Value from classes

Turns out the request is to Tyler, not to me, but I think I have something valuable to say.

"Everything else being equal, are there subjects that lend itself to better teaching by professors? I've always chosen classes mostly on professor teaching quality as measured by anonymous student surveys, but was wondering if there are certain classes of subjects where one could find better or worse teachers?" -- Joanne

Education in school (as opposed to solo) is good for several things...and if one is going to take classes, one should target classes that are more amenable to teaching than otherwise.

Value from education:

1. Motivation.  It is easier (measurably, even with same hours spent) to learn something if it is interesting, and the fastest way to make something interesting is to have an interesting instructor whose personal aura of interestingness leaks onto the subject.
2. Motivation.  Most of learning is practice.  Most of practice is motivation.  If you have someone motivating you to learn, and providing a schedule, you tend to do more, which results in better learning.
3. Feedback.  Since most of learning is practice, a major component of your education will be greatly improved if you can ask questions/figure out where you're going wrong.  Think office hours.
4. Concepts.  The things that are the hardest to learn solo (apart from ones that simply require excessive practice) are the ones which ask you to think differently.  Programming (esp. OO), Calculus (Math in general), Microecon, Experimental Science, Statistics and Lit/Writing all jump out at me as topics wherein a great teacher can push you into the new thinking process tremendously better than doing things solo would.

So...what does that mean to the original question?  Roughly...Pursue instructor interestingness first, tricky topics where you would likely make mistakes second, conceptual (as opposed to detail-only) learning third.