Too much (useless) info?

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Has anyone else ever used anything past (x) grade you were taught in school outside of homework, quizzes, tests, midterms, finals, SATs, ACTs, state exams, college entrance exams, etc in real life?

When I was a kid, I always asked myself "How am I ever going to use this in real life" on several things we were taught in school. To this day, I still ask myself that question.

Now, if you're in college for medicine and someone's life may depend on what you learn, I don't have a problem with that, and you should learn everything you can.

For things like Foreign language, they may actually have a practical purpose some day.

It's the stupid things like electron locations in an atom, proofs, or how many atoms of x element are in 80 grams of y compound (general subjects)

Maybe the saying "I've gotten along all my life without knowing this, and I've done just fine." is just shooting yourself in the foot :/

 

[dighn]

most people don't need them, but it prepares you in case you do decide to do something that requires those knowledge.

that's how i feel about it anyway

 

Overall the point of schooling is to learn how to learn, and apply it.

 

[Amorphus]

its more of a preparation for you to work well and to be halfway intelligent than for preparation for the real world (information-wise, anyways).

school teaches diligence and responsibility more than anything else - that is long-lasting, anyways. habits and quirks developed in high school/college will last for your entire life.

Also, many things help to develop critical thinking skills. proofs develop logic skills, the entire math curriculum teaches you to look at available information and draw correct conclusions.

 

[BigJelly]

Originally posted by: SammySon
Overall the point of schooling is to learn how to learn, and apply it.

bingo

 

[Banana]

Quick one that comes to mind is algebra. I agree with Amorphus--a lot of it is training to think/analyze--That's why English classes are not "useless."

As for using the actual stuff taught in class, I think that occurs in upper level college classes and grad school, but you can't get there without the basics

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

i see calculus being used daily.

 

[Semidevil]

I always wondered what those algerbra classes are for, but at the end, I conclude this.

you learn basic math to prepare for algebra. and you learn algerbra to prepare for geometry. you learn geometry to prepare for trignometry. and you combine all those to prepare for calculus.

and calculus is where the real useful stuff is....all sorts of science will require calculus....it's so cool how it all comes together.