I have a question for those of you in high school or graduated from high school.

Before I say anything, I'll just tell you now that I'm in high school myself.

Okay, do you think that some of the subjects that we learn are virtually useless in the "real world"?

For example, most of the things we learn in mathematics is almost useless because we're taught things so complicated that barely anyone uses them in everyday situations. We only need to know the more basic parts of the subject.

And what about history and science? As interesting as they can be, it's only helpful if you plan to work in one of those fields. How many students are going to grow up and become a historian or a scientist?

I can understand physical education because it keeps everyone in shape for the most part, but still.

So, do you agree with me on this or not?

Schools teach a wide variety of subjects so that you use it. Think of school as a brain workout. If you stop working out you lose your muscles right? Similar thing with the brain, if ou don't develop it at an early age your intelligence could very well be limited. That's not to say this is always the case however.

I am about to be a senior. I think that the classes are useful, because they teach us things that we may discover we do like to do. I love history, and have been taking advanced history classes for some time now. But, math, which most people say is more useful, I abhor. I dread it. It should die, but not really.Someone will do some pythagorean theorem one day, will like it, and then become the next Neil DeGrasse-Tyson.

My opinion.

I just graduated this year, and pretty much, I found most (not all) of the stuff we've learned is pretty useless. Math helps a bit, since you can calculate stuff (like counting money) faster, and drama (one of my fav. subjects) can drastically improve your communication skills.

But yeah this is the reason why I slacked off in the last few months before school ended.

Math is fine with me, but subjects like Geography get a bit too ridiculous. Science is a waste of time, unless you actually want to do something in that field. English is bearable, I guess. I'm not going to be analysing texts for the rest of my life though.

No knowledge is "useless". It may be hard for you to understand now, but yes, that information you learn will come in handy. It is helpful in life to know about history, just the pure philsophical knowledge you will walk away with as you exit a history class will help in the long run. I remember thinking the same thing on occasion, but believe me: pay attention and learn. You won't regret it later on ;)

I won't speak for other subjects, but history is extremely important. People repeat the same mistakes over and over again because they know nothing of history. I think that people should be required to take an advanced US history course and pass a standardized exam in order to be allowed to vote in America. Laihendi

Blue turtle, named Squirtle, I agree.

Yeah, a lot of it is useless (European Lit? WTF), but that's just how the system is. Same thing happens in college too.

The point of highschool isn't to prepare you for everyday mundane tasks, its to prepare you for the workforce or for further education, things which will require more indepth knowledge (especially further education). On top of that, non day-to-day practical knowledge is important. People really should have a general sense of how the world came to be, and why things are the way they are now. You're not going to understand why people are dying in the middle east currently if you don't have any knowledge in history. Same things for thesciences, while the knowledge isn't necessary, wouldn't it be nice to actually understand how your body works? Why you get sick?How things reproduce? How equipmentworks?Why natural phenomena happen? People generally aren't satisfied by simply accepting things at face value without questioning it.

I think that people should be required to take an advanced US history course and pass a standardized exam in order to be allowed to vote in America. Laihendi

So down with freedom?

I think that people should be required to take an advanced US history course and pass a standardized exam in order to be allowed to vote in America. Laihendi

It is up to you if you want to learn any of it at all, but, think to yourself this first. Do I want to be the guy who gets to ask "Do you want fries with that?" every day or do you want to make a comfortable living doing relatively safe white-collar work from behind a desk? The world is yours, do with it what you will but I'll take the white-collar comfortable living myself.

Before I say anything, I'll just tell you now that I'm in high school myself.

Okay, do you think that some of the subjects that we learn are virtually useless in the "real world"?

For example, most of the things we learn in mathematics is almost useless because we're taught things so complicated that barely anyone uses them in everyday situations. We only need to know the more basic parts of the subject.

And what about history and science? As interesting as they can be, it's only helpful if you plan to work in one of those fields. How many students are going to grow up and become a historian or a scientist?

I can understand physical education because it keeps everyone in shape for the most part, but still.

So, do you agree with me on this or not?

gamerguru100

You know its not just like that in high school... its like that in college too... Liberal Art Courses make you a more worldly person.

Math IS used in the real world.

IMO, the US schools spend to much time with english. its useless, how far will being able to write a desrcitpitve paper get you in life? Subjects such as math, work your brain, and give it excersise, and you will use some stuff you learn. Science, some people will use, history gives a better understanding of the world around you.ieatnoobs18

[QUOTE="ieatnoobs18"]IMO, the US schools spend to much time with english. its useless, how far will being able to write a desrcitpitve paper get you in life? Subjects such as math, work your brain, and give it excersise, and you will use some stuff you learn. Science, some people will use, history gives a better understanding of the world around you.firstfist

yup, high school was pretty useless to me, what a waste of time. besides basic math and english the only class that taught me stuff that i still usewasmy workingout gym class... lmao bec my school screwed up my courses witch they did every year, hell now that i think about it, they put me in a femal gym class/ a class for people who couldnt speak english, and this one i thought was the funnyist, thought i was going to be ina workshop class but it turned out to be a class on how to deal with being pregant lol. all those classes i got change with in the first day but still.

The "real world" is full of subjects that are virtually useless in the "real world". In math class you are basically learning how to learn math because there's a chance you'll be using complicated math in "the real world." Even if you're not directly learning math you still need to have the ability to learn math to learn other skills like how to be a cashier at McDonalds. Even though you don't need to add and subract the money you are still doing math in the basis of taking food orders, inputing them into the machine, and getting multiple results from the kitchen, and the machine. What my gripe is that schools don't allow you to use your own materials in test situations which is almost always allowed in real life.

Since every subject has a history you need to learn how to properly study history or you're not going to know where to look to gain information you need. Science is pretty much learning the scientific method, and how it applies to several different areas of the world (biology, physics, chemistry). Honestly science is pretty much vital for problem solving which is everywhere you go.

Lastly in any career you're going to have to step outside the bubble to exceed in your field. If you don't want to have any significance to your life go ahead and ignore all that stuff they taught you in school cause you won't need it.

[QUOTE="Laihendi"] I think that people should be required to take an advanced US history course and pass a standardized exam in order to be allowed to vote in America. savebattery

[QUOTE="savebattery"][QUOTE="Laihendi"] I think that people should be required to take an advanced US history course and pass a standardized exam in order to be allowed to vote in America. Laihendi

[QUOTE="Laihendi"][QUOTE="savebattery"] That's ridiculous. When voting, people are ultimately looking to improve the situation of their families and themselves. Knowledge of the War of 1812 is not relevant to my situation if I'm a farmer.savebattery

Technically the voting age already does that.

Only in math is where I think they teach us stuff that we'll never ever ever use. Like when the hell is someone gonna ask me: hmm what's the equation of this parabolic bowl?

Well looking at what I am taking in University, I actually found all of the stuff I learned to be usefull....Sure, higher levels of math have no use what so ever in real life if you are not doing anything with it, but it helps build needed skills for problem solving, etc. You need the math if you are taking calculus though, and you need ALL of it.

[QUOTE="savebattery"][QUOTE="Laihendi"]People make mistakes because of ignorance. If you are ignorant of the history of a country and how its government works, then you should not be allowed to choose who runs the government, because ultimately they will be shaping the future of the country. If you vote out of ignorance, you are doing your country a disservice. _BlueDuck_

Technically the voting age already does that.

History is very important ecpecially for pop culture refernces

[QUOTE="Laihendi"] I think that people should be required to take an advanced US history course and pass a standardized exam in order to be allowed to vote in America. savebattery

[QUOTE="_BlueDuck_"]

[QUOTE="savebattery"] What you're talking about is essentially one group of people excluding another from democracy based on a superficial set of standards. And that ceases to be democracy.Laihendi

Technically the voting age already does that.

I'm just sayingthat if you can impose one standard (age), you can impose others (knowledge). I also think political knowledge (parties, systems, governance, institutions, etc.) are more important than history, though history is still important.

Whether or not a subject you learn in high school is "useless" depends entirely on which "real world" you enter. Yeah, you won't need to know trig or chemistry if you're going into business, and you probably didn't need to learn anything into school if you become a tow truck driver. However, if you go into the biosciences you're probably going to be very thankful for all the science and math classes you took in high school. That said even a bioscientist/doctor would probably look back on their history classes as being useless, but a historian would view those classes as being vital.

High school is there to give you competency in all of the basic subjects. In other words, high school is there to help you not be an idiot when you go into the "real world". You don't want to end up like one of those morons who gets humiliated on international TV because they can't name a country that starts with "U" do you?

. How many students are going to grow up and become a scientist?gamerguru100

it depends what you do and what you eventually get into. english and science are useful to a certain extent so ur an informed person that isnt an idiot...ive never found advanced math useful but i can see it being useful to company's and stuff like when they want trends or watever

This thought is sad really... What you learn in math helps you figure out other things... just because you don't get a job adding numbers, it does not mean that these logical problem solving skills aren't coming into play. Try thinking a little before making such bold statements. History is very important as well, you should know what roads others have gone down and the events that occurred, specially in historic moments. If you did not than you would be very ignorant to countless probabilities that have played out in the past. Now the way that these things are taught can be questionable at times, but believe me the last thing we need is kids being more ignorant. Diablo112688

[QUOTE="Diablo112688"]This thought is sad really... What you learn in math helps you figure out other things... just because you don't get a job adding numbers, it does not mean that these logical problem solving skills aren't coming into play. Try thinking a little before making such bold statements. History is very important as well, you should know what roads others have gone down and the events that occurred, specially in historic moments. If you did not than you would be very ignorant to countless probabilities that have played out in the past. Now the way that these things are taught can be questionable at times, but believe me the last thing we need is kids being more ignorant. ac_90

High school teaches you the basics of life man.

There are core ****s which help you prepare for everyday things and then there is extracurricular that helps with whatever you want to learn.

[QUOTE="ac_90"][QUOTE="Diablo112688"]This thought is sad really... What you learn in math helps you figure out other things... just because you don't get a job adding numbers, it does not mean that these logical problem solving skills aren't coming into play. Try thinking a little before making such bold statements. History is very important as well, you should know what roads others have gone down and the events that occurred, specially in historic moments. If you did not than you would be very ignorant to countless probabilities that have played out in the past. Now the way that these things are taught can be questionable at times, but believe me the last thing we need is kids being more ignorant. Diablo112688

enlighten me buddha