Art, Textiles, French, German and Italian have helped..

Maths? Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!

DynamicSavior said:

I agree, school is great. Not going there would have been totally useless and wasteful.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

The HIGHLIGHT of my high school experience was:

You guessed it:

PERFORMING ARTS!!!


that's the captain of the swimteam i got to make out with one drunken New Years. His sister and I were roommates and he's DEEPLY closteted. The story's quite amusing. Would ya'll like to hear it sometime?

This was my computer teacher Ms. Byerly. She's closeted too. But we were all on her. We knew what the deal was.

Someone wrote a book called Everything I Need To Know I Learned In Kingergarten.

That pretty much sums it up.


I learned how to read and count.


I took five years of history in four years of high school. total waste of time.

Moonbeam said:

I don't think this thread was intended to discuss if there is any uselfulness at all to the subjects in school, but rather if each person has experienced them to be useful in their lives. And I can't say I've had to use trigonometry in my life ever.

You have a point though when you say that the logic employed by mathematics can be useful in other contexts, and yes, doing mathematical excercises flexes that specific type of "logic muscle".

More importantly though I think mathematics, like all other knowledge, improves our understanding of the world and sparks creativity and personal development. As such it is completely invaluable.

.

Honestly I don't think anything that can be learned is useless. However it is the way it is presented, the way it is taught, and the way the resources of the human mind is wasted that makes public eduication useless.

REDFEATHERS said:

Gym was VERY helpful!!





omg..it would've kicked ASS to go to THIS high school:
http://www.hmi.org

"Stand firm in your refusal to remain conscious during algebra. In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra." - Fran Lebowitz

all subjects were useless cause i don't even use them anymore!!!!

This thread is getting to me way more than it should.

Anxiety said:

Wow. That pretty much sums up my experience, except for no Home Ec, and I loved history. I had 2 great history teachers who gave me a healthy "outside the box" perspective.

Moonbeam said:

sorry, i don't mean to belittle your life's passion...just like if you were a pro football player, i wouldn't want to belittle that, but football means nothing to me either. the only things i've cared about throughout my entire life have been writing and the arts, and there was never a math teacher in my entire education who was able to connect math to anything i cared about, or could even put the lessons in a perspective that meant anything to even the most MUNDANE parts of my life. i know the field of math is important, and i know there are areas in which it's essential knowledge...it's just that i'm not in any of those areas.

Moonbeam said:

I love math, ian. I used to create problems for myself to solve when I was bored at work. I think its one of the most useful things I ever learned. Its very heloful, even if you never have to use it cause it teaches your brain to think in certain ways...

Anxiety said:

There are entire books written about applications of mathematics to art. The Fibonnaci Sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc.) shows up in the scaling of consecutive radii for nautilus shells and the like. The "Golden Ratio" phi (about 1.614) shows up in all hella lots of places in art, from the "Golden Rectangle" (what was considered beautiful to ancient architects, etc.) and even the human body. The ratio of the length of someone's arm to the length of the elbow to the hand? Phi. The ratio of the length of someone's leg to the length of the knee to the foot? Phi. The ratio of the height of a person and the distance between their navel and the ground? You guessed it: Phi. The ratio of consecutive terms of the Fibonnaci sequence converges to Phi also.

The very idea of linear perspective and vanishing points, etc. is based upon mathematics. And don't even get me started about mathematics in music!

The domain of mathematics is unlimited in the universe and I really believe that it is impossible for ANYONE to live life without employing mathematics in some form or another.

It's fine if you (or anyone else for that matter) don't like math. But the whole notion that it is "useless" is far-fetched, and I really think it comes from the fact that it has become socially acceptable to hate math.

Call me crazy, but I find even those classes whose material I don't use directly to be useful.

Anxiety said:

co-sign and BIG for Moonbeam.

It's important to be cognizant of different intelligences and learning styles. There's no one thing that is right for everyone. My best friend in high school is now a pilot. He loved loved loved his math classes, and was as inept and uninterested in English as I was at math.

Moonbeam said:

That makes a lot of sense. Perhaps "useless" is the wrong word -- but while I can appreciate its importance, I have no interest in understanding how or why.

madartista said:

And that is perfectly fine.

I realize that when I teach calculus, many (perhaps even most) of these students won't be using it directly years down the line. Maybe they won't remember how to integrate by substitution, but I'll be damned if they don't get something out of my class- even if it is merely an appreciation for the scope of mathematics or the confidence that they can have an enjoyable, successful experience with mathematics.

And don't get me started on the whole notion of "weeding people out" that is prevalent in many sciences, including mathematics.

Moonbeam said:

well, that's because you're a good teacher who gives a damn about what he's teaching. most of the math teachers i had just used it as a front to coach athletic teams.

Moonbeam said:

i'm aware of these things, and i'm sure it's a big reason i opted to study writing and theatre over visual arts.

the way my mind works, i create things from instinct and experience. those things guide my sensibilities. i admire people who can apply numbers to art and music - i think they're amazing talents - but it's not a path i've ever had a desire to follow, nor is it a path i feel i have an especial aptitude for. and that, to me, is just fine. a passion for math is something for other people, not me. i appreciate it for them, but it's just not something with which i can connect. never has been. just that simple.

I could not stand math, especailly Algebra II. I got through Algebra I fine, but II? I had to take in in summer school, failed it in summer school and had to take it again my senior year and finally passed with a "C."
And I don't use it for jack shit today. So I think that's useles.
Most useful: English and writing - you do need those basic skills to survive.
[Edited 12/22/05 13:58pm]

Anxiety said:

And that is a disgrace. I'm shocked at what I discover as a teacher. So many other teachers are so damn lazy!

Anxiety said:

There is a big difference between not having a passion for something and deeming it useless, though, you know?

1sexymf said:

You need math to survive, too.

Most useful was English. I hated Math my whole life.

I think I'll leave this thread for good now.

Moonbeam said:

That's wayyyyy more than any math teacher I ever had tried to do. Math classes made me miserable from junior high through high school because I didn't get it, and I felt dumb. When I didn't understand, I had teachers who kept using the exact same approach that I didn't understand, only slower. It was insulting and created a bigger wall for me. I wish I would have had a teacher more like you.

Hmm... I had forgotten how bad my experience with math was. In my junior year, I falied Algebra II -- the only class I ever failed. At the 3rd quarter, I just quit. I hated my teacher and I hated that had to be in that class. I didn't apply to any colleges that required a math exam.

It's all useful. Even though I hated math for the most part, it was good for me to exercise my brain like that.

People don't seem to realize that even if you don't use the specifics, it's the abstract thinking that school is good at promoting.

Of course, enough school and you might say things like "That depends on what the definition of 'is' is."

Moonbeam said:

well, if i went out of my way to call math 'useless' in any way that's larger than my own life experience, then i apologize. of course it's not useless.

Moonbeam said:

Most people who frequent something like The Org are gonna be right-brained people; it's the nature of the beast. Don't sweat it, man: deep down, in places we don't talk about at parties, we want you on that math wall! We NEED you on that math wall!"