Best class taken in high school

[black dog]

Actually no. When we did get a volunteer (and most were volunteers. NOT recruited. They walked in) that scored highly and looked to be an "optimal recruit" it was unfortunately our job to try to get them to fill a needed space. That often meant 'guiding' them towards a billet that WE needed to fill. After all, just because you scored high on the testing does not mean you HAD to take a billet that required those scores. I began to develop an eye for who were the best of the best.

We understand the game,,,
I will say that both Marine recruiters that we spoke to along with one of my friends I served with that spent a few years as a Marine recruiter in Annapolis all tried to talk my son into college ROTC.
My son chose not to and went infantry. His recruiter in St Marys treated him very well..
My son did delayed entry for 5 or 6 months to get the MOS he wanted in the beginning of his enlistment. The Marines offered him about whatever he wanted, and he chose to be a grunt.

I would say what a huge waste of talent when recruiters take young men and women that test well and put them in MOS's that dont use the gifts they have to offer and push them into serving an MOS that will do nothing to enhance their career with or after there service is up....

 

[limblips]

We understand the game,,,
I will say that both Marine recruiters that we spoke to along with one of my friends I served with that spent a few years as a Marine recruiter in Annapolis all tried to talk my son into college ROTC.
My son chose not to and went infantry. His recruiter in St Marys treated him very well..
My son did delayed entry for 5 or 6 months to get the MOS he wanted in the beginning of his enlistment. The Marines offered him about whatever he wanted, and he chose to be a grunt.

I would say what a huge waste of talent when recruiters take young men and women that test well and put them in MOS's that dont use the gifts they have to offer and push them into serving an MOS that will do nothing to enhance their career with or after there service is up....

Putting someone in an MOS/Billet/Rate that they are way over qualified for can and often does result in problems for both the military and the individual. Boredom with tasks and dealing with mundane jobs may cause the person to become a disgruntled employee which is why they should be pushed to jobs that match their aptitudes and abilities.

 

[MiddleGround]

Putting someone in an MOS/Billet/Rate that they are way over qualified for can and often does result in problems for both the military and the individual. Boredom with tasks and dealing with mundane jobs may cause the person to become a disgruntled employee which is why they should be pushed to jobs that match their aptitudes and abilities.

Agreed. Unfortunately billets had to be filled and there were far more paint chippers and floor scrubbers needed than scientists and scholars. Of course, I personally feel that there is no job in the armed forces that is not important however, I did my best to inject my own 'opinion' when overqualified recruits were being steered into a job that did not fit their intelligence.

 

[black dog]

Putting someone in an MOS/Billet/Rate that they are way over qualified for can and often does result in problems for both the military and the individual. Boredom with tasks and dealing with mundane jobs may cause the person to become a disgruntled employee which is why they should be pushed to jobs that match their aptitudes and abilities.

I agree. It feeds poor behavior. It seems every week or two that go by my son mentions someone he knows being NJP'ed for repeditive stupidness...

 

[Merlin99]

Putting someone in an MOS/Billet/Rate that they are way over qualified for can and often does result in problems for both the military and the individual. Boredom with tasks and dealing with mundane jobs may cause the person to become a disgruntled employee which is why they should be pushed to jobs that match their aptitudes and abilities.

I've also seen it go the other way, a guy with a math degree in deck department. An unlikely perfect fit, he was running the deck crane division in under a year.

 

[Monello]

I agree. It feeds poor behavior. It seems every week or two that go by my son mentions someone he knows being NJP'ed for repeditive stupidness...

Good to see that things haven't changed over the decades.

 

[black dog]

Good to see that things haven't changed over the decades.

When he was stationed at New River /Camp Geiger, Just outside of Lejeune, every weekend that they had Liberty a few young men would hit Tobys and get cranked up and taken advanage of by the dancers. Sometimes for a few hundred and sometimes for few thousand.
They really don't, a few weeks back his Company had their Marine Corps Ball in Vegas along with a 96. He talked down about most of the weekend until his Navy Federal Checking statement came.
I threatened to open it up unless he came clean, and I was laughing for the next 45 minutes. Dances were 125.00 and up....

 

[Monello]

When he was stationed at New River /Camp Geiger, Just outside of Lejeune, every weekend that they had Liberty a few young men would hit Tobys and get cranked up and taken advanage of by the dancers. Sometimes for a few hundred and sometimes for few thousand.
They really don't, a few weeks back his Company had their Marine Corps Ball in Vegas along with a 96. He talked down about most of the weekend until his Navy Federal Checking statement came.
I threatened to open it up unless he came clean, and I was laughing for the next 45 minutes. Dances were 125.00 and up....

Oh the financial stories I could tell.

Had an E-3 buy a car in the mid 90s. He had to get a chick magnet car. Cost him $28K. Not sure what the payments were. Anyhow he couldn't afford both the payment and the insurance. So he drove uninsured. 1 day he wrecked the car. Now he was paying on a $28K pile of metal that didn't run and he couldn't afford to fix. He could have had reliable wheels for around $5 -6k.

I remember when I was overseas in the mid 80s. People having $600 monthly phone bills. Calling home all the time. That was a huge chunk of their monthly pay back then. Even today that's a lot of money.

 

[black dog]

I will say at least all of the Sergeant's my son has served under have been very very informative on not buying a new 400 hp Mustang and buying a 1500 dollar hoopie and live with that for the first three to four years. My son doesn't want a car at Palms. He says it's to much trouble for now. He tells me about this young men that get married and or buy 600 a month cars.. crazy on 1000 to 1200 a month.. Mine gets his next bump to E3 Lance Corporal late this month and that bumps him to 1850 gross per month to start..

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Physics my senior year, it is what made me want to be an engineer. Until I took physics I had no idea what I wanted to do.

 

[lucky_bee]

I will say at least all of the Sergeant's my son has served under have been very very informative on not buying a new 400 hp Mustang and buying a 1500 dollar hoopie and live with that for the first three to four years. My son doesn't want a car at Palms. He says it's to much trouble for now. He tells me about this young men that get married and or buy 600 a month cars.. crazy on 1000 to 1200 a month.. Mine gets his next bump to E3 Lance Corporal late this month and that bumps him to 1850 gross per month to start..

My *first* marriage proposal was from a Marine I went to high school with. He was out in 29 Palms, was bored, wanted better BAH, and a new car as he'd just totaled his last little whip

so stupid

 

[calvcopf]

Junior ROTC.

Prepared me for boot camp.

 

[SamSpade]

I didn't know where to stick this topic. This seemed like a good place.

What was the best class you took in high school?

Looking back the typing class I took in my sophomore year gave me the best bang for the buck. I didn't realize it at the time but touch typing is a very useful skill that has served me well over the years.

I'm with you there. I actually got close to 100 wpm, but not without too many mistakes.
Still, this was the day of TYPEWRITERS and not word processors. Got me through a lot of college term papers.

I think maybe the other one would be Latin. For one, the teacher thought I was the greatest thing that ever happened.
She managed to get me an award a year AFTER I took her last class. But I learned enough Latin to learn enough
about etymology that helped for SATs, learning new words and appreciating ancient culture.

Everything else - all the math, physics, chemistry, biology, earth science - I had a LOT of it.
They even had to invent a class because I'd taken it all. Three years of bio, two of chem, one of physics and earth science,
and they created a class with logic and number theory.

I just consider those as prerequisites for college - they didn't so much yield a return and they certainly weren't fun.

 

[SandieGarry]

I have to say Shop Class. It convinced me that it was more of a career choice than anything. Thirty five years later, I've had a blast building things for a living.

 

[luvmygdaughters]

English, Biology and Psychology. Loved the teachers I had for those 3 classes. I really think they should bring back the old Home Ec and Shop classes at schools!

 

[Auntie Biache']

Speed reading. Yes, my HS offered speed reading. I had to add this because my first response was more in line with my favorite. The question was "best".

 

[CPUSA]

I didn't know where to stick this topic. This seemed like a good place.

What was the best class you took in high school?

Looking back the typing class I took in my sophomore year gave me the best bang for the buck. I didn't realize it at the time but touch typing is a very useful skill that has served me well over the years.

Not really a class, more like a quick learning seminar...
The one where I learned how to affix compact mirrors to my shoes.
Very good information, right there...

 

[LimeBF]

History was my favorite class