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By that logic, what good was it for me to learn how to solve arbitrary math problems in 7th grade, if the real "what" that I'd need math for later was yet to be

By that logic, what good was it for me to learn how to solve arbitrary math problems in 7th grade, if the real "what" that I'd need math for later was yet to be found? Developing skills in the context of an educational environment might not be as efficient as in "the real world", but it's still extremely useful. The ability to pitch might not matter in a field like abstract mathematics where the product is everything and the "customers" are knowledgeable and rational, but that's rarely true elsewhere in life. edit: Even more generally... if you saw two wolf pups play-fighting in the wild, would you tell them they're wasting their time since they're never going to eat each other?

anamax 16y ago
> Even more generally... if you saw two wolf pups play-fighting in the wild, would you tell them they're wasting their time since they're never going to eat each other? Wolves do fight one another. They also fight their prey, which they do eat. Practice fighting seems quite relevant to real wolves. What do you learn by pitching? One answer is "sales".
ThomPete 16y ago
Actually I have asked myself that question. What good is it for your to learn to solve arbitrary math problems in 7th grade? Wouldn't more people be interested in math if it wasn't arbitrary?