I did three bloody business subjects, as encouraged by the daddy, shouldn’t have let myself be led so easily. If I had a choice now, I’d keep Bus. Org and I’d switch out Economics and Accounting with History and Physics. If Spanish was available I’d take that instead of French, otherwise I’d take Geography.
None of these would do my career any good, but that’s not really the point. So which subjects would you have taken, in hindsight?
5 responses
Definitely would like to have done Spanish instead of French. Wish I had done history too, maybe instead of chemistry.
I’d take the same, actually: Chemistry, Biology, and Economics. I let disinterested teachers kill any chance of my liking Geography or History, to my shame.
Given a choice, I’d also have preferred Spanish to French, and it’s also a lot more useful in Real Life.
Of all of the subjects I studied in school, only English and French are any help in my career. French, only because we never studied grammar in English, but did in French.
I think that choosing a subject to help your career is the wrong way to think. First of all, I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was 12, 15, or 18. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I graduated from college at 23, and still don’t know now, at 33. I chose the subjects I liked best. I got fantastic results in the leaving cert for that reason. Same thing in college: I chose a subject that I found fascinating, and suspected already that I wouldn’t work with it for the rest of my life (and, in fact, I never did).
When we moved to Sweden, one thing that helped me get my first job was a few months’ work experience… as a bicycle mechanic!
I don’t think I’d change anything really. I would have liked to have done Applied Math, but couldn’t because I made a mess of Math at Inter Cert. Applied Math would have helped me with Physics. I ended up doing extra subjects anyway, as the timetabling was a bit of a nightmare
Been pondering it for a bit now. I can’t even remember exactly what subjects I even did in the Leaving Cert. I recall doing 10 subjects overall … but they were obviously of no lasting use :) Let me see … Maths, English, Irish, Physics, Construction Studies, Technical Drawing … um, Home Economics? With any luck one of my teachers reads your blog and can remind me how bad a student I was!
I definitely agree with Mark on: “I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was 12, 15, or 18. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I graduated from college at 23, and still don’t know now, at 33.” ‘cept I’m younger than that auld todger :P
Ideally we should be constantly educating ourselves throughout our lives.
While I’d agree with Mark in my own case, lots of people tell me that they knew exactly what they wanted to be when they were kids. Of course in that case most of the subjects they chose would have been ones they enjoyed /and/ would have helped them with their careers.
I was never really looking for a traditional career, and “not going to college” was never really listed as an opinion in my school or home. You were viewed as a failure – in school at least – if you looked away from the standard college track. It was an absolute disgrace of a way to treat people.
adam