Fredericton — A 39-year-old local man admitted today that he’s still holding out hope that the countless hours he spent in BBT class throughout high school will prove useful in a real-world situation.
Most New Brunswickers in his cohort remember BBT, or “Broad-Based Technology,” as a bird course — one you can fly through with little to no effort. But for Corey Davidson of Sunset Acres, the dream of putting that education to use has yet to die.
“I know it’s been over 20 years, but I still can’t help but think eventually I’ll need to assemble a model bridge from toothpicks, or type with proper form, or win ‘The Incredible Machine’ puzzle game.”
Davidson went to Leo Hayes High School, back before the facility had portable classrooms constructed for the overflow of students. “I even had my own locker,” he said. “I was one of the lucky ones. But there weren’t enough computers for us all to use one in BBT class, so we had partners or sometimes big groups.
“My buddy Josh and I were supposed to design a website using HTML code, but our teacher was always hungover so he never checked our work. He’d go out for a smoke break, and we’d end up just playing ‘bloody knuckles’ with quarters until the bell rang.”
Davidson’s girlfriend Shannon Albright also went to Leo Hayes, and said her BBT teacher would give them a month to do something that takes a day, so she would complete work for other classes during that period.
“The English teachers there were so lazy, we had to do a half-hour speech ‘on any topic’ — so I’d just write that speech during BBT. And no, I have never used that skill in life either. Most bosses don’t want you to talk to them for three minutes about something relevant to the job, let along 30 minutes about, like…I dunno, the Industrial Revolution.”
Davidson now works in a corporate office, and while he uses computers constantly, he said the technologies learned in BBT have never come into play in his day-to-day life.
“Obviously I type all day, but no one cares whether I have my fingers on the right keys. I use Excel, but my job isn’t just to make a column and paint-fill it then have someone approve it before I play ‘Euro Truck Simulator.’ I haven’t even made a little car out of wood and rubber bands because I’m too busy doing actual work! It sucks.”