The Rant Thread/My Life Sucks Topic [Don't be pricks]

[Trainer Ave]

What doesn't help though is that high schools teach us things that will never use again. These subjects are simply mandatory for no apparent reason. Meanwhile there are plenty of things (such as communication and money management) that are not taught in schools at all but will be used literally every day for the rest of our lives. The purpose of a school should be to prepare students for the real world. In reality the only purpose schools in America (and as far as I can tell, the UK as well) seem to be serving is to ensure that we have higher test scores than any other country. Students are not taught how to get a job, how to vote, how to manage money, how to parent, their human rights, the laws of their country, first aid, practical medicines, how the political system works, how to communicate, how to parent or how to cook. You could say that this is the responsibility of the parents but a few problems with that are boarding schools, parents who are too lazy, parents who are too busy, and children who don't have any parents at all. Are we to say that a person's success in the real world should depend on luck? No. The education system needs to change so that students are taught things that are actually practical instead of things that they will NEVER USE AGAIN. If you cannot explain why a subject is applicable to most people's lives, that subject should not be mandatory. Introduce those topics? Yes. But a student should CHOOSE to learn more.

[Zunawe]

While I agree not enough is done in the education system to prepare people for society, the vast majority of mandatory education is incredibly valuable. The point is not to make sure you know the difference between Florine and Floride for the rest of your life; it's to give you the exposure to the field and give you some idea of how the science works. You're not meant to remember specifically what the red hunting hat symbolizes, you're supposed to develop the skills to analyze anything that's ever been written. We learn history to understand how humans have behaved in the past, and how future decisions will change the world. I wouldn't be in support of dropping calculus as a high school course to implement a class about finances, or getting rid of a literature course for a formal etiquette course. We're moving toward becoming more educated as a species, so replacing academic learning with practical learning feels like taking a step backward. Especially because nobody is going to teach themselves calculus, but everybody at some point will learn how to manage money to a degree.

What I'm trying to say is that mandatory school is not at all useless even if the specifics aren't immediately applicable to your goals or interests, and many of these skills you're listing are better learned by experience and through society.

[BlackDragonSlayer]

My knees hurt. My back hurts. My chest hurts. So many stairs.

[Sir Dino]

I'm thinking of dropping one of my classes with a W. It's English, the only class I have TTh, and takes too much time out of those two days when I can be hitting the gym or working. I totally agree with Zunawe- yeah some things suck but what are u gonna do, change the whole social conduct that is based on education and having a degree? I'm just stressed like shit.

don't worry, it just gets worse when you enter the real world of weekday 8-5

45 hours a week?ah man..

[mikey]

Zunawe said it well although I wish I had learned more about adulthood in school

[E. Gadd Industries]

My knees hurt. My back hurts. My chest hurts. So many stairs.

My back has hurt much of today and I had a CC race. -_-'

[Trainer Ave]

I'm not saying remove academic learning but I am saying every student does not need to have 8 mandatory semesters of literature, mmath, science, or history. Meanwhile there are a LOT of practical things they could be learning. Why do you think it is that the majority of voters have no idea what they're voting for? Did you know you have 30 human rights? Can you recite them? Money management is a huge problem. A majority of American people are in debt and so is the country itself but if students were taught how to budget that problem would be solved. I obviously won't be able to address every issue in a forum post but I am planning to start a YouTube channel where I will discuss various issues with the education system and various ways to fix them.

[cashwarrior1]

School is made for people to learn "basic academic skills" you need for college. After college, you don't need these skills unless it's in your daily job/schedule. I agree with you, the mandatory things they teach us aren't useful things we need to know as adults.

[Zunawe]

I'm curious, non-Americans, what kinds of social skills have you learned at school that wasn't part of an optional/special interest class? Specifically whether you were taught how to deal with money, taxes, loans, debt, credit, etc...

Again, I would agree that too much of each subject is not necessary for every student, but it's an education they will not receive outside of school. Courses applicable to your field of interest are taken in a higher education where learning about those topics is strictly necessary. But even then, who is going to take classes that aren't relevant unless it's mandatory? Well-roundedness sounds super annoying when applying to colleges and jobs, but isn't it valuable to progress? Engineering and writing don't seem very closely related at a first look because they're very separate topics, but communication drives technology. So if engineers don't have a strong grasp of the English language, the connotations of words they use, wordiness, etc... the progress is slowed and those engineers become less useful to the world and less successful themselves.

Also, most high schools require a semester of government and a semester of economics. A lack of political interest is due to the attitude toward politics in general rather than a lack of education.

Ninja addition: One of my least favorite things to hear is "I'll never use Algebra after high school. It's not useful in the real world." That is so wrong. Everything you learn is useful, and you use it even if you don't realize it. Yes, many high schools focus on preparing their students for college, but that's not its primary function.

[WaluigiTime64]

I'm curious, non-Americans, what kinds of social skills have you learned at school that wasn't part of an optional/special interest class? Specifically whether you were taught how to deal with money, taxes, loans, debt, credit, etc...

Basically none. Maybe the odd one that gets mentioned once by a teacher, but there's nothing in the curriculum that mentions that stuff in detail.

Not that I like that though. I wish we did learn at least something.

[mikey]

The extent of it is usually a FACS class in middle school

[The Deku Trombonist]

At some point in early high school we spent a term looking at elections and all that. But it was mainly a look at the process (vote counting, scrutineers, what a ballot paper looks like), not on the game of politics. We also had an oratory competition every year which we all had to enter. But I'm pretty sure this wasn't the norm. There were some electives available like commerce or accounting but as far as compulsory classes go, it was minimal.

[InsigTurtle]

Over here, each province has its own little quirks with its education system (Québec's high school program ends at Grade 11 (or 5ième secondaire, rather) and then requires Cégep before going on to university), so I can really only compare things to my own province's system. We had a mandatory Social Studies 11 course (and provincial exam) that teaches modern Canadian history, along with things like politics, human geography and some basic economics.

I'm curious, non-Americans, what kinds of social skills have you learned at school that wasn't part of an optional/special interest class? Specifically whether you were taught how to deal with money, taxes, loans, debt, credit, etc...

Here in BC, they have a "Planning" class that's required for graduation, it's grade 10 level, but some people delay it until grade 12. It deals with topics such as finances, relationships, jobs, health, and how to graduate.
But they're completely changing the curriculum the year after I leave, it's going to be a "Career Education" class that I don't know about.

About the curriculum change over here, one of the arguments regarding mandatory math and science courses is that they are necessary to understand a world of increasing technological complexity, which is why they're going to start teaching about elementary particles to grade 8 students either this year or next year. They were also planning on doing special relativity and quantum physics in Grade 8, but it appears that the government has changed its mind. Students just entering high school are probably going to ask, "Why do I need to learn about leptons and quarks? I won't need that in real life", and... For the most part, they probably won't need it.
Actually just a bit salty since I wish I could have learned it in Grade 8

[daj]

I'm curious, non-Americans, what kinds of social skills have you learned at school that wasn't part of an optional/special interest class? Specifically whether you were taught how to deal with money, taxes, loans, debt, credit, etc...

Yay! Sharing time

Talk about education in Singapore and everyone seems to have an opinion. It's, um...a messed-up but efficient system. I'll leave it at that.

To answer the question: no. Nothing at all. We aren't taught how to save our own skin once we get out to the real world. Financial management is something...you know, you kinda figure out. But then again, I think the concepts are drilled into the people with a combination of tight policies (forced savings, for example - google "singapore cpf" and revel in horror) and, maybe less so, Asian cultural values. Being conservative and careful and stuff.

When the government talks about money, it's usually something along the lines of: "we'll take some of your money and give you benefits, and then we'll return it in the future if our economy works out, but ensure you settle your own stuff first. If you can't do that we've got public counselling available..."

So no, we aren't taught social skills at all in class. But I like to think it's subtly drilled into us :p


That being said, I think my limited experiences kinda point to the universal understanding that going out and experiencing the world yourself is the only way to truly learn how to survive. Go get a job, go try making money for yourself before thinking about supporting a family, go figure out a way to build relationships. Make mistakes - reflect on them if you're humble enough. Trust in others because chances are you're clueless, but get out there.

Y'know, I think there comes a point where you can't "teach" social values anymore. Throwing people out on reins and letting them educate themselves along the way is probably the way to go~

[WaluigiTime64]

Y'know, I think there comes a point where you can't "teach" social values anymore. Throwing people out on reins and letting them educate themselves along the way is probably the way to go~

inb4 the dreaded "I told you so!" comment from someone who tried to warn you.