Your most memorable or favorite course

OldRetSWO

OldRetSWO

USNA 78/parent 11/BGO for >30yrs
10-Year Member
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Aug 27, 2010
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No, not golf or racing - Academic Course.

For me it was an elective course that I had as a First Class Mid at USNA.
"Literature of the Sea" where we had to read novels ranging from the Odyssey forward to popular novel like "The Cruel Sea and "Caine Mutiny".
I think it was a total of fifteen books so one book per week which was a pretty heavy load but they were mostly fun to read and as an added bonus,
I had my team captain/best friend (future Ensign Roommate and Best Man) sitting next to me and two other teammates in the class.

It's been decades and I still remember how much I enjoyed that class.
 
Undergrad: Military history capstone. Lots of interesting tidbits. Looking at WWI, most of the class thought the Schlieffen Plan was stupid, until we were assigned to come up with a plan--all but two came up with a variation of the plan, except for two guys who wanted to be contrarian (but said their plan was poor).

Grad: History and Memory--all about why certain events are remembered or forgotten in the public's mind.
 
OldRetSWO said:
No, not golf or racing - Academic Course.

For me it was an elective course that I had as a First Class Mid at USNA.
"Literature of the Sea" where we had to read novels ranging from the Odyssey forward to popular novel like "The Cruel Sea and "Caine Mutiny".
I think it was a total of fifteen books so one book per week which was a pretty heavy load but they were mostly fun to read and as an added bonus,
I had my team captain/best friend (future Ensign Roommate and Best Man) sitting next to me and two other teammates in the class.

It's been decades and I still remember how much I enjoyed that class.
Click to expand...

I would have enjoyed that one.
 
Undergrad it would of been one of the following: Sports in the American Society or Comparative World Religions. Lots of reading in each, but the discussions were great. Small classes, less then 10.

Grad School - so many of them.
 
An impromptu "class" on American humor, delivered to me and seven other people (NW airline flight crew and two other pax) in the Grand Forks IAP lounge as we were stuck for five hours by weather...trying to get to Minneapolis. We eventually did make the flight.

Our Professor?

"Dr. Clem Kadiddlehoper, PHD."

It was almost too painful to board the jet, my sides ached so much and I could scarce catch my breath. "Captain...you seem winded...is it the altitude? But...wait, you're a pilot...don't you like altitude?" Or something like that...

He was an amazing gent...

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
No class really sticks out as memorable in undergrad or two master’s programs but one that does was at Fort Detrick. I was the senior Corpsman at CBIRF and attended the medical management of biological casualties course at USAMRIID. I was lucky enough to be there one day when Bill Patrick and Ken Alibek were both there and speaking together.

They were bioweaponeer counterparts in the Cold War race for biological weapons superiority. They were on the stage at the same time and told of developing tularemia, small pox, anthrax, T 2 mycotoxin, and others. They told of espionage intrigue. The US and USSR stole each other’s formulas and testing results. Dr. Alibek defected several years prior to his talk that day. He now works for the good guys.
 
I took an Anthropology class as an elective, probably the most memorable. CIV professor, can't remember her name...I also really enjoyed law.
 
Capt MJ said:
Hands down - Creative Writing Seminar with Dr. Maya Angelou and just 9 other students.
Click to expand...

I am still thinking about this. We just loved to hear Dr. Angelou read or tell stories, especially on a nice day when we met outdoors in the gardens and went for a walk. She encouraged us to look at our own experiences, draw lessons, tell it as a story, or try an approach in poem form. Really stretched my brain, made me think past the next paper or quiz. As I look back, considering her own experiences as a young woman, I cringe at how shallow and callow (don’t often get to use that) we must have seemed to her, but she never gave us less than her full attention. I realized I learned other lessons than what actually pertained to creative writing.

Two of my favorite quotes:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”


“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
 
Not my favorite by any means but very memorable was a USNA course
"Middle East Political Systems" (or something like that) which covered the Middle East along with the different Islamic denominations.
The professor was a retired Foreign Service Officer who had spent his career in the region and knew a LOT.
Now this was prior to the Iranian and Lebanese revolutions but what we discussed/learned was very pertinent to the events of the
next few decades and most of the people in the class ended up spending a lot of their future careers in the region.
 
Thermodynamics - taught by someone we were all positive - was a former Nazi.
 
I remember having thermo my firstie year. It was parent’s weekend back before they changed it to 2/C parent’s weekend. For the most part... the ‘take your parents to class day’ is pretty relaxed and you don’t do much that day. Introduce everyone and call it a day. My thermo prof decided we needed a quiz that day. The kicker was our parents could help! My dad is pretty smart and can figure stuff out pretty quickly. My highest grade all semester!
 
Capt MJ said:
I am still thinking about this. We just loved to hear Dr. Angelou read or tell stories, especially on a nice day when we met outdoors in the gardens and went for a walk. She encouraged us to look at our own experiences, draw lessons, tell it as a story, or try an approach in poem form. Really stretched my brain, made me think past the next paper or quiz. As I look back, considering her own experiences as a young woman, I cringe at how shallow and callow (don’t often get to use that) we must have seemed to her, but she never gave us less than her full attention. I realized I learned other lessons than what actually pertained to creative writing.

Two of my favorite quotes:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”


“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
Click to expand...
This is amazing. My DW saw her speak. I am going to share this with her.
 
Gabe_ said:
This is amazing. My DW saw her speak. I am going to share this with her.
Click to expand...

mayaangelou.wfu.edu

Maya Angelou: Teacher - Remembering Dr. Maya Angelou

Dr. Maya Angelou, the poet, actress, author and civil rights activist known around the world, discovered her passion for teaching at Wake Forest University. And, in the past four decades, she has inspired generations of students to become better writers, thinkers and citizens. Angelou died on [...]
mayaangelou.wfu.edu mayaangelou.wfu.edu
 
Well, I'm only a semester in. So far its HH104- Naval History with Prof. McBride. He's a grad, but I swear it is impossible to find out what year. I learned a lot and genuinely had a great time. He is very knowledgeable and hilarious.
 
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