most helpful:

typing in the 3rd grade
home economics/industrial arts 5th grade
spanish/french/latin 4th grade - college

most useless:
algebra
calculus
trig/analyt

sex education.

Oh and

Lunch.

meltwithu said:

Math is never useless!

I remember being one of the very few males to take Typing I and II in high school. Now that so many people have computers these days, I wonder if those guys from high school are sitting around pecking on keys for 30 minutes to even type one sentence.
.
.
[Edited 12/21/05 22:54pm]

Moonbeam said:

20 years after high school..i have yet to find a use for knowing if tommy leaves on a train at 60 mph and billy leaves on a train 10 minutes later going 58 mph who will arrive first. or measuring angles on an isocoles triangle

vainandy said:

I type something upward like 85 words per minute, but I didn't learn these typing skills in school. I learned my typing speed where most fast internet users have.


In Chat Rooms.

I still use the rules that I learned from dodgeball.

If you see something coming at you real fast
from someone bigger than you but not as smart,
get outta the way!

meltwithu said:

Those specific applications may not have come up, but the logic employed by mathematics you surely have used at some point.

Calculus is incredibly practical in many, many fields where something is to be optimized.

Algebra is a wonderful problem solving language and I'm sure you've used it in real life.

Trigonometry is more specialized, granted, but is still useful.

Yes, I'm a math teacher, but I don't think any class (math or otherwise) is useless.

Nothing I learned in school has been useless. I may not apply a lot of it in my daily life but it has been useful at times, moreso in rounding me off as an individual. For instance, I learned to love history by studying it at school. I still love reading history books.

at primary school I think learning to read and write was useful.
secondary school - making our own cosmetics would fall into the category of least useful, although the following unit of forensic science was interesting.
university - learned to use a computer! Also had a subject called print technology, it was the thing that clicked for me and I thank them for that still to this day.
Redrawing logos with an ink-pen was not very useful.

Most schools today have mission statements. Usually, these mission statements stress the development of higher level thinking skills and lifelong learners. All subjects should stress these goals.

PSYCHOLOGY,SOCIOLOGY and PHILOSOPHY.....

Most useful - English Language/Literature

Least useful - Textiles (sewing) or anything sport related

Secretarial Studies (yuk)
Tourism
English

English, typing and, to some extent, science and home ec have come in handy.

I had a "trades math" class in high school that was really helpful, but other than that, sorry Moonbeam, all that Algebra and Trig and all that other stuff served no other purpose for me other than to bring my grade point average down. I'm too right-brained for that stuff, I guess.

Gym was a total waste, unless the point of it was to make me feel like an inadequate outsider. In that case: - P.E. *ought* to be teaching kids how to stay in shape and how to care for their bodies. Teach kids how to use a gym, how to stretch, how to run for health rather than for competition. I never knew up until my 30s that working out could be a meditative, stress-relieving activity. There's no reason I shouldn't have been taught that in high school.

History, though, was probably the greatest waste of all. If you have to lie to kids, just teach 'em something else. I recommend parents keep a copy of Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" in the ol' library and encourage your kids to explore histories that deviate from what's being fed in schools.

helpful:
writer's craft
visual arts
photography
guitar
english (to an extent)
french (lit was awesome)

useless:
all maths
all sciences
some histories
civics
career studies (to an extent)

Math and Sciences

Thank you Ms Diebold, Mr Vining, Ms Duetkiewitz, Mr Marr and Mr David!

You all rocked!!

I took an Ethics class in college.

This single class has helped me far more than any other.

It should be mandatory for all.

English, Art.

useless:
Home economics
P.E


anyhow, I hated my school and couldnt wait to leave.

All my science and math classes taught me to think logically and how to "work out" problems. I can't stress just how important math is to my children.

Moonbeam said:

Well WELL said!

helpful: graphic tech, english, photography, study hall (seriously--i dunno how many study halls i spent working to make my art skills better), math (to some degree, even though i absolutely sucked at it--still do), law & issues, computer lab (back in elementary school)

useless: science, art (d00d...'sides learning about colors and shit like that, all my fucking art classes were absolute shit. what was the point of teaching me stuff that i basically taught myself already?), economics (god, that class was a waste of time; even though my assigned seat was in the very front of the class i STILL fell asleep during all the lectures/films ), PE (friggin bitchy teachers...YOU just try running a mile, let alone running at all, with oversized boobage. and you wonder why i flunked )



edit = mc lyte
[Edited 12/22/05 9:43am]

Nothing, i hated school and everything about it. I learned everything from the internet.

school was completely WASTELESS. I just did what I had to do to get my diploma and get the fuck out. That was a fucking waste of 16 years of my life.

gemini13 said:

i think i took ethics back in 7th or 8th grade. i don't remember shit about it, 'cept i think that i nearly flunked it.

liberation said:

nice.

DynamicSavior said:

i barely passed most of my classes and got my diploma--i seldom did my homework and participated in most of my classes, simply because it was all so mind-numbingly boring, easy & pointless for the most part.

In school subjects learned but not taught in a class.

Socialization?

I learned there is much pain and pain begets pain in public school.

MickG said:

I would say, Math and Nursing, gym


useless: art
[Edited 12/22/05 9:50am]

Zelaira said:

OMG!

Thats tickled me..