Useless

I couldn't even begin to tell you how many times I've heard students complaining about classes. I'm sure you've heard it too: "Why do I have to take math? I'm not going to be an engineer." Or something like, "I shouldn't have to take biology, I'm not going to be a doctor." And of course, my personal favorite: "Why do I have to take French? I'm never going to be... French."

I was tempted to think this way for a couple of my classes so far in my young college career (and by young I mean almost a quarter finished). A couple of these classes were things like speech, mass communication, and World Changers.

So yes, for a while I wasn't sure why I was taking this classes, and what I could get out of them. Then came semester number two, which I think is going to end up being the semester where I learn the most.

This semester, I took a class called Media Scriptwriting. In my mind, I had it confused with Scriptwriting, so naturally I was afraid I was going to be stuck with a bunch of weird theatre people who want to write the next Macbeth. After a few classes, I realized a few things. First, that it was a class about how to write commercials for TV and radio. Second, that I did not want to write commercials for TV and radio. And third, that it was going to be the greatest academic challenge I have faced thus far.

I found myself at the point of just taking the class to earn a good grade (or at least as good as I could get) so I could keep my GPA high enough to keep taking the journalism and writing classes that I actually wanted to take. But that was proving to be a challenge early on.

I really don't want to write commercials. Nothing against the career field (I have nothing but respect for what those people do after trying to do it myself), that's just not my personal goal. So I went to class, took notes, and did the least I could to get by.

But then I started noticing all the things that I could get out of the class, and actually trying to see how it could help me in my preferred career. Guess what happened. I started doing better and understanding assignments more clearly. I noticed some things about the way I write and work in other aspects of my career and applied principles from Media Scriptwriting to them, and I think I'm better for it. My grades went up, and I'm just generally enjoying the class more.

If absolutely nothing else, this class has taught me how to study for exams.