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30 Things Taught In School That Raise The Question “What Was The Point?” As Shared By People In This Online Group
School is all about learning things, and the more you learn, the smarter you’ll be, right? Well, some don’t really agree that everything taught in schools is actually useful in life.
Folks on AskReddit have been listing and discussing things and topics that are taught in schools that are actually pretty, if not completely, useless given what you actually end up using in real life.
Reddit user u/highnrgy asked the lovely people of Reddit what’s the most useless thing they teach in school?, getting over 17,700 responses with nearly 35,000 upvotes on the post.
Bored Panda has gathered the best responses and turned it into a neat curated list below, so be sure to scroll through it and give your two cents on the topic in the comment section.
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#1
In my experience, the way gym and PE were taught were pretty useless because they never taught us how to train or improve our athletic abilities. It was just weeks of half heartedly playing basketball with minimal adult supervision, and then one day we had to run a mile and the coaches would go out of their way to humiliate anyone who couldn't just get up and run a mile under 10 minutes with no training or preparation. It put me off running and exercise in general for a long time.
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#2
That your entire self worth is based off of a letter and score.
#3
“Cheaters never prosper.” Yeah cheating is bad, but trust me, they prosper.
#4
That classical literature is the end all be all of reading. I get some books have cultural significance, but that doesn't warrant a 6 week in depth analysis of a book kids can't relate to, with most being about challenges they will never face, culminating in an essay that's basically "I understood it" repeated over and over backed up by quotes.
If you want your kids to never touch a book in their lives ever again, THAT is how you do it.
#5
That learning how to pass tests is more important than actually gaining knowledge.
LeighAnne Brown-Pedersen 3 years ago
Ok…unpopular opinion, sometimes this one is needed. Like if you are good at X, but freeze during tests but need to pass a certification test for X, sometimes test taking skills are necessary, briefly.
#6
That you have to "ignore" bullies and/or forgive them. In real outside world if you bully someone you will:
- Get slapped across the face
- Get kicked in your butt
- Fired from work Or
- Shunned and made fun of.
#7
This is going to sound stupid, but history the way it's taught is basically meaningless.
A long category of dates and events without context or real discussion. The vast majority of history is trivia, because the real story is the cyclical nature of events, the rise and fall of empires, the periods of enlightenment and advance and the reactionary times that bookend them.
You learn that there used to be this thing called "yellow journalism" but you don't learn that what kicked it off was the sudden availability and popularity of newspapers, and nobody draws the EXTREMELY OBVIOUS parallel to our modern blog driven media. If I told you that in the mid to late 1800s (when newsprint was blowing up) that it was extremely common for papers to blatantly copy each others stories with added editorial bias tailored to their viewers...Sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?
Drawing parallels between the robber barons of the late 1800s and the current ones. Drawing parallels between the labor movements of that era, and the ones that are growing again today. S!@#s relevant, and important to realize in context.
But no. Just memorize some f!@#$%g dates and names, so you'll have some s!@t to spout at trivia night later.
Mary Rose Kent 3 years ago
So totally true. The book that turned me on to history was William Manchester’s brilliant *The Glory and the Dream* which came out in 1974 and covered American history from 1932 to 1972. Those years encompassed the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, the rise of the industrial state, and was written as a series of events presented in chronological order, showing how one inexorably led to the other. And here and there a person, place, or thing would be highlighted in a small portrait...the Studebaker sticks in my brain as one of these portraits. I think the rise of unions might be in there. I think I’ve read everything he’s written. A World Lit Only By Fire is another great one. If you want to learn history as a series of stories, William Manchester is your go-to author.
#8
"The bell doesn't dismiss you; I do."
Of course the bell dismisses you. What you're being prepared for, however, is a lifetime of bosses telling you that coming in 15 minutes before your shift, and staying 10 minutes after, doesn't count as overtime and doesn't need to be paid. That it's okay to violate that safety rule on-site because OSHA isn't paying you, I am, and the customer is waiting on you.
Basically, anytime an authority figure isn't following the rules they themselves set for everyone, you are being trained to accept that behavior in your adult life.
#9
I graduated in 1991 for context and, while living in Phoenix, they taught us square dancing in gym class. I must say though that the most useful skill that I was taught at that school that I use every single day is typing.
#10
Sex and drug education. The entire lesson plan is:
"Just don't do it."
F!@#$%g bulls!@t.
#11
I feel like almost everything has some value, but I really really wished that they taught highschool classes on Operating Systems, Excel, and an introduction to programming and logic.
I learned it all in college, but Excel saved me a ton of time on homework. Programming played a much greater role than I could have imagined, and highschool left me unprepared for that.
Robert T 3 years ago
Well I did a course when I was 15-16 to learn Word Processing, Spreadsheets and simple Databases, simply to play with the computers. Don't laugh, but I got an 'F'! Mainly because it was assessed on typing accuracy and not my understanding of what I was using. I also didn't take the 3rd module, so the highest I could get was a 'D'. From 17-18 I did a Computing qualification which did actually involve programming, but sadly back in the 1980s, it was a case of teach-the-teacher - my programming skills were already way above what the course was teaching - but at least I got a piece of paper to say that I could do it. I then went on to do a degree in Computer Science. So much better for kids now, learning to program with Raspberry Pi's and the like.
#12
In the U.S., probably the Pledge of Allegiance.
We did that every day from first grade through 12th grade. Let's say it took a minute per day. That's five minutes a week. Every 12 weeks, that's an hour. You're in school roughly 36 weeks a year, so that's 3 hours a year. Multiplied by 12 years and that's about 36 hours of your youth academic career spent talking to a flag.
Emma Rodrigues 3 years ago (edited)
Everyone in my class just straight up refuses to do it, we just keep doing the warm up.
#13
‘You won’t have a calculator in your pocket in the real world!’
Yes, I know how do do math, I’m an engineer and I like math theory, I promise I’m not a brain dead mobile addict.
Jigsaw's Puzzle 3 years ago
Yes you will. People don't calculate the trajectories of rockets on paper lol.
#15
The way the US public school system teaches it, Spanish. You learn it maybe half a year then forget it over the summer. You’d think with years of education we’d be better Spanish speakers but it’s essentially useless the way it’s taught.
#16
American history. For gawd's sake most americans can't find one other country on the map so why keep navel gazing, why not teach students about other countries, culture, and language? Met some guy in grad school who was doing his thesis on General Hooker's buttons. Why, just why?
#17
They mostly taught us to ask permission in order to use the bathroom.
#18
I was taught that Columbus knew that the world was round, but everyone else thought it was flat. So, yeah... That.
#19
The amount they teach shakespeare. Like, sure once is probably good, not every year grade 9 to 12.
#20
hizzoze said:
That hiding under your desk will keep you safe from bombs and tornadoes. (Yes I know what it's actually for, it's just always been a silly visual.)
vegdeg responded:
That wasn't the lesson you could have learned.
The real lesson was that people tend to panic, and panicking causes unpredictable and dangerous behavior. When you drill an action that makes a population feel like they have self control over a situation, they will tend to follow that.
Same as with patients and a disease - so often there is conflict between clinician and patient because the clinician will see it as the patient not being able to do anything (medically proven at least) - whereas the patient is looking for some agency, some self control over a situation, even if that is drinking carrot juice or whatever. This helps explain the multitude of holistic medicines and why they are popular - because there is always something you can do (or feel like there is) to have agency in a difficult situation.
As others have said - the lesson wasn't always literally the subject matter/what was being taught.
#21
That conduct grades matter. I have a friend whose child got a "needs improvement" conduct grade. WTF is that about? If her 8 year old is causing problems, address it then. Why wait 9 weeks and slip it onto the report card? My friend is also a teacher and completely agreed with me. I got plenty of "unsatisfactory" conduct grades in school and yet I still managed to get a college degree and have a career. Screw that nonsense.
Jeweled Dragon 3 years ago
I was graded on "friendliness." I got " unsatisfactory" for several years. Well excuse me for being bullied every day and having major trust issues and social anxiety because of it. Damn positivity project.
#22
They don't do it anymore, but back around 2000 in health class we all had to plan a wedding. Like, pair up and budget out a rental space, food, rings, etc.
Looking back: What. The. F@#k?
NsG 3 years ago
Maybe the subject matter (a wedding) is a bit skewed, especially if it's repeated, but event planning such as this is a hugely important skill. We did a cookie business - come up with a recipe, work out prices, including overheads and advertising, put forward a business case for a loan (even though in reality it was our parents providing the materials). Then bake and sell and report back how successful we were. To be honest, I would have preferred the wedding planning as I was partnered with someone who could burn water!
#23
My biology teacher was supposed to teach us evolution, but had us memorize a bunch of birds in the process?
A pop quiz would be him walking into the classroom with a boombox, hitting play, and he'd play some chirping noises that he recorded himself. He'd ask us to write down the scientific name of the bird. Or he'd show us a drawing of a bird and tell us to write down the common name of it. It was a mix.
But that's it. There wasn't any question about evolution on the quiz at all. It was entirely about memorizing birds.
This was the class that broke me. When we studied the cell, I got a 97 for the semester. When we studied evolution, I felt like a dog jumping through a hoop on command and decided I wasn't going to memorize birds. F@#k you, flunk me.
I would leave the quizzes blank on purpose.
#24
I grew up in Massachusetts, so maybe this is skewed because of the proximity to early settler and revolutionary war sites, but EVERY year in history, from like 1st grade to 12th, we learned the same stuff on the early settlers to revolutionary war. That would be the majority of all history classes. Yes, it’s very important history (and I do thoroughly enjoy history and that time period in particular) but when it’s all that’s covered and everything else is glossed over, it doesn’t feel like we learned as much as we should have. It was also always taught through rose colored glasses.
Jaguarundi 3 years ago
I didn't learn about the "Spanish American War" until I was out of school and an adult. CT schools.
#25
They taught competitive cup stacking in my elementary school. Still have no idea why. This was in central Canada, but clearly it was widespread across a lot of North America.
#26
Hi, language teacher in the uk.
This is more what they don't teach but....
They often teach the rise of the British empire but seldom about the fall. Which leads students with a very British centric approach to a lot of their studies. I'm aware of this in languages but I've seen this in history, RE and even English language. I'm not blaming the teachers or the students, the curriculum is f!@#$d. But as a result from this I hear way too often "learning X language is pointless, everyone speaks English!"
#27
For me it was social studies, specifically politics that only really focuses on the 50s-70s and ignores everything else and tries to use the period of time where people literally couldn't lose money on anything and use it to justify trickle down economics of today's society as a good blueprint for running a country.
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
I'm too old for this, but I can totally see how this would work. "Oh, see that nice way it worked that we totally skewed for our trickle-down economic fantasy?"
#28
How to say and spell antidisestablishmentarianism.
#29
My 1st grade teacher told us if you go outside and stand really still, you can feel the earth rotating...
#30
Three simple words... "Five paragraph essays."
English being the only class that is/was required during all four years of high school, we had it constantly drilled into our heads that it was the only way to submit short papers and that we would need to perfect the application if we wanted to succeed in collage.
First day of Comm 101 in collage while the professor was going over the syllabus, and that everything needed to be submitted in MLS format, someone asked what MLS was. The professor stopped, "Let me say this to all of you that graduated high school last year and are just starting your collegiate lives... if ANYONE turns in a paper in five paragraph format you will fail the assignment."
Found out from everyone I knew that was taking other professors for English or Communication classes that they got told the same thing.
What do you think ?
Maiun 3 years ago
Why aren't financial literacy and self defence on the curriculum? Much more useful than trigonometry or hockey.
Tami 3 years ago (edited)
But trig applies to so many fields! Astronomy, geography, satellite navigation, computer music, chemistry, medical imaging, electronics, electrical engineering, civil engineering, architecture, mechanical engineering, oceanography, seismology, phonetics, image compression, game development, the list goes on. I used it in both of the tech jobs I had.
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Bill Evs 3 years ago
One thing I've understood about schooling in hindsight is a LOT of it is just teaching you how to pass exams. The emphasis seems to be on learning chucks of information that can be parroted back based in an established testing curriculum rather than imparting the knowledge AND methods for problem solving in a real application of learned information. Does that make sense (just read it back myself and I'm not sure but I hope you're getting what I mean)
tuzdayschild 3 years ago
We may never use some of the things we learned in school but having the knowledge expands our minds.
Maiun 3 years ago
Why aren't financial literacy and self defence on the curriculum? Much more useful than trigonometry or hockey.
Tami 3 years ago (edited)
But trig applies to so many fields! Astronomy, geography, satellite navigation, computer music, chemistry, medical imaging, electronics, electrical engineering, civil engineering, architecture, mechanical engineering, oceanography, seismology, phonetics, image compression, game development, the list goes on. I used it in both of the tech jobs I had.
Load More Replies... Bill Evs 3 years ago
One thing I've understood about schooling in hindsight is a LOT of it is just teaching you how to pass exams. The emphasis seems to be on learning chucks of information that can be parroted back based in an established testing curriculum rather than imparting the knowledge AND methods for problem solving in a real application of learned information. Does that make sense (just read it back myself and I'm not sure but I hope you're getting what I mean)
tuzdayschild 3 years ago
We may never use some of the things we learned in school but having the knowledge expands our minds.
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