School- Necessary or Waste of Time

[Antheia]

In a way most of it is bull, and we don't need it.
I mean why the hell do I need to know how to high level math other than if I'm going to be an accountant, and even then some of it is completely pointless.
History, we need to know. We need to know about our past so we don't make the same mistakes in the future.
Science we don't really need to know everything about.
Gym we don't really need. I mean it helps us not become fat, but we really don't need to learn how to play kickball. When the hell are we EVER going to use that in life?
Some of it is just a waste of time, plain and simple, they could cut a few things out and save those for colleges around the world so we might have a little more time on earth to do with what we want.
I'm not the wisest person about all of this seeing as I'm just ending freshman year, but that's just what I say about it all. People have probably already said it, but if not, great, I helped, if they have oh well, this isn't my strongest concern. (:

[Fallain]

You want to know the funny thing about school? You learn everything in high school, and then the first courses that you have to take in college are basic things that are a waste of time and money because you learned them in the 8th grade.

My older brother is a high school drop-out and he programs computers and the news station.

I'm in college and I groom dogs.

Yea. Think about that.

[glimpse]

I think high school [and it's classes in general] are good to teach discipline. You know, to hone schedules and keep kids punctual. Plus, all those classes that people hate to take [but have to] sort of build up tolerance. To be accepting of things we won't be able to change so that when you HAVE to work with that concept or coworker you just can't stand, it's not so bad.

If I didn't have to wake up early to go to class, I wouldn't wake up early. And later, when I wanted to work that 9 to 5 job, I'd constantly be oversleeping.

Of course some people naturally wake up early, and some people won't need to wake up early for their work. But I'm sure some will. Maybe even most.

Really, I see high school as a prerequisite in real life.

[Keito]

It's like that for certain...

But even still I would like to have been able to branch off an narrow down on my studies when I felt like I knew what I wanted to do.

Now, what I would have 'liked' and what I 'needed' were of course two different things. (arn't they always?)

I would have liked to spend all day in my English, Drama, and Art classes. But for general knowledge purposes I suppose I needed those other classes.

I thought my zoology class I took was AWESOME for example. The teacher was a funny guy and showed us all sorts of weird videos made by creepy people so that we could all have a good laugh and actually learn something since it kept us awake.
Like there was this one video by this guy who thought it was the ultimate life experience to be surrounded by jellyfish as they hooked up, got busy, and died. Weirdo...
And the teacher also had an awesome extra credit thing for quizes that had NOTHING to do with the class or subject at all: shooting an unevenly weighted paper/tape ball into the empty garbage bin. And the amount of credit you got depended on the pre-set points that you could shoot from. This ranged from just dropping it in for two points to all the way to ten points, which was a blind shot. You had to stand in the corner of the room, shoot it over the top of the cuboard over his desk, and into the bin behind his desk which you couldn't see. It was awesome fun watching people take the shots.

[futaba_tan]

I believe shcool is extremely necessary. I'm in high school right now and believe me, I feel like shooting myself 4 out of the 5 days that make a week, but in the long run I'm happy I'm in it.

Sure, we're never going to use calculus or chemistry or any of that jazz in practical, everyday life, but that's not really the point of it all.

School expands our horizons and makes us more knowledgable of the world around us and ultimately just makes us wiser. Without it, the lot of us would be typing like morons and have extrmely limited vocabularies.

Plus I just hate stupidity, so yeah, hooray for the advancement of knowledge.

I just wish they would make school more enjoyable.

oh and sorry if i sounded snobby or anything in that post.

[Yaneci DeNovi]

Suppose the career you think you want really isn't what you want? Or you can't find a job, or you can't even decide what you want to do? It's always best to have a plan B, even a plan C.

Besides "All knowledge is worth having." [Quoted from Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series.]

[riddle.me.this]

We go to school (up until college) to gain a basis of knowledge from which to draw to figure out what our interests are and what to major in in college, or at least what we want to do to support ourselves in the future. Yeah, a lot of school can be considered a waste of time based on the amount of time we spend on any given subject, plus time goofing off and the months spent on reading a single book.
Learning all the stuff like calculus and photosynthesis often do not directly play into our everyday lives, unless you work in that specific field, but it gives you a spectrum of knowledge that contributes to our understanding of the way the world works, and humans are curious beings by nature so we naturally look for explanations behind why things are they way they are
Albeit high school was a huge pain in the ass while i was there, but it helped me understand what kinds of things i would be interested in later on in life

[Aaya-Tan]

Kay, tl;dr most of the posts, but I get the jist of what everyone's sayin'.

School in itself is important.

Yeah, I know that a lot of folks probably won't need to know a lot of the junk they have in trigonometry in everyday life unless they're going into the medical field somehow, but, the fact of the matter is, if you're intelligent enough to be in those classes, and pass those classes, the school system is well justified to place you in the class above it.

Some classes you do not have to take, in all honesty. Not because you don't need them, they're just optional. In college it's the same way. But, you have to have prerequisites done in order to receive any kind of diploma, and that generally means it's any kind of regular classes like you'd take in highschool.

Most students aren't efficient in math, and a lot of times it's because they've put themselves in a class they're not ready for, or they're not studying like they're supposed to and goofing off instead. Don't blame the school system for teaching you things you think you'll never need, blame yourselves for not putting those things to use in everyday life.

If you're in highschool, just study instead of goofing off like an idiot in all honesty. You're going to have to take certain classes whether you like it or not. You will not know what career you want come time of your senior year, trust me. I switched mine in the middle of college at least three times.

Now I'm finally in computer sciences. I'll have to agree with what was said earlier. When someone says 'most of the stuff you learn in school you never use in life ever again' it's bullshit, excuse the language. You're whining because you don't want to study and you're being lazy.

English is used every freakin' day, isn't it? Learning another language is to help growth and brain development.

Mathematics is mainly for medical and economics, but you do use it. You subtract a certain amount of money everytime you spend it shopping, or you guesstimate how much money it'll take to fill a tank of gas, or how many miles to point a to point b. Word problems, too.

Science you use in the kitchen every day when you cook. Also it can save your life. Such as, "OH SHIT. THERE'S A SNAKE!? What kind is it!? Is it poisonous?!"

History is mainly to educate you about our country. It's helped several youth decide 'I don't want to make the same mistakes that our forefathers did' and join the military. It's helped us learn from mistakes to create change. You think any president became one just because he thought he'd look hot in a suit? No. He did it because he, for some reason, wanted to create a change to better our country (Not saying that too many have actually succeeded, but, it's there).

Physical education is because we don't need a bunch of fat kids running around everywhere. If you haven't noticed, America is the leading country with the highest rate of obesity. You wanna be a part of that number or the other half? Society says that it's not okay to be fat, of course, but what about you? Do you think you need to weigh over 300lbs to be happy? Starting off early with playing outside and running and doing sit-ups builds a stronger immunity and better health.

Art and music - This promotes creativity and a better sense of ones culture. You don't have to be GOOD at art or music to be able to appreciate it. Everytime you turn on the radio, or your iPod or even enjoy a ringtone on your phone, you're appreciating a culture of music. Anytime you think 'Oh wow that tattoo looks really cool!' you're appreciating art. You wouldn't even know what you were looking at, or be able to even remotely understand the purpose of what a musician is saying, or what the artist was doing when he/she was painting.

Each class you take serves a purpose in your life. Some of the material might be too advanced for what you do with you life, but hey.

If you want to flip burgers for the rest of your life, drop out of school and you won't have to worry about it.

If you want a job that pays more than minimum wage, stick with it, otherwise, you'll end up living out of your mother's basement/attic and most likely never be successful in THIS world today.

It may have worked in the past, but, nowadays, no highschool, you're working as a bagger at Kroger.

[Carpe Diem]

I don't think school is a waste of time. Any knowledge gained is good for you. You might not need it in life but it broadens your horizon and your experiences. By taking these useless classes, you will know what you like or dislike.

[Veriantor]

Some classes in school are important. There are some that are not important but they teach anyways. Like math,english is important, I don't see why history is. That's just me.

[Cougati]

I think that we should take all of the basic courses, but not be required to take any more advanced courses unless it interests us or we plan to go into that as a career.

Because half the classes I take are a waste of time, and they're really expensive, so it's just a waste all around.

[Transcendence]

I have thought about it and I have come to this conclusion. That yes some times school is a waste of time. ESPECIALLY if you already know the material. But in evanescence there are always those that cant remember how do add fractions even though they are taught every year. I think that until a system is developed to keep the ones that need to review back and the others can move forward then some will always be wasting their time. Of course the only way this will ever be accomplished is if everything was based off the computer. Because it would take too many resources to teach students on so many different levels of intelligence. So until that day comes, if it ever does...those that are able to learn fast will be wasting their time a lot.

[Jintiuroh]

When you say Freshman year, do you mean High School or College? I mean, as much as ya don't like school, it's necessary to let you know what ya wanna do in life. I know it seems like ya don't need math and stuff, but it's there to show ya that ya don't want a math career.

When it comes to college, however, when you decide what you want to do, the core class requirements are very arbitrary and stupid, I think. I mean personally, I have to take history among other things, and unless it's ART history, I don't think it's very applicable to an ART DEGREE.

School's necessary to a great degree, but there is a point you should just take the classes you need.

[glimpse]

I'm very touchy about learning history in school, just because.

1. These things happened before you were born and created the enviornment you live in now. They are the history of your parents, your grandparents, and everyone around you. They are how the world used to be, what it once came from. They are facts. They are true.

I think only really self-centered or just straight out lazy/uneducated people wouldn't care about that.

2. Many mistakes were made in the past, bad things that happened. It's important to have knowledge of those things to both form your own beliefs and prevent them from happening again. I'm sure you've heard that before right? There are parallels between situations you have seen or who you, yourself, are and the lives and events that are well known in history.

3. History can be a source of inspiration. Great men have existed in the past, spanning far before any of us could hope to remember without being 'forced' to learn about it in school.

I don't know, though. I never quite understood the argument for NOT learning history in school. Yes, it may not directly affect what you're going to do [or at least what you THINK you're going to do] in life, but it affects YOU at your core [or at least it should]. I'm sure all the great scientists and inventors looked into their pasts for inspiration, for ideas and knowledge. And so on. And so on.

Plus, you know. I mean. Come on. It's not boring. It can't be any more boring than Harry Potter or Hannah Montana or any other fictional universe. Seriously, if you find fictional world more interesting than your own, then please pretend the past is from some distant planet or whatever. At least then you'll learn something that's true and not just make believe.

[/touchy subject]

I agree with Jintiuroh though, that the classes in high school can help you figure out what you DON'T want to do [I never thought of it that way, that's awesome].

I don't know how I feel about college though since you're paying big bucks for those classes. D::: I think I agree with Cougati.

[Cougati]

The thing about history though, in my opinion (And I adore history) is that we only learn it from one side.

That's always bothered me. Who are we to say the way things happened, if you aren't going to bother learning about it from the other point of view. If I'm going to learn about something, I want to LEARN about it. You know?

Especially with history.