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In school, Chris earned "high B's" (Dec 6 2001). Math was his least favourite subject in school (Mar 28 2000) and he says, "I love the beauty of math. I just am no good at it" (June 22 2003). He skipped school "occasionally" as a child (Jan 6 2001) and says that his fans should "ask any one of my teachers" if they'd like to hear about any of the funny or stupid things he did when he was younger (Mar 29 2002). Christopher played football, basketball and baseball in high school and college (Jan 20 2005). Christopher says that high school was something he "endured" (Dec 8 1999) and describes himself as a "quarterback non-jock, funny guy, socially lost in suburbia" during that time (Mar 7 2000). When asked if it would be possible for his fans to see some of his high school era pictures, Chris replied, "I hope not" (Mar 28 2000). When asked whether he was a bully or was bullied in high school, Christopher responded, "Elementary school, I had my moments of bullying" (Dec 6 2001). As general advice, Chris says, "A swift kick to the nuts does wonders for bullies" (Dec 19 2001). Chris went to Episcopalian schools while growing up (Oct 27 2004), graduating from St. Stephen's in Alexandria, Virginia (Mar 28 2000) as a member of the class of 1979 (June 25 2000). He went to his high school reunion and found that it "was nice. People were enthusiastic, but not too crazy. Great to see old friends" (June 9 2000; Feb 12 2001). Despite not being as academically inclined in his younger days, his "more intellectual side" emerged, Chris says, when "I found out that working hard is funner than fucking off and the rewards are deeper. Of course, fucking off in moderation has its place" (June 9 2000). One piece of advice he offered to a fan who was about to start university was this: "Don't party on Friday - see how productive you can be instead" (July 10 2000). For college, Christopher attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, graduating in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in history. Chris says that he decided to attend his university because "I had to get away from where and what I was, and it looked beautiful, magical and far off" (Oct 9 2002; Apr 15 2004). When describing his college experience, he says, "Everyone grows up at a different pace. I was over it by the end of year two" and found that college provided "some value, but an awweful lotta BS" (Oct 14 2000). Chris's favourite history classes were Intellectual History and Russian History (Sept 17 2000). His favourite classes in general were Intellectual History and Genetics (Feb 2 2005). The worst history class he took was "Beg. Civ." [This might stand for Beginner Civilizations. - Editor] (Sept 17 2000) Christopher had contemplated doing a master's degree as well, but was not accepted anywhere (Sept 17 2000). In hindsight, if he could re-do his undergraduate work, Chris would have obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts instead. If he could go back and re-do his bachelor's degree, Chris would do a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Apr 17 2000), but he wouldn’t go back to college now (June 19 2000). The best thing a teacher ever did for Chris was to make him "feel special through brief, concentrated moments of attention" (Oct 28 2000). The worst thing a teacher ever did was to "try to put me down, make me feel stupid or embarrass me" (Oct 28 2000). The teachers that inspired Chris were "the ones that knew who they were and where they were. Thus, they were not threatened or disappointed with life - kids can smell that shit a mile away" (Oct 28 2000). Chris would not pass along any advice to teachers "until I walked a mile in their shoes" (Oct 28 2000), but he would say this to students: "Teachers are just like you. They just got more bills to pay and less money to do it with" (Oct 28 2000). The most important aspects of education today are "paying teachers more, testing teachers to make sure they're qualified and making the school safe so kids have a chance to learn" (Apr 26 2005). The most important characteristics a teacher can have are "command, smarts, patience, ability to relate" and teachers should be "tough but fair" and "engaged" (Apr 26 2005). Last updated: March 04/06 | |