12 Classes You Should Take in College

Okay, so I'm not going to lie: I sometimes hate school, but I love education. I remember in high school, we had to take classes that we weren't really interested in to satisfy general education requirements. But college is a completely different world. There's so many classes, so the possibilities really are endless. Now is the time to learn those things that you've always wanted to learn! It's the time to branch out and gain that diverse array of knowledge that college has to offer.

Now that I'm a college graduate, I thought this blog would be a fun and informative blog to make to those who want to make the most out of the learning part of their college experience. Although this may not be everyone's experience, this is from my personal experience based on the classes that were available to me at UCLA; these are the classes that I feel impacted me the most, and maybe I might even persuade you to take one of these classes if you have some free units available or just want to learn something for fun!

1. Chinese Art History

Now when I was in high school, I took AP art history with the most amazing teacher. He made me so passionate about learning art history and even rekindled my passion for my own art and drawing as well. With that being said, I was a freshman at UCLA when I found I needed to satisfy one of my society and culture GEs. I saw right on the class planner that Chinese art history was being offered in the winter, and I thought it would be a great class for me to take, especially considering I had prior experience with art history. I thought the artworks were so beautiful and the history behind them was so interesting, and I even learned a song that helped me memorize the Chinese dynasties! I really enjoyed everything I learned in this class, and I even run into Chinese art that I recognize because of it every now and then!

2. Beginner's Ballet (or any dance class, really!)

I know that a lot of people use the word "ballerina" to make fun of people as a way of calling them weak, which has honestly never made any sense to me. Ballerinas are literally some of the strongest athletes in the world, and ballet is one of the most difficult art forms to master. Ballet is tough. When I first started ballet, it kicked my butt. But it got me into the best shape of my life! I got so much more flexible and so much stronger! And I had fun while doing it too! I learned how to do tendus, pliés, developpés, and I had also at one point managed to work my way up to a 90-degree arabesque! It's so exciting seeing your progress and I was so excited that I took it. You may not be en pointe (pun intended! pls ignore me I'm so corny) when you first start, but it's a beautiful dance form and a great workout.

3. Linguistic Anthropology: Culture and Communications

Now this class was really interesting to me! I thought it was interesting learning about different cultures and different dialects, and it's actually the first place I learned the acronym AAVE (African American Vernacular English). One of the most important things I've ever learned from anthropology is that there's no such thing as improper grammar, but the belief that there is improper grammar (or typically grammar that does not conform to Western standards of grammar) is a linguistic ideology because the rules of language are socially constructed; they're completely arbitrary and they vary between regions. Also, I had to memorize the International Phonetic Alphabet, which was a unique experience because I finally understood what those weird pronunciation symbols in the dictionaries mean.

4. Introductory Sociology

I would argue that everyone should have some sort of background in sociology. Sociology is probably one of the most important academic disciplines there is, since sociology itself is so interdisciplinary. You really learn that basically almost everything is fake. I know it sounds like a weird thing to say, but everything is fake. Everything is socially constructed, including race, gender, borders, time, money, the government, etc. But you also learn the Thomas Theory, which basically states that although something may be a social construct, if everyone believes the social construct is real, the social construct becomes real because it's real in its consequences. For example, you can't be late for a job interview just because "time isn't real so it doesn't matter", the consequence of that social construct being perceived as real is that you being late may result in you not getting the job. Anyways, sociology is something everyone should have at least an introductory background in because it's such an informative subject.

5. Intro to Oceanography

Now if you take anything from this blog, listen to this. If you need to satisfy a science requirement and you don't want to do some alphabet soup mathematical mess like chemistry or physics, TAKE OCEANOGRAPHY. If there's one class I would give anything to take all over again, it would be this one. Oceanography was a BLAST, I LOVED it. I enjoyed the lecture, and I even enjoyed the labs! The lectures themselves were fascinating, and I found myself really passionate about the material regardless of what we were learning. In the labs, we would use water tanks spinning on rotating platforms to study the Coreolis Effect, examined real starfish and seashells, and we studied different rocks made from the elements in the ocean. The labs were very hands on, and there were even out-of-lecture options presented to oceanography students for extra credit; this included field trips to the aquarium, scuba-diving resources, and whale-watching opportunities.

6. Dynamic Perspectives on Parenting

Now this class was the most practical, yet informative class I could have ever taken at UCLA. I had an amazing professor that made the class so interesting and so worthwhile. First we learned about the 40 weeks of pregnancy, but not just from a biological standpoint like typical classes do; we learned about it from a financial standpoint, from a relationship standpoint, etc. We discussed the cost of childrearing, the consequences that a baby may have on the parents (such as relationship strain, how the gender dynamics can affect the relationship, etc.), and the development of a baby. We also discussed issues such as how gendered toys can influence children's behavior, the importance of baby-proofing your furniture, potential parenting styles of low socioeconomic status and high socioeconomic status parents, the effects of homelessness on children, and the impact of nationality and culture in childrearing. It was a very holistic perspective on parenting, and I'm so thankful that I took it—and I'd recommend this amazing class to anyone as well!

7. Introductory Psychology

Now what kind of psych major would I be if I didn't throw in any kind of psychology promo?! Okay, but for real though, I actually started out as a physiological science major (which I eventually switched to environmental science, but that's beside the point) and I switched to psychology when I took this class. I thought this class was so interesting, and I had never really learned anything like this before. Psychology is very different than most people expect it to be; it's not just the "fun stuff". It's not what people romanticize it to be, it's really not just abnormal psychology specifically and memorizing the DSM-V—but it's more cognitive, experiment-based, and research-based. In intro psychology, you learn the basics of what psychology majors learn about in depth. You learn famous case studies, like Phineas Gage and Patient H.M., you learn famous experiments (that are also very problematic because they're super unethical) such as Milgram's Obedience Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment. You'll also learn terms like classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and you'll learn why optical illusions can be so confusing through Gestalt principles and such. I still really enjoyed my major, and I would strongly encourage anyone to try it if you have the space in your schedule!

8. Health Disparities

Now this class was a very unique experience for me because I took this during the first online Spring quarter due to COVID-19. As a result, the professor integrated the current events and socioeconomic issues of COVID into the course. I learned so much about how health is not just biological or genetic, health is influenced by social, political, and economic factors—thus demonstrating the social determinants of health. For example, we learned that a person of low-socioeconomic status may smoke to curb their hunger if they may not be able to afford to eat as a survival mechanism in a capitalist country. We also learned about the prevalence of medical racism, and how implicit bias in medical professionals impacts the quality of your health care—which contributes to racial health disparities in America. There were a lot of unique situations during COVID-19 that we discussed in order to apply our instruction to real health disparities occurring in the US. For example, we witnessed class health disparities when the rich were able to easily access COVID tests and quality care, while poor people basically had to be close to death in order to be seen for a test. Also, we know there are racial health disparities in COVID due to the disproportionate deaths of Black and Brown people during the pandemic. I would highly recommend taking this during remote instruction for the sake of education during the virus, but even in general, this is a very useful class to take.

9. Applied Positive Neuroscience

Now as much as the neuroscience part may sound intimidating, I actually had a lot of fun. It was a super informative class, and the neuroscience wasn't too daunting (trust me, I've taken behavioral neuroscience, and that was a nightmare). The professor specifically designed the class for anyone to take regardless of prior knowledge, so the neuroscience of it all was actually super accessible! Instead of just pure neuroscience, we talked specifically about the changes your brain makes when you make positive changes in your life! We talked about how your brain releases endorphins (the painkilling neurotransmitter) when you do yoga, how you release melatonin (the sleep hormone) when you have good sleep hygiene, and how you release oxytocin (the love hormone) when you hug those you love. Also, every week, you were asked to conduct a mini-experiment and record any positive changes they may have had on your mood, productivity, sleep, etc. The experiments included activities such as exercise, practicing mindfulness, gratitude, disconnecting from social media, or reconnecting with loved ones. The experiments were so enjoyable, and so was the class! I would highly recommend taking it if you have this class available to you on campus!

10. Intro to Gender Studies

Now this is a class that I would highly recommend every college student take. This is where many people are first introduced to a lot of famous names in gender studies that comes with well-known theoretical frameworks and famous pieces; you'll hear Kimberlé Crenshaw, Judith Butler, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and so much more. This is also where you'll learn to question everything you ever learned about gender through terms and phrases such as "gender as a performance" (gender is something we "do" at all times, from our appearance to our behaviors), false universalism (the refusal to acknowledge that not everyone experiences gender the same way, which led to branches of feminism that centered marginalized communities), biological determinism (the fallacy that gender is stagnant and your genitalia defines your gender for life), intersectionality (the term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw that basically means that you can experience multiple oppressions that overlap simultaneously), and transfascimilation (the transphobic belief that trans people are "illegitimate"/"not real men/women" based on genitalia they were born with). This class is a LOT of theory, and sometimes it can be hard to read, but you also learn a lot about sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression—and you may even learn how to make sense of your own experience through unique theoretical terms and phrases!

11. The History and Politics of Urban Housing in America

This is probably one of the most important classes I've ever taken in my time at UCLA. This class is super important because you discuss the prevalence of a dual-housing market due to racist-classist disparities. In addition, you learn about how redlining contributes to the segregation and the economic immobility of its residents. Also, there is the discussion of gentrification and how Black and Brown residents are pushed out of their own homes due to the influx of rich white residents driving up the property value. We were also given our final paper prompt to identify a movie that displays contemporary housing issues to analyze. I wrote my paper on John Singleton's 1991 film Boyz N the Hood, which I really enjoyed watching and writing—and it also inspired my residential segregation blog post which you can read in the link below:

https://kywheeler921.wixsite.com/blackgirlblogs/post/why-boyz-n-the-hood-is-still-relevant-a-commentary-on-racial-residential-segregation-in-america

12. Mental Health in Schools: Policy and Practice

Last but not least, the mental health in schools class is one of the most informative classes I've ever taken. We discussed the problem with schools and how schools are so focused on the finished product, that they completely disregard the mental health of students in the process. We discuss both the implications of treating students as statistics and how we can improve the education system from there. Students also got to make special presentations to present to the class, from special topics such as undiagnosed ADHD in schools, social-emotional development in online learning, restorative justice in schools, and how schools handle issues of suicide. These presentations allowed us to write our final papers on the matter from a scholarly critical analysis, without simply summarizing our presentations, but also providing potential solutions to the issue at hand. It's a very interesting class with a multifaceted view on the issues surrounding the education system, and I genuinely enjoyed it!

All in all, some of these classes may be outside of your comfort zone (as they were a little out of mine too), but my advice is don't be scared to try it! You will definitely get a lot out of them, and even if you don't like them at least you can say you tried. Take advantage of the time you have to learn anything you like in college! And don't feel like you have to be in college to learn new subjects! You can learn anything, anytime, anywhere for free through the resources made available at your fingertips in this new digital world we live in. Regardless, try to keep your brain stimulated by learning something new every day. I hope I inspired you to look more into other subjects, but in the meantime, challenge yourself to become an interdisciplinary critical thinker by exposing yourself to a wide array of knowledge!