What did you study in school, or what was a favorite subject?

Did you receive your education somewhere other than school?

My favorite subject has always been history, followed by English and any language classes. I should probably clarify what I mean by "English". I mean the writing part and some of the reading. I did not enjoy dissecting novels for their subliminal messages or the hidden meanings behing a character type. I'm a straightforward person. Please don't ruin a perfectly good story for me by telling me what the author was 'really saying' I read Animal Farm years before I had to for English class. Great fantasy story about pigs taking over a farm. Imagine my surprise that is was all an indictment of communism. Wizard of Oz, apparently about the evils of the gold standard. Then there was some really boring 'great literature' we had to read. Plus nuns never tell you the more salacious meanings behind some of Shakespeare's quips, so you miss the intended humor. I've never been able to join a book discussion club because of bad school experiences in that area. I'm always afraid I am going to be asked to 'contrast the protagonists experience at the setting with the view commonly held of such things now (please quote examples in your work)' or some such. I adore reading books, sometimes I like analyzing them, especially non-fiction. I just don't like having to do so unless I am inclined.

Well, that went off on a tangent I didn't intend when I started this.

I originally studied journalism in college because I like English but wanted to avoid having to dissect To Kill A Mockingbird or The Red Badge of Courage and then basis a thesis on the motivation of the secondary protagonist with regards to his view of women. But I am not really journalistic material. I can't interview people to save my life. I'd been minoring in history all a long & loving those classes much more than my journalism ones. So with no job prospects in sight as graduation approached I decided to go to grad school and focus on what was then called Medieval & Renaissance History, Tudor England specifically (I think they now call that period 'Early Modern'). I qualified for a scholarship based on my GRE scores & then got an assistant post as well. I really loved being a TA & if I hadn't been so burnt on learning when I finished my MA I would have looked for work teaching at a Community College. But I was burnt out, took a general job as an office assistant, discovered I am clever with computer hardware & software and my career went in a different direction.

The short answer to the question is I loved history & English in school & studied them in college. But I received my education in my ultimate field of telecommunication on the job.