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> The age old example is Pythagoras theorem, i got taught that at school and have never used it. Personally I think this is a toxic attitude toward learning an
by daveguy 10y ago
> The age old example is Pythagoras theorem, i got taught that at school and have never used it.
Personally I think this is a toxic attitude toward learning and one of the worst examples. The Pythagorean theorem is fundamental to geometry. If you had done any sort of engineering it would be a standard part of your job. Same for architecture and construction. A lot of DIY projects use it. Even understanding dimensions of a monitor.
I do agree that general life skills should be part of a standard highschool education, but your example of what is useless does not apply to a technical workforce.
Aside from the usefulness of the theorem, the point generally isn't to teach you to use the theorem itself. Rather, it is to teach basic algebra. It is one of the first introductions to "hey, you can equate two quantities and that equation has an application to reality." In that respect, the skills you develop learning -- working with -- the pythagorean theorem apply to half of the "life skills" in your example. A budget, mortgage and cooking ratios all have simple equations governing their application.
It is way past time we as a society move beyond the grammar school "i'll never use this" excuse about learning.
- vkou 10y agoA far better example would have been trigonometry, or the quadratic formula, or the belligerents of the war of 1812. All of them fascinating subjects, but unlike, say, arithmetic, or compound interest, or a basic understanding of your country's legal system, they are not critical to survival in the modern world. Not to mention that thanks to teach-to-the-standardized-test, students are are criminally underserved in their exposure to them. I think what most people would define as the "Common Core" of education should be greatly reduced. Instead of keeping students busy by teaching only the very basics of a topic (Oftentimes these basics are also wrong - precisely because there isn't time to dive into the nuances), and then testing them on the memorization of what ends up being largely pointless trivia, we should be taking that time, and push them towards deeper, focused study of subjects that interest them. If you want to become an engineer, the standard K-12 mathematical education will suit you poorly. If you want to become a photographer, it will also suit you poorly, for entirely different reasons.
- Shank 10y agoThe quadratic formula is a far more pertinent example. Every graphing calculator and computer can calculate the solutions that the quadratic formula provides, without needing to have kids memorize and apply it manually. Yet we test students on memorizing and applying it mechanically without computers or calculators, despite how abundant they are in the real world.