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

[Something Amyss]

EDIT. Crap, I posted this in the wrong thread. I swear I clicked on the Alien thread.

 

[XT inc]

Not until post secondary i.e. College and university.

Most of the stuff you learn in highschool ends up being forgotten or at best used as general information later in life. If you don't use it in your job, you forget it and for that reason it is all a big joke.

Even in it's best case, 9/10 times it is a fucking joke anyway because they just want you to parrot back what they teach you. It is all about test scores and politics, not about application and practise.

You'd get further ( academically) being able to repeat info than use it. Oh that's great you can tell me proper wire type, and settings for the welder. Oh but you can't actually work the thing.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

My math teacher my junior year of high school flat out said "You most likely won't use any of these things in real life."

I find that true, I know enough math to get me through life. But apparently our school system thinks everybody is going to be a mathamatician (I don't know how to spell that, sorry guys) or go into any field that requires very advanced math. I want to major in Film, why can't I take classes that suit what I want to do with my life? OH YEAH BECAUSE EVERYBODY NEEDS FUCKING CRAZY MATH

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Alot if it isn't, but you don't know what you like or what you are good at until you do it.

You have to try everything till you find out what you should stick with, if anything.

The very basics of Reading, writing, and mathematics are taught (Read: Should be taught) by your parents,

I'd disagree...that only works if the parents have the time and ability to teach those things to their kids. What about single parents who are working fulltime, and/or are crap at teaching maths?

Having professionally trained people to do that seems a better idea to me.

Well, that would make sense to me if my mother didn't raise me, my older sister, and my older brother all by herself on less than thirty thousand a year for 18 years, working full time.

I've been reading, writing, and doing math since long before I started school, as has my sister and my brother.

If a parent doesn't have the resources to teach even the very basics of those to one child before they begin school, they shouldn't have become a parent so soon.
It sounds horrible, and there are exceptions to that statement, but having a child shouldn't be viewed lightly. If you're not ready to have a child, take measures to prevent it from happening.

jesus how old were you when you started school then? 2? i don't know a single person off the top of my head that taught there kids/were taught before pre-school anything beyond the basics of how to live and common sense.

If that's the way things are going these days, then parenting skills may soon become a thing of the past. I started grade one at five years old, and was quite capable of reading, writing, and doing math by then. I never entered 'pre-school' because it's just unnecessary. You have a large group of kids with no attention-span trying to focus on someone who isn't their parent for an extended period of time.

In fact, I'd have to say that it's because of my being taught the basics before starting school that I performed as well as I did until my car accident, but that's neither here nor there.

Also, while I appreciate the sentiment, I'm not Jesus, that right is reserved for my older brothers best friend ;P

how old were you when you graduated grade 12 then?

and you'd be surprised but what kids learn in groups, the other kids end up performing better when they are catching up to someone they can't speak as well/do math as well/etc...

hell the smartest person i know didn't start school until she was 7, and she barely could read or write at that point.

Wait... 7? really? Where exactly do you live, then? Because Where I live, grade one begins at 5, and graduation is around 17.

Also, my car accident prevented me from graduating, which is a very sore spot for me, but I'm having that remedied shortly.

nebraska, but yeah she started late, her parents were not good at parenting at all, but that didn't stop her from being the smartest freak i've ever seen.(correction, from still being the smartest freak)

and grade "1", begins around age 5 turning 6, while graduation is usually 18 average.

i've known higher and lower than that, but the average was 18, honestly i academically, i could have graduated at 15-16, as it didn't take much upper level thinking at all to get through high school, but maturity/real world wise, i don't think i was ready until i did actually graduate at 17 turning 18 late summer, so i don't know if i would've changed that at all if given the opportunity to.

and getting your GED i assume? or something different?

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

My math teacher my junior year of high school flat out said "You most likely won't use any of these things in real life."

I find that true, I know enough math to get me through life. But apparently our school system thinks everybody is going to be a mathamatician (I don't know how to spell that, sorry guys) or go into any field that requires very advanced math. I want to major in Film, why can't I take classes that suit what I want to do with my life? OH YEAH BECAUSE EVERYBODY NEEDS FUCKING CRAZY MATH

i could say the exact same thing about english/history/literature. they were the bane of my existence as i never need them at all anymore and have absolutely nothing to do with construction engineering.

not saying your wrong or i'm right, just saying high school is flawed...they should definitely let you have more control of your schedule sophmore-senior year.

 

[Darius Brogan]

nebraska, but yeah she started late, her parents were not good at parenting at all, but that didn't stop her from being the smartest freak i've ever seen.(correction, from still being the smartest freak)

and grade "1", begins around age 5 turning 6, while graduation is usually 18 average.

i've known higher and lower than that, but the average was 18, honestly i academically, i could have graduated at 15-16, as it didn't take much upper level thinking at all to get through high school, but maturity/real world wise, i don't think i was ready until i did actually graduate at 17 turning 18 late summer, so i don't know if i would've changed that at all if given the opportunity to.

and getting your GED i assume? or something different?

Yeah, GED. I intend to challenge the tests and upgrade my courses before moving to Alberta to take a 2 year computer engineering course.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

My math teacher my junior year of high school flat out said "You most likely won't use any of these things in real life."

I find that true, I know enough math to get me through life. But apparently our school system thinks everybody is going to be a mathamatician (I don't know how to spell that, sorry guys) or go into any field that requires very advanced math. I want to major in Film, why can't I take classes that suit what I want to do with my life? OH YEAH BECAUSE EVERYBODY NEEDS FUCKING CRAZY MATH

i could say the exact same thing about english/history/literature. they were the bane of my existence as i never need them at all anymore and have absolutely nothing to do with construction engineering.

not saying your wrong or i'm right, just saying high school is flawed...they should definitely let you have more control of your schedule sophmore-senior year.

I agree with you, think about how many people would actually get the careers they wanted if they can just go straight from high school to it.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

nebraska, but yeah she started late, her parents were not good at parenting at all, but that didn't stop her from being the smartest freak i've ever seen.(correction, from still being the smartest freak)

and grade "1", begins around age 5 turning 6, while graduation is usually 18 average.

i've known higher and lower than that, but the average was 18, honestly i academically, i could have graduated at 15-16, as it didn't take much upper level thinking at all to get through high school, but maturity/real world wise, i don't think i was ready until i did actually graduate at 17 turning 18 late summer, so i don't know if i would've changed that at all if given the opportunity to.

and getting your GED i assume? or something different?

Yeah, GED. I intend to challenge the tests and upgrade my courses before moving to Alberta to take a 2 year computer engineering course.

good luck with that then, and comp engineering, i hated programming with a passion but i'm sure it'll be useful and fun to one as yourself.

My math teacher my junior year of high school flat out said "You most likely won't use any of these things in real life."

I find that true, I know enough math to get me through life. But apparently our school system thinks everybody is going to be a mathamatician (I don't know how to spell that, sorry guys) or go into any field that requires very advanced math. I want to major in Film, why can't I take classes that suit what I want to do with my life? OH YEAH BECAUSE EVERYBODY NEEDS FUCKING CRAZY MATH

i could say the exact same thing about english/history/literature. they were the bane of my existence as i never need them at all anymore and have absolutely nothing to do with construction engineering.

not saying your wrong or i'm right, just saying high school is flawed...they should definitely let you have more control of your schedule sophmore-senior year.

I agree with you, think about how many people would actually get the careers they wanted if they can just go straight from high school to it.

exactly, it gets you some nice foundations for what field you'll be interested in (or you learn your not interested, which saves you a lot of time and money in college.) so your ready to get out there and kick ass either in college, or whatever career you picked out of the knowledge you learned in high school.

to this day my favorite classes were CAD/Architecture academy at my high school, i absorbed every second that i was in that classroom and became a much better student for it, while most other classes i'd store all of it in short term memory then immediately dump it within a few days/week, because it was all pointless/trivial to me beyond that point.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Are most of the things we learn at school useful?

I vote for "no". Sure, there are different schools, countries, people and their experiences later in life, but no. However school teaches very important lesson, just not openly states it : school is about accomodating to society. It introduces ideas like "must", "reward", "punishment", "learning", "obedience", "supervision", "job", "time mangement" and such.

Sure, maybe you won't have any chance in life to talk about some characters from book you were supossed to read, but by reading it you did a very basic "job". That's how adult world works - you do things you not always are happy with and fond of, there are responsibilites, things you must do...

...also, you're one step closer to becoming sheep like all of us, doing what they are ordered to do.

 

[Pat8u]

well some of it is but some of it isn't I mean when is advanced math going to be used outside of science,programming,engineering and Math I might need it but someone else won't

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The thing to remember is that most of the things you learn at school MAY be useful, but how you learn them ALWAYS is.

Without Silly Old Horses Canter Across Hills Tripping Over Acorns (Sine/Cosine/Tangent for Trigonometry), you wouldn't have mnemonics implanted.

Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain teaches you how to sing a rainbow.

The learning itself is more important than what you learn.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

It depends on what subjects you do. Analysing Shakespeare in English? Not so much. Doing some high level maths? If you're doing something related to that in uni, sure. History? Not really. Physics/Chem/Other science course? Again, that depends on what you want to do next.

 

[Mechanical Cat Fish]

It's weird how many people think school is worthless. In reality, the facts you learn at school are mostly worthless in everyday life, but that's not really what they're trying to teach you. School is more about the skills you pick up unconsciously, like critical thinking and pattern recognition.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

nebraska, but yeah she started late, her parents were not good at parenting at all, but that didn't stop her from being the smartest freak i've ever seen.(correction, from still being the smartest freak)

and grade "1", begins around age 5 turning 6, while graduation is usually 18 average.

i've known higher and lower than that, but the average was 18, honestly i academically, i could have graduated at 15-16, as it didn't take much upper level thinking at all to get through high school, but maturity/real world wise, i don't think i was ready until i did actually graduate at 17 turning 18 late summer, so i don't know if i would've changed that at all if given the opportunity to.

and getting your GED i assume? or something different?

Yeah, GED. I intend to challenge the tests and upgrade my courses before moving to Alberta to take a 2 year computer engineering course.

good luck with that then, and comp engineering, i hated programming with a passion but i'm sure it'll be useful and fun to one as yourself.

My math teacher my junior year of high school flat out said "You most likely won't use any of these things in real life."

I find that true, I know enough math to get me through life. But apparently our school system thinks everybody is going to be a mathamatician (I don't know how to spell that, sorry guys) or go into any field that requires very advanced math. I want to major in Film, why can't I take classes that suit what I want to do with my life? OH YEAH BECAUSE EVERYBODY NEEDS FUCKING CRAZY MATH

i could say the exact same thing about english/history/literature. they were the bane of my existence as i never need them at all anymore and have absolutely nothing to do with construction engineering.

not saying your wrong or i'm right, just saying high school is flawed...they should definitely let you have more control of your schedule sophmore-senior year.

I agree with you, think about how many people would actually get the careers they wanted if they can just go straight from high school to it.

exactly, it gets you some nice foundations for what field you'll be interested in (or you learn your not interested, which saves you a lot of time and money in college.) so your ready to get out there and kick ass either in college, or whatever career you picked out of the knowledge you learned in high school.

to this day my favorite classes were CAD/Architecture academy at my high school, i absorbed every second that i was in that classroom and became a much better student for it, while most other classes i'd store all of it in short term memory then immediately dump it within a few days/week, because it was all pointless/trivial to me beyond that point.

Damn my High School had shit for classes. Not even a film class. It wasn't until I started Junior College I could take a film class, and I fucking loved that class. I learned a bunch. I still go through the book from that class because it was so interesting. Damn, I wish there was a film school near my area for me to go to