May I make a suggestion?
Sure.
You had been talking about high school, and then you detoured into talking about fishing and baseball. Could we get back to high school?
Okay. Let’s see. I did have to make some decisions back then. I could talk about them.
Fine.
Young people today have a lot more choices than my classmates and I had. But, still, we had some decisions to make.
Go ahead.
In my high school there were two ways to go. What was called the Academic curriculum prepared you for entering the world of work right after graduation. But my parents wanted me to go to college, so I took the College Entrance curriculum
Then, having picked that, there was another choice to make. I was good in both math and English, so should I go for a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts? Or something else? And that would influence which college I’d go to.
If I were to seek a B.A., there were several colleges in Virginia and North Carolina that were suitable. But what would I study, and why? Journalism, for instance?
Remember, although I liked to write, my teacher had asked me to draw cartoons, not write for the school paper. Of course, I could consider teaching English.
But that might require some advanced training in teaching. Not good. Besides, whatever talent I had in English is of the seat-of-the-pants variety. I think I know what sounds right, but that’s all. I didn’t know the terminology. I don’t know a subjunctive from a pluperfect.
What about the math side of it?
Well, for instance, I took plane geometry and solid geometry. That’s 3D geometry. But I made a couple of bad choices in the science area..
How’s that?
Well, the school offered chemistry and physics. But I didn’t take them. I took biology and Spanish instead. Why? Beats me. But I did. If, for instance, I was going to study engineering, what did biology have to do with engineering?
It’s said that we never make a bad decision. We make good ones given the information we have.
I’ve heard that. Guess I just didn’t have the right information. Anyway, I went on to college and took engineering. Had to take both chemistry and physics in my freshman year. Would have been a lot easier on me if I had taken them in high school.
Probably.
Hey. Here’s another — what did you call it? a detour? — did you know that back then we didn’t have calculators? At least not the handy pocket type that are all over the place today. Even in our cellphones. We had sliderules.
They were an analog way of multiplying two numbers. But the answer might be only an approximation. For more accuracy we’d have to go to log tables. And trig tables. I won’t bore you with that ancient history.
Thank you.
I think that’s about it with the decisions in high school. Any other questions?
Just one. You told me a few days ago that you were pretty good in Spanish. You even showed me some awards you received. Why didn’t you consider going in that direction?
Good point. Why didn’t I? I don’t know. Dad and I didn’t even talk about that possibility. Maybe we didn’t think there would be a career down the road.
Hey. Maybe I could have become an ambassador to a Spanish-speaking country.
Or maybe a job at the United Nations.
Or, in a more practical vein, maybe as an interpreter. In the medical field, for instance.
Or you could combine it with your interest in English and teach English as a second language.
You’re right. Hey, where were you when I needed you?
Anyway, I became an engineer, and later a technical writer.
But I guess I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll get to that later. If I haven’t discouraged you by now.
No. I’ll be back for more punishment.
Very funny. Okay. See you next time.