I am not a nerd but I have to say that in ways I enjoy school. I like my school and my teachers. Learning isn't always that bad, and I don't dread school.

However, I wonder sometimes if there is a point to some of the subjects taught. For example, with history. Now I am a good student in history and make straight A's in history. However: if you are applying for a job as a store clerk, why do you need to know about the Revolutionary War?

And if you have spent years in Medical School and are a doctor, a heart surgeon, then why do you need to know how to play Handbells??

Please post what you think.

This post has been edited by seez: Apr 8 2007, 12:22 AM

Okay, this is true, and, actually, if you're not planning on going on to college, you really shouldn't even be in high school - it's be better to be starting an apprenticeship or something. But if you're going into college,

1) You likely don't know what you plan to do yet and therefore should be exposed to a variety of fields
2) By taking history classes you have more of a background to understanding current events, assuming you're not the typical apathetic american or whatever. When someone mentions the vietnam war you should know what they're talking about.
3) Personally, I think if you're not planning on going into a scientific field, math above geometry isn't really going to be useful, so... fwah.
4) Don't say you're not a nerd, because if you say that that means you probably are and just don't want to be. Don't try to be something you're not, because that's way worse than being dorky. And just because you enjoy school doesn't mean you're a nerd anyways. I like school because I get to have fun with friends.

I do share the point as cangor. I assume that you are still in high school, exposing you to different fields would do you good. Be it Literature, History, Geography ... etc these are to broaden your choices and find out what you want to do. In a way, history is important if you want to become a politician, it is imperative for you to know what happens because history is simple in a sense that it tells you a simple logic: what were the mistakes of your forefathers and how you can help to prevent them.

As you go college, you would be able to choose where you want to major in. That is the big difference, in high school, you are just being taught the basics or should I say fundamentals to go further in your studies. So don't worry about it, enjoy high school because college is a lot different where you are exposed to more technical stuff related to what you are trying to major in.

When I was in Polytechnic, studying IT. I was given modules like critical reasoning skills and creativity-related stuff, those were totally irrelevant to what I was majoring in. I always question why am I studying something not related to my major, however when you look back and think about it; it never hurts to have an additional skill, it will help you in the long run.

This post has been edited by darran: Apr 8 2007, 11:30 AM

Also, learning history is a way to make sure humans don't repeat mistakes. Many of my history teachers told me that and I believe them. History does have a tendency to repeat itself, and knowledge is the way to stop that.

I think that schools should teach students the basics. Teach kids how to read and write. Teach them basic math (through simple algebra, perhaps). And once a student learns these things, he or she can go off and explore whatever is interesting. I've always hated math. I don't use anything beyond fractions, so why did I have to learn this other junk? Why do I still have to take an algebra course in college? I don't know. If I need it, I can figure it out when I need it. And if I never use it, then making me learn it was a waste of time and money as far as I'm concerned.

See...the students who are in K-12 don't yet know what they want to do with their lives. So they need to be taught the basics. Then, when they're able to read and write and such, they can go off and learn about whatever is interesting to them. Example: because I always loved English, I spent tons of time reading and writing. And now I'm a freelance writer (and English major with a minor in creative writing). I'm doing what I was always interested in doing. I was homeschooled (well, "unschooled" is a bit more accurate), so I learned the basics and then spent a lot of time doing what I really wanted to do. I played baseball. I read an obscene number of books (at least 100 per year - at the very least). I wrote essays and short stories and such. I played basketball. I learned basic cooking. I...you get the idea.

As for history: I learned about that when I became interested in a specific period. I was interested in the Holocaust when I was in my early teens, so I absorbed as much as I could about it. Later, I was interested in military history, so I spent a lot of time on that. Texas Rangers (law enforcement) was another one of my history-related interests.

I think, that all of those subjects, like History, Chemistry and some others are given with the purpose of exert the discipline on the students, i mean, those subjects make the school harder, so that makes us put all our efforts on it.
But well its also annoying to know that you are being forced to learn something that you may never use, specially when that subject is as hard for you and the teachers make you take extra classes or courses.
By the way, i enjoy the school too, but only because I have fun on it with my friends and the sports we do I seriously dont enjoy learning.

I think just about every subject in secondary school has a point. Math, Grammar, Comprehension, Foreign Languages are quite essential in teaching the basics of life. Geography and History explains how this world came to be what it is today (through human mistakes). Gym/P.E. and Health teach you about the human body. Even the Art subjects allows one to express creativity.

The reason you learn about topics that my not be relavent to you depending on what you are going to do in life is a very simple question with a simple answer. The more diverse your learning it, the more parts of the brain you are utilizing. The more you work you brain in different ways, the better you end up getting at handling different situations that may utilize that part of the brain. Plus, how would you know what you like doing if you dont try as much of it as possible. Even though you may not know the immediate purpose of something, it may come in handy in the future and you never will know. Like history for example will show you what as humans we have done right, what we have done wrong, and what we could have improved. This might spark a brilliant idea in which you could market, it will show you what should never be done / repeating because we already know the result, or it just could be something that allows you to win a contest. The more you learn, the better off you will be and the more well rounded you will be. These are traits schools and jobs look at because if you are the biggest nerd and only know 1 thing and are not personable, who will wnat to work with you? Life is about interactions and the more ways you are able to interact, the better off you will be.