Voted up. English literature and trigonometry have a place in schools, but teaching them has an opportunity cost. If a student can recite Hamlet's famous solil

Voted up. English literature and trigonometry have a place in schools, but teaching them has an opportunity cost. If a student can recite Hamlet's famous soliloquy, but can't manage his finances, then he and his school have spent their efforts inefficiently. The same effort could have been redirected to an understanding of the effects of compound interest, and that would have led to a better life for him, his family and for society. Let's first focus on teaching the essentials to everyone. If we have time and resources to spare after that, then let's teach Shakespeare and trigonometry. I'm also concerned about the spirit-crushing effect of failing at something. There will always be students who will struggle with trigonometry. With excellent and patient teachers, maybe almost everyone could master it, but we go to education with the teachers we have. A close friend of mine seems traumatized by her experience in high school, particularly with mathematics. It's so unnecessary. She's an artist now; she'll never need trigonometry. Trigonometry might help a fraction of those who learn it, but the experience of attempting and failing it actively harms the fraction of those who can't do it.