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keeps you occupied for 8 hours or so, socialization, oh yeah and to learn stuff (the point of school in general)
that way when you get out in the real world hopefully you're used to getting up early in the morning and going to a job for 8 hours, interacting with people, etc
now once you are out of high school, those 4 years are irrelevant... if someone holds on to them well into adulthood then you have issues
Thank you for reading this thread, I'm going to go ahead and junp right in
I'm in highschool right now, so I go through these things day to day, and I know how it is, so let me just say that before I go on my rant.
First off. The things that you "learn" in highschool will never and I mean NEVER be something you will need later on in life. Unless we are talking about something along the lines of woodshop where you learn how to fix household items and things like that. But the math, the science, the reading classes, and the languages, etc are a complete waste of your time. Let me say this though so you don't think I hate school all together. I think some of what you learn in kindergarden to atleast 7th to 8th grade is usefu, (ABC's, 2+2=4) the BASIC knowledge that you will indeed need to know in your life in order to go anywhere, yes, i think that is a must. But the way I feel about highschool... I'm honestly sad to say this myself, in the 3 years I have been in highschool I cannot name a single USEFUL thing that they try to force upon students. Highschool seems to me like just something for kids 14 to 18 years old to do. Like they want to just keep us busy for those 4 years. What I'm about to talk about are my experiences, so my details are just what I have gone through since I started highschool
ENGLISH: Well first off, since 9th grade (3 years ago) We have done just a touch of your basic grammer (things you learned in 5th or 6th grade) and the rest has either been stories that were written so long ago that the teacher has to stop reading between sentences to explain to the class what the hell the character in the story is talking about, or Greek Mythology.... Now I'm no expert on English and grammer, but I am not seeing how Greek Mythology aka things that never happend relates to spelling, writing, etc. How as a teacher are you going to fail me because on a test I dont remember what greek god had what powers? How does that knowledge help me in any way shape or form? It doesn't. And every single year since 9th grade we have read Romeo and Juliet... for 3 years straight I have had to read that god awful story, where they speak in riddles. The point I'm trying to get across here is that English class in highschool really isn't what it is supposed to be i my opinion.
MATH: I'm going to keep this short and simple. I have never opened a check book and saw (4x+2x= 53x) or anything like that. If you can Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide... I think that is all you need to make it in the real world as far as math (depending on your future plans) which doesn't matter in school because you are forced to learn and be tested on it anyway. A normal person doesnt need to know the circumfrence of a trapazoid.
OTHER THOUGHTS: Who do you know who speaks a foreign language and is GOOD AT IT because of highschool? I'm going to guess none, because they don't teach you to speak the language, they teach you sentences and such, which is difficult (the way they teach it) and its just plain useless, again depending on your future plans.
School rules are also stupid, you are forced to go to school, just to be slapped in the face with rules like: wearing an ID, uniform, no facial hair, no talking, no phone, no eating (while your teacher eats a bag of chips and drinks a diet coke), hair length, hair color, etc. Just ridiculous rules that no kid should have to deal with.
I could go on all day about the things wrong with the educational system now adays, but I will end it at that. Feel free to comment your opinions, and Thank You for reading.
#1) You are in high school. What you know about life and the education you'll need to navigate it would fit on the head of a pin.
#2) If in doubt, refer to #1.
If I had $1 for every time I heard some mouthy, know-it-all whelp talk about how school wasn't remotely relevant to his or her life, I'd have a ton of money right now. Let's get started.
English. Sure, you don't need literature. But you'll be an intellectually impoverished clod as an adult. What's more, Greek mythology is critical to understanding almost all literature prior to 1800, for the ancient legends are continuously referenced. Don't know who Priam is? Or Dido? Or Zeus? Good luck understanding Shakespeare. Oh, and if you could possibly pry your eyes from your freaking iPhone for about 20 seconds, you'd realize that literature is more than brilliant writing. Instead, it's about understanding how to put thoughts on paper in ways that are convincing and memorable.
Math. Man, I majored in English. But a day doesn't go by where I don't use the principles of algebra, whether in calculating how quickly I'll get to my destination or marking up a vendor invoice for billing to one of my clients. Same is true of geometry.
The School Rules. Yeah, I get that. Sometimes stupid and arbitrary. Guess what? A lot of life is that way. Every job has them, so get used to them.
Here's the thing. Your job at this point in life is to shut up, sit down, and learn. What you don't realize that this very moment of your life is about the easiest it will ever be. Hell's bells, all you have to do is attend class, pay attention, do a little homework, and follow some pretty freaking easy rules.
And if you don't like all this regimentation, all the more reason to buckle down and do your work. Because the better your grades, the more opportunities you have in college and beyond. And the better your opportunities, the more financial independence and autonomy you get. Right now, with that attitude, you're pretty much doomed to a life on an assembly line somewhere. And if you don't like regimentation, you're going to be getting a whole lot more of it pretty darned soon.
I can't say I disagree with you on the math part. You need the math so you can do more math in college, if you are college bound.
One of the purposes of HS is to expose you to various cultures, thoughts, and ideas. Being educated and having some critical thinking skills means that you don't believe the Earth is only 6,000 years old, or that Adam and Eve rode around on dinosaurs.
Employers have "stupid rules" too, so get used to them.
What do you want to do when you graduate high school?
Thank you for reading this thread, I'm going to go ahead and junp right in
I'm in highschool right now, so I go through these things day to day, and I know how it is, so let me just say that before I go on my rant.
I will agree that high school was somewhere between 40% and 60% a waste of time.
I liked math and sciences and got straight A's in them except junior year when the math instructor was an AH. I got A's on the tests but if I didn't turn in enough homework that he didn't even collect 2/3rds of the time then I got a B.
The problem is that schools are mostly designed to create jobs for teachers and psychologically condition children to be subservient to AUTHORITY. If they learn something useful then that is nice.
That is why we need a National Recommended Reading List so smart kids can learn useful stuff without the morons in AUTHORITY.
I needed the math and science for Electrical Engineering. But even in college teachers know how to make the most interesting things really BORING. For me science fiction made science more interesting than science teachers.
Part of the problem with being a kid is that you think adults know what they are doing. At some age you start to realize that most of them don't have a clue but pretend that they do. And then we have this technology changing everything.
Good Luck!
psik
PS - The funny thing about this web site is so many oldsters come here and ***** about the schools but don't provide any information about ANYTHING that might actually be of use. If someone could have told me the right books to read since 5th grade that would have been more useful than all of the time I spent in school.
Last edited by psikeyhackr; 10-25-2014 at 08:58 AM..
There are tech, science, college prep and vocational ed plus military based.
Sounds like you may be in the wrong track as far as studies?
Part of school is about learning to follow direction, meet deadlines, complete assignments, resource, etc. and this does not count the entire social/maturing aspect.
From my own experience I would say my High School education to be fundamentally necessary... university degree not nearly as much EXCEPT that it opens the doors to new worlds which in and of itself is a big deal.
Plenty of notables that dropped out of college... hard to find any that dropped out of High School in the last 50 years or so.
There are tech, science, college prep and vocational ed plus military based.
Sounds like you may be in the wrong track as far as studies?
Some school districts also have an alternative school. Some of the people posting here sound as though they needed an environment that was more experiential and exploratory, with hands-on learning, instead of conventional teaching. Students who don't fit into the conventional model tend to do well in alternative schools. They're not so regimented, so kids' natural curiosity is supported, rather than killed. You don't hear comments like "the teachers manage to make even the most interesting subjects boring" in alternative schools.
College algebra Or HS algebra doesnt not make someone more eduacated than the next person.......as I could care less if my kids learn geomotry or not.
This is the reason why the asians and indians have come and are coming to the United States and taking all of the higher paying jobs.
Our kids in the united states cannot even compete when it comes to math and science and it is because of shear laziness and lack of understanding by parents.
I teach at the college level and it seems like every year the american kids are getting dumber and dumber.
If you are a parent...my recommendation would be to focus helping your kids excel in math, reading, and writing.
You want to set your kids up for success. give them a chance to compete for the best jobs when they graduate.
Last edited by usamathman; 10-25-2014 at 02:28 PM..
This is the reason why the asians and indians have come and are coming to the United States and taking all of the higher paying jobs.
Our kids in the united states cannot even compete with it comes to math and science and it is because of shear laziness and lack of understanding by parents.
I teach at the college level and it seems like every year the american kids are getting dumber and dumber.
If you are a parent...my recommendation would be to focus helping your kids excel in math, reading, and writing.
You want to set your kids up for success. give them a chance to compete for the best jobs when they leave your.
It's true, a lot of American parents have strange attitudes towards achievement. Just look at the "Homework = busywork?" thread, and the whole anti-homework movement. The parents I've known who spur their kids to do well in all subjects are mainly the upper-crust parents. They want to make sure their kids get the high-end lawyer, corporate exec, banker and engineering jobs. I'm mystified by how many parents these days are happy setting their kids up for failure, or mediocrity at best, IF that.
I'm in highschool right now, so I go through these things day to day, and I know how it is, so let me just say that before I go on my rant.
First off. The things that you "learn" in highschool will never and I mean NEVER be something you will need later on in life
lmao
you have a time machine? if you are in high school currently then you have no real life experience
you can only confirm these assumptions once you get out of school and get some years of life under your belt paying some bills, getting a crib, getting a job etc etc
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