Schools: Why to teach what won't be useful ?

i agree with yours,the education in my country(china) seem much terrible about taht,for the exemple maths,when i was in middle school,i must learned the maths which was considered the most difficult lesson,by now i have worked for 3 years,but i hardly use the maths which learned in my middle school to deal with problem. i think if we would learn lessons with personal and interest.and children would like to go to school much more.

Yeah agreed.Our schools should teach based on waht the student desires to learn and on their abilities, not based on the idea that all students should be taught the same things since not everyone has the same minds

That is what I would like to know, schools should teach students what they need to know. They need to teach children about things that they will need in life.

My daughter has asked this same question many times as she has a harder time then other children and doesn't understand why she has to study things she will never use but a friend of mine gave an answer that I thought was quite good . So many children are not sure what they want to be when they are older and this is one of the reasons for studying something you think you won't ever use . Unless you know for certain what you want to be when you are older then you don't know what you are realy going to need to know and so many children change what they want to be even in highschool and could miss out on opportunities because they didn't study what they need to be something else .

I agree too. A lot of useless things are taught & also a lot of important things are left out. Like being truly kind to others, treating others with respect, speaking & truly listening to what others have to say. The Golden Rule.

How can someone guess what will be useful? If we decide that math is not important because it will not be used if you are a security guard then you will not be able to be anything else. We will not be able to continue your studies and become an engineer, for instance. The way things are learned is important. The child began learning the basics of math and it is an evolution. If the child stops all the math studies and when he/she is a teen he/she wants to continue their studies, they will not learn it how it is suppose to be learned. If we give the children this option, like they can choose what they want to study, they will choose sports, arts, and play. And we really can't ask a child to decide what they are going to do in the future. If you ask a child what he is going to be, he will answer dancer, actor, astronaut, super-hero. It is not a decision a child can take. And it is not a decision that can be made by others in the name of the child. The best thing to do is to teach everything we can and prepare the child for the future.

I agree with phantasy, quite often the things we learn give us skills that are useful. Having what is called a generalist education keeps options open for the choices that we make later in life, particularly if you want to study at University. I personally would have no problems with schools teaching the kind of subjects you talk about, but often you would find that the parents would object. I have often heard things like "How dare the school try to teach my child this - that's my job". Also the everyday kind of stuff would not be satisfying to those people who actually like learning things whether it is highly abstract maths, chemistry or analysing shakespearean plays.

My mother said that we will only use 10% of what we learn in school after graduation. But I think the reason why schools teach us a lot of things though it may not be of help in the future is that schools want children to develop values and flexibility. In my opinion, schools are our training ground. Through education in school, it opens our minds to a lot of things.

I think whatever is taught in the school is very useful in our life. Even if we feel it unwanted, it is really valuable. Like, you said about math, what if the student goes to become a math professional in future. So, whatever is thought in school are the foundation. Later in your life which part of it you want to polish. If we are not thought the base, we cannot proceed with our education and it will be stuck somewhere. so, whatever we feel useless at times will be of value to someone.

I agree! I felt forced to take certain classes in high school that I had no interest in and felt that they were a waste of my time. Chemistry was one of them. I didn't learn anything, I didn't understand it. I tried really hard but just didn't get it and just didn't care. I think the teacher passed me just out of pity because he saw me trying but just not getting it. Also American Government was a waste. Not that it is a waste to learn that info but for it to be a requirement to graduate is ridiculous. The teacher didn't do anything; just made us sit there and read the book all hour. It's something they could have taught as part of a history class. Now instead of stupid things like Chem, I think kids should have to take a class called basic life skills where they would learn things like how to do laundry, basic cooking, changing a flat tire, changing the oil in your car, how to balance a checkbook, why credit is sooooo important and why keeping your credit history clean is even better. I see so many young adults that have no idea how to do basic things like that and its sad.

because someday in another universe this info will be useful to save the world

I'm from China.I'm not very well in English.But in China everyone should learn maths if he wants to graduate from his school even in university.I don't why all schoolS in China let evety student learns something that wont't be useful in the future.But most of the students in China are used to obeying their teachers,school or parents