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?

[mibn2cweus]

About the only thing I can remember learning at school was how not to get caught checking out whether the girl sitting behind me was wearing knickers that day . . . and to wear several pairs myself in case I did. :o/

[naomi24]

Haaaa! Sperlatt!!! :o)))

[jourdain2]

Apart from some rather obscure chemistry lessons (making blue chrystals, something to do with copper - but even so I know they turned blue, which could be useful in a quiz)) I can't think that anything from school has been useless. Not being a mathematical prodigy I thoroughly enjoyed lessons on trigonometry by drawing the ship at sea, lighthouse etc.. (I did Art, History and Eng. Lit. A level.) Imagine my surprise when, after a bit of head-scratching years later, I found it came in useful! I really believe tables should be learned by rote (once you know what they mean) because most of us are not mathematicians and simply need to be able to use arithmetic every day in countless situations. There used to be a CSE Arithmetic exam, which was so useful to pupils that of course it was pulled out in favour of Mathematics GCSE. I gained starting points into all the academic subjects and the knowledge of how to investigate further, hugely valuable as it's turned out. What happens when the electricity and the internet fail - it's possible with cyber-attacks? People need to actually know things, not just how to research.

[whirlyhurly]

What on earth was the point of awful Algebra.

[nailit]

when I was at school us boys were taught woodwork and metalwork while the girls were taught home economics. Wish it were the other way around as to this day I cant cook, iron, or sew. And sports were a nightmare. I hated sport then and I hate it even more now. What a waste of time it all was. Everything Ive learnt, ive learnt SINCE leaving school. I dont think I ever read a book all the way through during my education and now I have a massive book collection and a passion for literature of all kinds. School knocked my natural inclination for learning out of me by forcing me to learn things which held little interest for me. Left school and discovered a whole new world.

[Mosaic]

I have never, never, ever calculated the sine and cosine of anythign, before ir after the advent of home computers or ever ever in the world in space.

[pixie373]

I did tan, cos, and sin (or something) in A Level maths. Never did work out what that was for. A Level economics and Latin were both more useful- in a general way.

[shaneystar2]

We were taught to souse a herring .I've never soused a herring since,or had any need for algebra .Maths wasn't my best subject .School did teach me a love of literature ,art and history though which have been useful in my life .
They also encouraged sporting activities which stood me in good stead ,though these days I often wonder if it was a good thing to run round a hockey field ,twice ,on a freezing cold morning :)
They also taught me to think for myself ,not run with the mob and how to improve my bust...lol.

[corylus]

The least thing that you might have learnt is how to construct a grammatically correct question on this site with no spelling mistakes.

[Mosaic]

Ooh Corlus - vade the eek on 'er!

[corylus]

Vader yer own eke Mosaic! Just stirring things up a bit.

[jourdain2]

Isn't it 'Bader your eek' - or did I mishear?

[beso]

Matrices and Vectors (maths thing) was the most boring pointless subject I studied at school.

[jim360]

*Rolls eyes*

[beso]

I have used geometry and trigonometry quite often. Calculus has been useful.

[jomifl]

Jim, if you had ever done any yacht navigation you would have found the ability to use a protractor and basic geometry/trigonometry very useful. It works without an internet connection and at night can be powered by a lighted candle.

[jim360]

I suppose the point about maths is that a lot of it beyond simple arithmetic is often not relevant to most people's jobs, but the subject itself if placed in proper context is anything but boring. Sadly, it's never really placed in that context at school, so that if I hadn't chosen this career I too would have been stuck with a vision of matrices in particular as not only useless but also incredibly boring. Ditto probably anything else. You have to go much further down the field to see how everything works and to truly appreciate its ... well, its beauty.

[naomi24]

Jom, indeed. :o)

[beso]

Matrices was taught solely as a process. Multiplying out all the rows and columns was just plain boring.

There was not a single practical example of how they were used for handling real problems.