Pointless Education

[naomi24]

I’ve just been listening to a discussion on the new National Curriculum where one man said that most of what he’d been taught at school has proven useless to him. Personally I can’t think of anything that I was taught at school that has never been of some use to me - even if it only amounted to scoring extra points in a quiz. How about you?

[jim360]

Possibly but certainly no mathematicians use protractors so while the skill might be useful to some it would be more appropriate in the deign and technology classes. In general the maths curriculum needs serious rewriting I think.

[jim360]

No mathematicians I know anyway.

[Prudie]

And I think we should preserve those skills jack ;-)
I was taught how to starch a shirt, its use being that I can now relate how pointless it was!!

[The Builder]

Whatever I've done in my life, I've always been grateful for a good education. Particularly Latin. Rather than dismissed as a "dead language", it's a good way in to some understanding of the Romance languages.

Early on, in the lower forms, I remember the dirge of "Religious Education" instruction.
I've quite happily forgotten most of that ;o)

[Prudie]

Jim so you are talking about the super young things like yourself I suppose? I taught Maths and Tech Drawing until 20 odd years ago. My classes used protractors. What a waste of time apparently.

[EcclesCake]

RE has been invaluable for crosswords and quizzes.......I can't believe how many Hindu deities I can remember!

Prudie obviously passed the hankie test and was allowed to progress onto 'Advanced' ironing....

[wolf63]

We were all taught to read and write - with some basic spelling and grammar rules thrown in.

We got taught how to count in positive and negative numbers.

We learned that life isn't fair and that we are not all equal.

I wasn't taught latin and have managed to retain almost no knowledge of History, Geography, Knitting, Sewing, Cooking, Sports, Politics or Science. I wanted to play a musical instrument but I found out quite early on that I am not musically talented - ie tone deaf and unable to hear the 'beat'.

I did get taught how to type and this has become very useful.

[jim360]

No I mean all generations. And besides even if I did imean young things it ought to be clear that education should adapt at least somewhat with the times. Nowadays we don't use slide rules or abacuses so don't get taught about them and quite right too although I would love to be able to use both. But it would be closer to a hobby. There is a case for redesigning the curriculum so that it's more suitable for today's students rather than say the 1960s generation.

[Quizmonster]

I was never anything other than utterly lost when we were doing quadratic equations and, any time the class was skimming through log-tables, I invariably ended up as the only one on the wrong page. I have never used or consciously felt the need of either throughout the intervening six decades!

[maggiebee]

Playing truant in Dundee is called "Plunking"

[wolf63]

Skiving was the word we used for playing truant

[Prudie]

Quite right too is open to debate. Won't it be sad (and perhaps foolhardy) to lose all the old skills because we rely on technology? Not just sliderules,log tables and protractors but craftsmanship, building skills, languages to name just a few. We don't know, one day society may have to start again from scratch.

[maggiebee]

Prudie, I was taught how to iron an embroidered tray cloth using felt so that the embroidery did not flatten. Now, how many times have I done that since leaving school............

[gness]

Spot on, Prudie.....we saw that happen with calculators.... or count you laters.... as one pupil thought they were called.

[Prudie]

I think I had that one too maggie plus tailor tacking and how to wash my hairbrush. What did it teach me - to not be domesticated :-)

[gness]

At least weekly I should hope, Maggie!

[jim360]

It depends on what school is for I guess. I am proud of my mental arithmetic abilities but in practice I use a calculator. log tables are obsolete but its nice to be able to use them too. But it could be regarded as a waste of school time to teach or at least to focus on skills that are somewhat redundant. Especially if school is seen as a place to prepare kids frorthe modern world... then their education should reflect that a bit more than it does currently.

[Old_Geezer]

Much science and tech and maths have been useful. English should have been taught to me better since I can now cringe at what other say but probably make hideous errors of my own. The history/geography stuff hopefully made me a more "well rounded" personality/person maybe. I hope so anyway. Foreign languages was all memory test so I was never much use at them and haven't used them. Forgotten what little I was "taught".

[Prudie]

I take your point however I do find it slightly amusing that some of the elements of the 'tough' new curriculum just starting, designed to make pupils more prepared for the modern world, include learning fractions at primary and doing 2 Shakespeare plays in secondary school, exactly what lots of us in the 50s, 60s and 70s generations did!! it's almost laughable.

[jim360]

Agreed although I would argue that times tables are quite useful in any era so long as they aren't taught by rote.