Tell us something you learnt in school that you have never had any use for.

In primary school I memorised all of Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem Jabberwocky. I can recite it to this day but cannot find an audience.

In secondary school I learnt to do square roots using a long division technique and how to use log tables to calculate answers to four significant figures. Technology quickly made both skills obsolete.

I also learnt a lot of the chemistry of the element chlorine. Not sure why, I've never used it.
 
Warrigal said:
Aaaarrrgh!
How can you say that?

Like Euclidean geometry it is exercise for developing minds.
How can we encourage young people to study STEM subjects if we don't develop the necessary thinking skills?
Click to expand...
i never mastered Algebra and it's not been a problem!!!!
 
I failed Algebra, I could see the correct answer but I could not document the steps to get to the answer. I'm glad I got outta school before Common Core!

IMO once you get past the basic readin', writin' and rithmatic the rest is not very important. The training was the important part. Things like showing up on time, being prepared, public speaking, learning to be part of a group, developing memorization skills, analytical skills, etc...
 
Warrigal said:
In primary school I memorised all of Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem Jabberwocky. I can recite it to this day but cannot find an audience.
.
Click to expand...

Oh my heavens, me too!!! I loved that poem. There was a hymn that we sang frequently in church that you could sing "Jabberwocky" to perfectly, so I did so under my breath until my mother heard me one Sunday. I was such a little heathen back then; I still am.

I can still recite the Gettysburg Address, too. Nobody wants to hear to hear me recite that, either.....or sing it, for that matter.
 
Warrigal said:
Aaaarrrgh!
How can you say that?

Like Euclidean geometry it is exercise for developing minds.
How can we encourage young people to study STEM subjects if we don't develop the necessary thinking skills?
Click to expand...
Yes, but more practical than even that, imo. I still use simple algebra often---figuring percentages, interest rates, scaling down recipes and dimensions. Much easier with simple algebra than trying to reason it out in your head.
 
There are so many things. I always struggled with "math." Geometry, Algebra, Trigonometry. I've never needed any of those skills in my everyday life. At one time I could handle calculations easily "in my head." I went to school in the 50s & 60s. Calculators and computers weren't around for us.

I believe I can only hold so much information in my feeble brain. I have a hard enough time remembering if I've already said "hi" to a neighbor in my building today. I haven't needed complex math for anything during most of my life's experience. And I've surely never needed all the poetry and history junk I was forced to remember and recite in school.
 
Good morning to all-I can't recall anything that I learned in school that I never had any use for. I just didn't learn enough stuff when I was sitting on that side of the desk. I believe that every single thing we learn plays a function in making us who we are- even if we didn't enjoy learning the material when it was going on- good day to all- Ed
 
Latin was useful to me only in that it forced me to learn the parts of speech, nouns, verbs, conjugation, whatever. I don't even remember the correct terminology now for all those things. But I think you could learn that studying any "language." Diagramming sentences may have been as useful as Latin in that sense. Still regret not opting for Spanish instead.

Btw, I can sure live happily without having to assign a *gender* to everything. :rolleyes:
 
Yeah, That too Nancy. Why assign a gender to everything? And, who the h*ll did the original assigning?
 

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