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Old 10-04-2017, 06:41 AM
 
Location: Gulf Coast
1,257 posts, read 884,318 times
Reputation: 2011

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Quote:
Originally Posted by kokonutty View Post
Strange that you've called math courses useless and now you say you wanted to investigate crimes. Just yesterday I used the Pythagorean Theorem, learned over fifty years ago, to determine the straight line distance from a 32nd floor window to a point at ground level across the street determined by using the scale on a Google map.
I said Algebra was useless in my day to day life. I never use it. I regularly use Accounting, Business Math /Consumer Math. My children are very good with Math ... two of them took Civil Service Exams and scored very high. My oldest son got into the Union as an Electrical Apprentice, hoping to become a Master Electrician.

Just because I haven't personally found Algebra to be necessary in my life does not mean our children haven't learned it (and learned it WELL). Perhaps some are confused on that point. The purpose of the thread was to get a general, overall consensus. It has in fact, confirmed my suspicions.

My husband is also very good with Math, and has never used Algebra in his day to day life after high school. He was a top selling real estate broker / owner for 14 years, making six figures, and has now been a pastor for several years.

Last edited by SouthernProper; 10-04-2017 at 08:05 AM..

 
Old 10-04-2017, 06:47 AM
 
Location: Gulf Coast
1,257 posts, read 884,318 times
Reputation: 2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by tnff View Post
Rightly or wrongly, the idea behind weeding out is to eliminate those who don't have what it takes to succeed in a STEM career as early as possible rather than expend resources getting them halfway through only to find they've hit a brick was and can't advance. Pretty much anyone who has graduated in a STEM field can remember at least one weed out class. The one where the professor starts the first class with the old joke -- "look at the person on each side of you. Only one of you will be here by the end of the semester." Only, the professor isn't joking. And the next three and a half months are pure h-e-$-$ as singly, and sometimes twos and threes, people drop until less than a third are left. That was the introductory course. The real courses got progressively harder from there. Of the lecture hall full of us who started on day one, four graduated with a degree in that field. The others either changed majors to something other than STEM or dropped out completely.
You explained that very well, thank you! That makes so much more sense than, "Their job isn't to educate, but to eliminate."
 
Old 10-04-2017, 06:57 AM
 
Location: Gulf Coast
1,257 posts, read 884,318 times
Reputation: 2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by thelogo View Post
It is unbelievable the things we see today, and from somebody who is supposed to be teaching! Can't even get a simple point, maybe I should have written it in 1st grade language.

The most useful subjects are the ones in which the process is emphasized, not the content.

All content given depends on the person and is secondary.

However, nowadays things are backwards. The content has taken first place and the person is secondary.
I get it. You're nasty. No need to keep proving it, but just in case you do, that's what the ignore button is for. Knock yourself out.

Last edited by SouthernProper; 10-04-2017 at 08:00 AM..
 
Old 10-04-2017, 07:08 AM
 
12,687 posts, read 8,919,375 times
Reputation: 34692
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
OK....? Basic grammar (parts of speech) is gradeschool material. (Or is supposed to be.) What you need to know for HS composition is stuff like dangling participles, parallel construction, and so forth. So, they didn't teach you that kind of thing?
They covered those things. Sort of. A lot of time was spent on what they called formal writing using the forms of "to be" and a third person voice, as in this sentence. With the belief that longer and more complex sentences were a good thing. In contrast much real world writing is short, concise, and active.
 
Old 10-04-2017, 07:26 AM
 
3,271 posts, read 2,179,382 times
Reputation: 2458
How is algebra not useful?
 
Old 10-04-2017, 07:36 AM
 
Location: Gulf Coast
1,257 posts, read 884,318 times
Reputation: 2011
Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their personal experiences ... what was beneficial for you, and what was not so much. The discussion was helpful to me, I have the information I need moving forward. Your kind and thoughtful replies are most appreciated. Moving on now.
 
Old 10-04-2017, 07:40 AM
 
1,347 posts, read 939,720 times
Reputation: 3958
Most Useful:
Math - this was my college major, got me a very good career.
Foreign Language - probably because my high school had a fabulous French teacher, so I thoroughly enjoyed it and ended up studying abroad for a year. Helped with verbal skills, communication, cultural understanding.
Typing

Mixed:
Phys Ed - like others have said, not much actual physical education in general PE classes. However, I did take a semester of Aerobics and that had value, because we were actually all exercising (like a h.s. Jazzercise class). One of our projects was to choreograph a routine (and I still dabble in choreography).

Least Useful:
History - could have been useful, but this was a blow-off class at my h.s. I spent the hour doing math homework that had been assigned from the period before that.
English - again, could have been useful, but we read a lot of off-the-wall books and not enough of the mainstream classics. So I went to college with a very shallow background, i.e. I didn't get a lot of the literary references b/c I hadn't read many of those books/plays/etc (whereas most of my classmates had).
Shop - this was actually jr. high, but we basically just made some things out of wood using various saws and other tools that I would never see outside of the classroom. Mine weren't very good.
 
Old 10-04-2017, 07:41 AM
 
1,347 posts, read 939,720 times
Reputation: 3958
Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthernProper View Post
Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their personal experiences ... what was beneficial for you, and what was not so much. The discussion was helpful to me, I have the information I need moving forward. Your kind and thoughtful replies are most appreciated. Moving on now.
Sorry I was typing my response when you posted this.
 
Old 10-04-2017, 07:45 AM
 
Location: Gulf Coast
1,257 posts, read 884,318 times
Reputation: 2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by IndyDancer View Post
Sorry I was typing my response when you posted this.
I just saw it, thank you so much!
 
Old 10-04-2017, 09:43 AM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,707 posts, read 79,562,447 times
Reputation: 39445
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jobster View Post
How is algebra not useful?
I have never used it. (Because I never took the class). Never missed it. I wold not attempt complex formulas if I needed them. I would look to an expert in doing complex formulas. Simple formulas - the need has never come up. Or maybe I use them when I use some of the features of Excel, not sure if that is algebra, but the computer does it for me.
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