hasn’t changed (I would have), my reasons for doing so have over the years.
2. The Big Payback: Literature of Revenge – Semester long course with some crazy books that examine how revenge has worked its way through pre-20th century literature.
>>Now that sounds like fun!
3. Spanish III – I can drop Spanish after this year. That’s all I can say.
In 50 years, there will be three languages that matter: English, Spanish, and Chinese. I strongly recommend that everyone learn at least 2 of the 3, and let me tell you, Spanish will be a heck of a lot easier than Chinese.
4. Trigonometry – This will be a battle…to stay awake.
Try amphetamines. Just kidding. Good luck witht his one!
5. Environmental Science AP – 99% of the junior class takes physics. I have no interest whatsoever in learning how light bends. Or why I can drop a ball and it hits the ground. I do have an interest in environmental politics and ecology. But I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of corporation-bashing.
>>I would recommend that you at least read through a physics book. Physics is the basis for everything we do, and a knowledge of physics will be increasingly handy as technology becomes pervasive.
6. MIDI Class – We have a recording studio (an alum in the music industry donated it) which is very sophisticated. This class allows me to get trained in this facility so I can oversee the recordings at KUHS Radio, the campus radio station I founded last year.
>>Cool!
7. Comcate Foundation – This is my community service, I’ll be doing entrepreneurship education and promotion through the Comcate Foundation. I have thoughts on community service at school, will post them at a later time.
>>It’s fantastic that you’re getting involved in community service so early in your life.
8. KUHS Radio – I started a radio station last year, I’m going to post on it more later. Right now it’s webcast and includes student music and other talk radio. Here I mainly oversee recordings, bring in guest speakers from the radio world, and get people involved.
>>Use this as a great opportunity to get to meet cool people. It’s amazing how much people respect the media–any media.
9. Quasi-Chess Club – I’m starting this club this year with a couple friends. It’s called “quasi” because it’s not an official club (avoid paperwork). We basically try to play chess whenever we can.
>>Bring your set the next time we meet, and you can kick my ass. I think I’ve won a fair match once in my life (but it was very sweet, ending with a classic rook/queen chasedown).
10. Newsflash – A friend and I are heading this up for the next two years. At all school meetings we facilitate someone reading a bipartisan report of current affairs and news.
>>Good in principle. Maybe it would be even cooler to have two people with each read opposing partisan reports!
11. Devils Advocate – School newspaper. I’m op-ed editor. We are going to hold the administration’s feet to the fire! I love school newspapers.
>>I pity those poor administrators! I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes now!
–Chris