Odd school class requirements

[Sam n.]

So while I was prepping for my freshman year of high school I stumbled upon the oddest thing. There is one class in our school that use the ITV and it is called pre-engineering. And it says specifically "check video card compatibility by visiting (link)". Are there any other classes that have this requirement?

[Canada EH]

30 minutes ago, Sam n. said:

Are there any other classes that have this requirement?

Which school is it because every school is different.

[WkdPaul]

Asking your school would be the correct thing to do, I don't think we can help you with that.

[Real_PhillBert]

Looks like that class is going to use Solidworks and show you some of the basics of CAD, so you need a computer that will run the program. 

 

I took a CAD class in high school too, but they had desktops for us to use. If your school has an animation based class they probably have a similar requirement with something like 3DS Max. 

[dalekphalm]

22 hours ago, Sam n. said:

So while I was prepping for my freshman year of high school I stumbled upon the oddest thing. There is one class in our school that use the ITV and it is called pre-engineering. And it says specifically "check video card compatibility by visiting (link)". Are there any other classes that have this requirement?

Are you required to have a personal computer at home in order to take this class? Because it seems to indicate that Solidworks software is required, and you may need to use the software at home.

 

I wouldn't necessarily call this unusual for school in general - in many Colleges and Universities, it's assumed as a requirement that you'll buy or own a computer that can handle the in-class software. I would call it unusual for high school though, as with any advanced software, they generally assume you will have access to a school computer to finish any work.

[2FA]

Well since the link to your school is in the picture, I went ahead and checked the classes. Probably the manufacturing class and the computer design stuff.

[BeefyMeats]

Solidworks is 3d modeling software for engineering stuff. In order to render complex 3d object you need a graphics card to speed things up. And thank god they ask people to check compatibility because it can be frustrating for support if someone installs it than complains that its buggy and slow; only to realize that they are using a potato laptop with a weird moble gpu and an old drive that cant handle anything.

 

How could we tell you what classes in your school require compatible graphics cards without knowing the courses or software used in the other courses? That would be like asking an employee at McDonalds if there are any other car tires that are compatible with a variety of vehicles. How would they know?

[Froody129]

You can run the high school stuff on a potato anyway. You spend ages learning to draw with a pen and paper but then the CAD is a short and pretty useless course 

[aezakmi]

Quote

ability to renew software license every 30 days

for real? in the US or any other 1st world country the schools want students to buy software? wow

[dalekphalm]

58 minutes ago, aezakmi said:

for real? in the US or any other 1st world country the schools want students to buy software? wow

I think that means a "30 day dial home" DRM system, where the software checks in w/ a server every 30 days to ensure license is still active/not cracked.

 

Could be wrong though - that's just how I interpreted it.

[Real_PhillBert]

1 hour ago, aezakmi said:

for real? in the US or any other 1st world country the schools want students to buy software? wow

No. 

 

Solidworks, like most other engineering software packages has a system for students to get software licences for a limited amount of time, free of charge. 

 

Here's a quick overview of the procedure:

http://blogs.solidworks.com/tech/2014/10/how-to-get-free-access-to-solidworks-as-a-student.html

 

This appears to be why the class has a system requirements.