My decision

I think I've narrowed my options down to four classes: Western Civ. Since the Reformation, Intro to Philosophy, Intro to Religion, and English Comp.

I came to the computer thinking that I had made my final decision and would be taking US History To Reconstruction, but the only time I could take it would be Monday through Thursday, 6-7:45 each night, which would not be fun at all, since tennis ends at four and I wouldn't be able to chill or sit around doing nothing. Or eat dinner with my family. Or, basically, do anything in the evenings. Of course, having made up my mind, I am now disappointed in not being able to take that class that I think I was pretty much leaning towards from the beginning, seeing as it's my absolute favorite subject and would probably be easier than the other courses since I have a pretty strong background in most of the topics covered. My second choice, the other US History course, meets at the same time, so that's out as well.

Each of the four left has its pluses and minuses. I think one of the prime motivators for me to take Western Civ would be so I could try world history again. I got stuck with a teacher that I hate this year (it's a personality/teaching style clash, not that he's a bad teacher for everyone) and I'd like to see if I genuinely dislike the subject or have just melded my dislike for the teacher into my view of the subject. My worry is that it would be either too focused on war or economics, which tend to confuse me, or too much of an overview of everything, and thus not in-depth.

Intro to Philosophy is attractive because I took a one-trimester Philosophy course this year and enjoyed it. The thing is, that was a discussion-based course, and I think that listening to lectures about the philosophers wouldn't be as interesting as talking about them. I have no idea how the course is run, and just risking it might not be the greatest, either, Plus, I really struggled through those philosophy readings. I mean, really, really struggled through them. Sparknotes and Wikipedia and a few of my friends who have read philosophy for fun became my heroes. Although, having taken a course on Philosophy before, at least some of it would probably be easier.

Okay, so I went on RateMyProfessors, and looked at the people who took Intro to Philosophy with him:

"This class was very easy, he is an amazingly nice and tolerant man and the only work we had were two reports. No homework, nothing else. Great class!"
"Cancels class too often, teaches absolutely nothing. Went on a tangent everyday. The only thing you learn is from your other classmates in a group project. I didn't sign up and pay to learn from peers who don't know what they're talking about. In order to be nice, I'll bite my tongue and not add what I really think, but I'm sure you'll see...."
"Friendly and very knowledgeable. Philosophy is a class which can be puzzling in the beginning, but he breaks it down into understandable steps. I recommend everyone take a class with him."

About half say he's a great teacher, half say they learned nothing but got an A. How helpful.

Intro to Religion would shock the hell out of my mother's side of the family. It would probably also give me some more reasons to yell at my friends when they pick arguments about religion with me. Also, we covered proofs of God in my Philosophy elective, so I would have some background in the subject and not be throughly confused all the time. The course description also says that it covers the relationship between religion and society, which is basically my topic for THE PAPER, which deals with the relationship between Puritanism and society.

And finally, the English class. I guess the reason that I'm thinking about taking this is that my last couple of attempts at writing something good have failed miserably. Example: A C on a test from a teacher from whom I've gotten like one grade below a 90 all year. It seems like every time I sit down to try and write something intelligent, I turn out with something not so intelligent.

And finally (I probably should have put this at the beginning), I might not be able to take a class at all, because I'll be gone for a week right in the middle of the course. I probably should have thought of that earlier...