Things We Learned in School that are Now Useless
Remember in school when we had to write in cursive, make something out of a shoebox, or even how to climb a rope?
I don't play the recorder, and I definitely won't, because I already know how to play the saxophone. I'll tell you, the saxophone isn't even that hard. Changing notes doesn't require you to move six valves or anything (mostly).
So really, I don't even think the recorder is necessary. Just play a harder instrument that still isn't that hard, like the sax, and change instruments when that gets easy. The recorder? It looks like a useless piece of junk. Trust me, it won't prepare you for harder instruments - I know that from my experience with the sax.
My school has never thought of doing this, and that's a good thing. I'm sorry if you have to do this, because I don't see a single, teeny-tiny purpose for it.
Let me think... maybe it helps you be more careful when you accidentally drop a baby? Oh, oops, silly me, THE SAME THING WILL HAPPEN TO THE BABY. Do schools think we're going to put a metal helmet and a soldier's uniform on a baby? Think harder, schools - you need to be thinking harder than us right now.
This one's actually important because it's the context that matters: to wear a helmet. But seeing this at #3, I'm no longer surprised why teens still cycle without a helmet and break their lives.
Luckily, I didn't have to memorize it in my class, but I feel bad for anyone who actually has to. If even actual chemists don't fully memorize the periodic table, why force it on a bunch of teenagers who don't want to do anything science-related in the future?
Gladly we hadn't had to memorize and could just use the printed table for tests. Chemists can use one too, but they have to somewhat know it by heart because they need the elements a lot and it takes some time to look everything up every few seconds.
I usually use just 3.14 for finding the area of circles, so yeah, I kind of agree. Memorization gets you nowhere in math, and 25 digits are really not that impressive either.
Why would we need to know this? When are we going to go to a shop and wonder what the first 25 digits of pi are? We have Google and the internet for that.
Impractical, but an alright way to impress people. Although I don't know if people have to memorize more than a few digits.
Right now, I am learning this in year 5, but the only thing it does is make you forget your own handwriting. What is the point of writing in a style that nobody can even read? We aren't living in the 18th century.
Writing in cursive also means you can easily read things written in cursive. If you're studying history, then it becomes useful when reading old documents or letters becomes a necessity. I personally find it an advantage for writing signatures and such.
While it is still important in other countries where there is less technology, I can understand why people find it useless if they do not put it into use. Most forget that writing in cursive improves motor skills - which in this case isn't "useless".
Trust me, when you get into college or at the very least, a college-level class in high school or a community college program, you're GOING to want to memorize this for tests even if you've long forgotten it prior to taking the classes. I know this because I took a math class for my Career and College Promise Program, and we had to do an entire lesson on it and practice at home online to memorize the formulas.
I say that even though I hate math. Learning to do this stuff is important. However, in real life, your boss won't be like: "Show me your work" and then count you out if you don't. In real life, people use calculators or other forms. Like my dad uses Excel to do quick math.
In real life, your boss just wants the answer. He or she doesn't care how you got the answer as long as it's right.
I checked my school's card catalog, and it only had books from ancient times to the 1990s. We literally just got new books!
Does anyone even read books anymore?
I never had to do this, but my cousin did.
Oh my god, this sucked. I almost failed geometry. Geometry is what caused my depression because I was grounded for 4 months for failing.
Why are we learning about geometry when it is so useless? Two things: number 1, this does not apply to real life, and number 2, nobody cares about geometry.
But that can be useful in some situations, because in a lot of movies, characters go into action and climb on a rope. If they fail, they fall to their deaths. Imagine having that same experience, because it is not easy to survive in a movie.
Gym is literally the most useless class for me and others too. All I do in gym is try not to be killed with flying basketballs by stupid boys. I got hit in the leg and my arm this school year, and nobody gave a crap either.
Sports class... I hated it and always failed. But it actually is useful to know how to climb in case you are in danger and have to flee from somewhere quickly.
They teach you how to spell things on a calculator and then don't even let you use the calculator. Like, WHAT. THE. HECK.
Is this even related to education?
The Newcomers
In 4th grade, I had to understand Sonnet 116 or something, and it was all about romance!
When I first heard about this I was grossed out. Now I still think it's pointless unless you're training to be some sort of scientist or surgeon. Let's be real, most people aren't going to be those.
In science class, I dissected a chicken wing. And in the next month, I dissected a frog. This is one of the most disgusting things I had to do in science. Also, that is considered animal abuse.
I dissected a chicken wing in 4th grade. We learned which vein or muscle to move if you want to make the wing flap, and all the other girls freaked out! It was hilarious!
I have seen that in so many American high school movies and series. Can somebody explain this to me? Why is this taught in American schools, what subjects does it belong to, and how did it become a thing?
I won 1st place for this thing, and I was so confused. It was some foamy liquid and a huge... Okay, just stop teaching this!
Teach us how to dodge a volcano instead. Don't give us a worksheet, though.
We can learn it ourselves. School is for preparing you to get a good job.
I personally think that math is important, not just because I study it and it's used a lot in science, but because it develops people's critical thinking skills.
This is algebra, whether you believe me or not. It doesn't apply to real life, and in algebra, they put letters in math. That makes no sense at all.
If you really need to know them, you'd have gone and learned them for yourself. What good does it do me, especially when we have the Internet at our fingertips, to know that the capital of Montana is Helena? We invented Google for a reason, so let's be reasonable and actually go use it for once.
This should be common knowledge in times of wide global communications (I mean, we have at least three nationalities alone commenting on this list). And although I am horrible in geography, this is by far the most useful item on this list.
Why do we learn this when we have calculators?
There are calculators on phones!
This is normal, basic biology. It is helpful to have a bit more knowledge about what makes up life.
Do we really need to be able to read a clock with hands when we can learn from a normal clock that says the time in standard form?
Out of cell phones, alarm clocks, and all that other stuff, would someone really buy a clock instead?
I know how, also what if the power goes out? Clocks are not power automated.
We already have to deal with algebra, why replace our numbers with letters!
Excuse me? But I made a word quiz for the grade where we start learning Roman numerals.
It's not like I'm going to travel to Rome or anything.
We didn't learn anything about our constitution. But it would have been a great thing to base political debates on, especially because such papers constantly need to be reworked to fit our modern society.
Points for the US school system.
Dumb nationalism. The constitution is meant to be a living document, not a dogma kids have to recite.
Worse for you if you hate presenting.
You can either teach yourself or have your mother, grandmother, or any other female relative teach you. We aren't going to have the teacher show you.
Fun, but really kids should be learning more abstract things in school, I feel. They will learn things like sewing by themselves anyway.
This might be useful for repairing small tears in clothing by yourself. Other than that, it's not very useful for most people.
Sure, we don't need to know that, but I think it was pretty fun.
I don't care about history. Why do I care what some idiot did 200 years ago? It's not my problem anymore. Columbus went to North America and thought it was Asia? Great. Why do I care? Washington was the first president? Okay, fine. Sure. Amazing. Whatever.
All I really care about is the current president. History is a complete waste of time. If you become a historian, it's your job to relearn that history. So why do the rest of us need to know that so-and-so fought a pointless war on January 15 of a certain year?
USELESS. When's the last time you used this, or any history, in your life? If you did use it, was it worth the some 2 thousand hours you spent learning history?
There's just no use for this in the real world unless you're designing building plans.
Why do we learn this in geometry? Nobody cares about geometry.