Poll: Are most of the things we learn at school useful?

[badgersprite]

Everything will be important to someone. General schools are more about teaching you a little of everything so you find what applies most to you ready for the education in college and university that is based on your own choices of subject.

Exactly this. Chances are you don't know what you want to do in life (or what you will actually do in life) at that young age. The purpose of schools is to lay a foundation of knowledge from which you can springboard into other career paths.

You might think history is useless to you, but it's going to be hugely important to anyone who's likely to become an archaeologist or paleontologist, or even a lawyer since the common law system is based on precedent, i.e. case history. You might think chemistry is useless, but it's going to prove fundamentally important to a student who goes onto a career where those skills are necessary.

School really isn't about preparing you for life. That stuff is achieved very early in education. I don't know exactly how it works in the USA, but, at least here, the last few years of school are about preparing you for higher education more than anything else.

 

[WickedFire]

What a lot of people seem to be ignoring is the fact the during the majority of the time you're at school you won't have ay idea what you want to do. School is for teaching the basics - reading, writing, maths etc - but all the other subjects are about broading your mind and opening you up to new ideas. It can pique your interest in a specific field, which will become the centre of your future career.

Granted, once thats done most of the other stuff will seem pointless, but when you consider at stuff in school is taught to classes, there will be someone who went on to base their entire life around that subject that you think is pointless. Plus, at least in my school anyway, we got to choose which subjects to study at GSCE (thoughs maths, english, and seperate or combined sciences were mandatory) and also the at A-level.

So yeah most of the stuff I learned in first year hasn't mattered to my life, but it will have mattered to someone who was interested in different things.

 

[Mad World]

No. Also, we forget a lot of it, too.

Can't say I'm a huge fan of North America's education system (not sure what other countries have, but I'd wager that it's not much better - if at all).

 

[Aiden Raine]

no. not at all. art, gym, science, world history, music, health.. not worth a damn thing to most people's daily lives. with the amount of grammatical and spelling mistakes I see on the internet, it's obvious that english class is nothing more than a time waster as well. math is borderline, since most people won't use anything above basic arithmetic in their daily lives, and most of the time they'll wind up using a calculator or some other kind of mechanical/computational assistance to handle that much.

a excuse of a "well rounded" education is bullshit, especially since most children only go to school to play with their friends, and teenagers only go to school to get laid. or make fun of people who are "different" from them.

 

[Crazy]

Yes, gives you a wider view of how things work and gives you more choices. Historian requires History and ELA. Chemist requires Math and Science. They connect.

 

[Jast]

I suppose it depends. In terms of subject matter, the most important things I learned was reading, writing, and basic math and that was obviously in the early years. I'm a college student right now and I'm taking a bunch of courses that I have no interest in but I must take them to get my diploma. I hate these subjects I'm taking and I do not want to touch them again once I'm done with the course. But really I'm only getting a diploma because that's what the work force really likes.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Not really. Most of it, at least. I can hardly see how knowing angle addition postulate can help me further in life.

 

[Phlakes]

I learned that arccos(x) = +/-(cos^-1(x) + 2pi(r)).

Did ever use that again, outside of higher level math classes?

Hell no.

EDIT: And to expand a bit, high school should be like a general studies major, and students should be able to go straight into career-specific education when they figure out what they want to do. Because once you know your major, the rest of school is just waiting until you get to college.

 

[Raioken18]

The thing is, no matter what job you get, they train you and rebuild everything from the ground up anyway. If you spent your 3-4 years on the job doing the blasted work, compared to some useless uni bum, you'd be brilliant.

I used to work for an economic firm and there were people directly from uni who had no idea how to turn their computer on or off ffs. And still it's all family based, you know those people at the top? CEO's and board members, they usually have the same qualifications as everyone else, but the family connections to get a job in that area. (One of our new board members didn't know how to start a computer either >_> )

Just sitting there as a research assistant, and having taught people how to do their own jobs, I know after like 2 months I would have easily been able to do that job perfectly.

Still that's more uni, let's talk about high school, it's all pretty useless except maybe maths, IT and english, but only because they boost your communication type skills.

Really you could teach a 12 year old to do a 120k a year job in about 6 months and they would be as good if not better than some uni jerkhole that had wasted years reading about irrelevant crap.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Yes, I think so.

It might not be blatant, but yes it is for the most part important.

Of course I don't actually know, but that's my best guess.

 

[Marowit]

Most of the things I have learned were useful - the kick is whether they stay relevant. I know most of thEstuff I am learning in med school will be irrelevant in 10 years...other than the constant anatomy & biochemical pathways.

 

[Nazz3]

In everyday life probably not so much but it's good to have some insight on all the different subjects, they help you understand the world better, wider career choices etc.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

Yes, it is useful, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to use it.

Like you said, reading, writing and basic mathematics are things we need to know for our daily lives. The other miscellaneous tidbits of information; most of it probably won't be touched for the rest of your life, but there are certain parts that you'll find invaluable for the rest of your life.

It depends what career you go into.

That aside, griping about school won't serve you in any way, except maybe to demotivate you from succeeding. I'm not the biggest fan of school, of teachers or of administration, but I understand the necessity of education as a whole, it serves to prepare us for the world outside.

 

[Stammer]

I always thought not, but then I started getting into really advanced university stuff and everything kinda came full-circle.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

The skills are useful... sort of. In reality the diligence of doing your homework doesn't really teach you anything but to put up with repetitious bullshit, perfect if you end up working in an office. The knowledge is only useful in the jeopardy/trivial pursuit kind of way(if you don't pursue that field, of course). The skills prepare you for the mass amount of bullshit that is the real world.

As you can tell, I didn't enjoy school very much, I have a low tolerance for bullshit and a remarkable ability to determine what bullshit is.

 

[Tom_N7]

It really depends on what you want to do. Many (if not most) jobs and careers don't require a wide knowledge of history, or Shakespeare, or a foreign language, or complex mathematics, etc etc etc... However, a good schooling system should teach the basics that everyone needs (reading and writing skills, basic arithmetic, even computer skills in this age). Once that's done, it should first give everyone a taste of the different subjects and areas available, and then allow students to specialise and cut out stuff they won't need. I suppose that could be split into three stages... say, Primary, Intermediate and High school?

I think if anyone is learning about something that they never plan to use, then something in the system is broken. As a student studying Engineering, I use a lot of high level maths, physics and English skills, all of which I learnt at school. I took graphics and design tech (essentially a workshop course) at school as well, and those skills have come in handy. Even chemistry has lent me a hand a couple of times. As for other subjects... well, I didn't take them, and I haven't needed them.

In short, school is useful if and only if you're allowed to specialise after you've learnt the fundamentals. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time.

 

[Thaius]

No. Schools are so obsessed with the idea of making us "well-balanced people" that they refuse to consider that not everyone needs to know everything. Honestly, I can understand why some people would want and/or need a general education, but what about those of us who got good grades throughout school and have a direct focus in life? I'm an English major who got straight As in math classes in high school; what could college math courses possibly offer me? Nothing. But I need them for my degree. It's pretty freaking stupid.