What subjects did you not understand in school?

[NevadaRabbit]

In junior high, PE was my nemesis. I can trip and fall while trying to stand still, alone, in the middle of an unfurnished room. Serve a volleyball with accuracy? Do a stunt on a balance beam? Are you out of your mind?

 

Highschool - Not that I was stellar, but I had done okay in math until Trig and Mr. Wenger came along and destroyed every bit of shaky confidence I had in my arithmetical abilities. He was one of those teachers who took perverted delight in making students squirm. I was so afraid of him I showed up to his class on Senior Skip Day (he had told us he'd flunk any senior who skipped his class) only to have him ridicule me for being so obedient. All I remember from Trig is rows of parabolas on graphs. No clue what it meant or what to do with them. I had neither loved nor hated math up until Mr. Wenger left the tread marks across the math side of my brain.

 

In college, Economics was what weeded me right out of the College of Business. I just sat there scratching my head going, what the dickens does this have to do with anything I care about?!

 

Once I got into the core classes of my major (Life Science, in order to go on to physical therapy school), I didn't struggle much because I loved what I was studying. Guts, parts and pieces, micro, how kidneys work and forces on joints and all things physiological and anatomical - yummo!!

[Carol in Cal.]

Anything with higher math

Algebra I

Geometry

Algebra II

Chemistry (which looked too much like the above to me)

I need explanations I can understand. If it doesn't make sense to me, telling me just to follow a formula or a rule won't work. It also has to be in my language with explanations and examples that I can relate to. I finally understood that two negatives equal a positive when a substitute teacher said, "It's just like in English." When I was working with my kids on Pre-Algebra and Algebra I, I understood it much better than I ever did in school. I think part of that has to do with the way Saxon explains things. It's written in a language I can understand.

 

You just have to find the right person to do it. (Like ME)

 

Basically the way I remember chemistry is to picture molecules with charges on them, and in my head put them together in different ways. Everything relates back to that. Ex. An O has 2 extra electrons, and so it takes two H's (willing to give up one each) to balance it out. Ex. heptane has a long bumpy chain of C's, so if another one lines up, they fit together like a puzzle and tend to stick to each other a bit--that is called Van der Waal's forces.

[TrixieB]

Trig here too.

 

I took math analysis my junior year at school B (they taught trig combined with calculus in senior year). Transferred to school C and took calculus my senior year (they taught trig combined with math analysis during junior year).

 

Ancient history -- never learned one bit about it until I started hs'ing my dc. Somehow in moving between 3 high schools, I studied medieval through modern history twice, but missed ancient entirely.

[Lizzie in Ma]

It didn't seem so hard when you first come across simple Mendelian crosses but oh my heavens, college genetics was the only class in my entire history of education that I actually failed. It killed me! Stupid bring down my GPA rotten class!! I had been (and got back to) Deans list.

Oh and lets not forget the sexist professor who stated DAY ONE that he doesn't believe women belong in the sciences and that he would only be teaching to the top 1/3 of the class.

but I am not bitter anymore, I'm not.....really...I'm over it...

[Guest]

There were 2 classes throughout my school career that I couldn't pull an A:

 

Statistics - I actually got a D my first quarter - imagine my parent's shock -

and an Advanced AP/IB English Class my sophomore year of high school. It's funny because that class and that teacher inspired such a love of writing, reading, analyzing, greek mythology, classic literature....unfortunately I had just transferred from another school and I just could NOT cut it in his class - I didn't have a good foundation in analytical skills. I had to transfer out into another regular English class. I appreciate and remember that teacher more than any other in my whole schooling.

[claire up north]

statistics and physics.

 

I once had this beautiful 10 minute window when I understood statistics. I mean I really understood it. It was so beautiful...both the experience and the mathematics behind it all. But then it was lost again. Oh, well. At least I know it really does make sense...even if I can't remember why!:tongue_smilie:

 

i still don't understand physics. i remember "not getting it" in my 6th grade physics class. potential and kinetic energy??? i remember it clearly, cuz generally i was a big smarty-pants, so truly not understanding something was a bit of a watershed moment for me. anyway, based on this one experience, i avoided physics for the rest of my life. (yes, i was a mere 11 years old when i developed my life-long fear of physics.) i'll tell you how irrational i am about the whole thing...i taught physics to my 2nd graders because i didn't think i could handle anything meatier than that. (and I think I was right!):glare:

[teamturner]

Trig. I missed the first couple of weeks of that term (sick) and somehow never did catch on to what on earth we were doing. Passed and all that, but I don't really know *how*. ;)

 

Trigonometry for me too! I went to so many study groups with some really smart friends and just never understood a lick of it. I don't know how but I got a passing grade. I think the teacher gave it to me since I was graduating that year and generally made good grades.

 

Chemistry too! I sort of get it but then it doesn't ever stick. I'm teaching 2nd-3rd graders Chemistry at co-op this year and it is really giving me a headache. I keep calling my dad who is a retired chemist to explain even the simplist of facts to me....again!! I think he's beginning to worry about the person who is teaching his grandkids. :tongue_smilie:

[Kelli in TN]

math

 

grammar

 

history

 

science

 

writing (as in composition, I knew how to write sappy poetry about teenage angst but I could not write a research paper to save my life)

 

computer programming (Dr. Fisher always asked me why my programs always looked exactly like Kurt Jacqueman's, maybe because I sat by Kurt and he felt sorry for me?)

[Kay in Cal]

Me too! I'm sports challenged. Team sports particularly befuddled me... I'd sort of wander around looking confused and people eventually just ignored me.

 

In college:

I struggled with Calculus... eventually dropped it and took Statistics instead to meet my math requirement. In retrospect I think the teacher was less than stellar for a non-math-head like me, as I have enjoyed reading and self-educating about math since then.

International Monetary Economics was also a doozy.

[Rosie_0801]

I couldn't even do the physics component of year 10 general science!

:)

Rosie

[Lisa in Jax]

In high school, I earned my only D in Chemistry. It totally boggled my mind. Trig was also a waste. I got passing grades, but retained NOTHING. B/c of those two (chem in 10th, Trig in 11th), I didn't take the next level of science (which was physics) or math (calculus).

 

Lisa

[chaik76]

Geometry! I also had some problems with some of the more advanced concepts in Modern Math in college. Cool class though.

[Merry]

It seems that most of us didn't do well in the higher sciences and math. Interesting. I also did poorly in physical geography and home economics in college. I had a terrible time trying to visualize cloud formations and wind patterns. I still don't quite get the cold and hot fronts:) Maybe because I don't care. Or I don't have strong spatial skills. I had the same problem in the home ec. class where the teacher put a lot of emphasis on interior decorating. That was hard for me too.

[Jen500]

Chemistry. Although I got an A, I am now struggling to get through RS4K Chem 1. Obviously I didn't learn much in high school chemistry.

[Amy in Orlando]

I was good through Calculus I. Calc II and III had me sitting in my professor's office after every class in tears. He may as well have taught the class speaking Farsi. I was so out of my realm.

[Just Me]

Was the teacher male or female?

 

Yeah, he was male...and also, the head of the Science Department was my Sunday School teacher..so I'm sure it was a combination of factors! :)

[Tarheel Heather]

Highschool- geometry, why do they need proof? Look at it!

 

College- organic chemistry & analytical chem. and bio chem. I made it through, but it was not fun!

[Amy loves Bud]

College- philosophy, organizational communication

Med school - psychiatry. Ugh. Too darn subjective for my concrete self.

[Mom2legomaniacs]

High School:

Chemistry -- didn't care for it much

Did fine in Geometry but hated it (I like Alg., Trig, and Calc)

 

College:

Chemistry -- again -- just didn't get it

 

Accounting I could not for the life of me understand that subject. I thought, oh, I'm a math major, accounting will be a breeze. Umm, NOT! It is not math!

 

Pascal: I hated programming with a passion.

 

In my major, I had the most trouble with Algebraic Systems ( the theory behind Algebra) . My prof was terrible! But it was the class in which I met my DH, so not all was lost. It served it's miserable purpose.

[cathmom]

My problem with geometry was that I could not for the life of me understand why I had to prove something that we already knew to be true! What a waste of my time! :D

[cathmom]

Yeah, he was male...and also, the head of the Science Department was my Sunday School teacher..so I'm sure it was a combination of factors! :)

 

That's what I thought!

[Peela]

I didn't get (or I guess I should say attempt to get) how history worked as a big picture. Imagine my surprise when doing SOTW 1-4 with my kids how everything worked together!! :001_smile:

 

:iagree:

And, I did a year of Latin that I never thought I understood at ALL, although I passed the tests. However, some of it did go in, apparently- at least, I had a sense of familiarity when I did the same course (Cambridge) with my own kids.

I never got to the point of being fluent in French, either, even after 4 years of it and no failed exams. Yet, the vocabulary and conjugating verbs all comes back to me easily.

The Science were ok- I didnt do Chemistry- I did Biology, Geography (which is more like Earth Science here in Australia) and Agriculture, little greenie that i was, and I loved and understood them all.

[gardenschooler]

I didn't understand chemistry at all. Guess what we're doing this year? It must be my pennance. ;) It came back to haunt me.

[Jeannie in NJ]

in high school:

Goemetry, diagramming and PE (quess who was picked dead last every single day no matter what the sport was)

 

college:

Calculus 2 (I was required to have this for my major, goelogy, and it had to be a c or above.) I took it 3 times, the first 2 times I dropped it at the deadline so I would not fail it. I had finished all of the rest of my classes for my degree and even had a job doing geology for the state, but still needed that Calc 2 so I took it in the summer. I organized a study group, we went in early every day to work on problems and I was always asking the very nice professor for help. He was Japanese and I will always remember him so fondly. THe last day of class, I asked him if he could grade my final right then and there. He did, I had a D- average, he said that since I had worked so hard and appently calc c was just not for me and since I already had a job which was dependent on completing calc, he gave me a c! I was overjoyed.

[Liz Mc in SC]

Geometry -- I thought it was so unfair -- because it's not math! LOL At least that is what I said in High School. To this day I can recall the frustration I felt in that class. I made all A's in Math, excelled in it -- love math. But in geometry my teacher passed me with a "D" -- she knew I tried to wrap my brain around it but it never clicked.

[rockermom]

High School: Geometry - I had always been extremely strong in math and my geometry teacher told us during our first class that she hated geometry and wanted to be a guidance counselor. Mom and Dad hired a tutor late in the year and saved my GPA. The tutor had me understanding 4+ months of instruction in 2 hours.

 

College: Statistics - I have to be able to see a way I can use things in my life and I never could find a use for this in anything I did or would do. The basics were easy enough, but as the course became more and more abstract (in explaining the uses for the concepts) I became more and more bored and couldn't get my brain to cooperate.

 

 

 

RockerDad said that his was TN state history because the teacher was horrible. He is now looking forward to RockerTot studying state history so that they can learn and explore together. I hope they'll include me.

[rockermom]

 

Accounting I could not for the life of me understand that subject. I thought, oh, I'm a math major, accounting will be a breeze. Umm, NOT! It is not math!

 

Accounting is NOT math.. it just happens to use basic math.

 

Definitely NOT math.

[TeacherZee]

Accounting is NOT math.. it just happens to use basic math.

 

Definitely NOT math.

 

Oh good heavens I had completely blocked out college accounting especially management accounting. Just didn't understand it AT ALL. Studied and studied and studied, went to my tutor for help, went to the professor for help, asked my friends. No one could explain it. In the end I gave up. The one major question on the exam was on the concept I had had the most problem with. I just barely scraped a pass because all the studying at least meant that I knew the layout of the darn thing. Ugh ugh ugh

[TravelingChris]

I dislike trig a lot. I could do it but have refused to teach it except for very basic stuff. Dh can handle that.

 

I didn't have problems with any specific subjects just with one specific part of many subjects- graphs. I am so not a spacial person. I can do complex formulas, I majored in economics, I understand statistics, but I hate trying to understand things with anything but very simple graphs.

 

I had no problems with any of my economics or math classes until I had one macro-economics professor who thought that formulas were hard and rotating graphs was easy. Not for me and so I stopped looking at the board during his lectures and worked formulas instead to understand the concepts.

 

In those aptitude tests that we had to do in school, I scored high in everything except spacial abilities where about 80% of the population is better than me.