speech class

I wish I could go back in time to when I was a freshman in college so I could tell myself to take speech class and get it over with. Here I am, senior year of college and I have run out of time to put off the dreaded speech class. I don 't understand why this class is recquired...are the people who make the curriculum just that evil that they get joy out of seeing people humilate themselves? I absolutely HATE public speaking. This class is like my own personal hell. I do not see why I need to stand up and be judged by a bunch of other people. When I open my mouth to give my speech and throw up, maybe then someone will rethink making this horrid class a recquirement. What I don't understand is why this stupid class is mandatory, when there are so many other important things we should be learning. For example, we all know there are some seriously evil people out there. So wouldn't it make more sense for me to take a Defense Against The Dark Arts Class? I mean really, I think it's more likely that I would need to defend myself against some seriously evil forces before I need to get up and give a speech about something. So not only do I have to take this class, but yay, I also get to pay $2100 for it. If I were in charge I would totally revamp the whole curriculum. If you are crazy enough to want to take speech, go for it, but I think my time (and money) would be better spent learning about something I'll actually need to know, like how to cast an unforgivable curse, or how to trick a vampire into falling in love with me. But until some highly educated person at my school gets on board with my idea, any helpful comments on how to not throw up/pass out/ or worse...while giving my speech would be appreciated.