What did you learn in school that you've never used?

calfmuscle

Irish, French, geography!

But most of all I can remember standing at the top of the class being asked to name not just counties but the capital town of each county!!! ffs what a waist of time.

Also times tables, I still dont know them.

Overheal

phasers wrote: »

In that case, I've been doing algebra since I was 3.

Yes, algebra is pretty basic. It's fundamental for everything else you do in math especially. For anyone to say they don't use algebra is basically a misunderstanding of what it is. That will pretty much be the whole story of the thread. Chemistry? If your stomach is full of acids (lets see, espresso, pepperoni pizza, etc) - It's pretty uncomfortable, and gassy. Would you know that a little milk, or alkaline water will help you pH balance?

What's really going to hurt me later, is reading back on this thread at comments from folks who seem proud that they don't use a lot of the skills they learned in school.

Religion and CSPE though, what a load of bollocks.

We have the technology today that "learning" as we know it is a little redundant. When you go into a job or job interview they look at your test results but not at your knowledge, and will not expect you to remember complex formulas such as X = minus b +or- the square root of b squared - 4AC all over 2A, they will allow you to look it up online ( almost got it all out but unsure about what was underneath ( 2a), but what a stroke of luck, I happen to have internet access and only had to type "b squared +/" and Google already had the whole thing ready for me ).

It's more about knowing how to use it, not memorizing what it is. Not only that but if you're one to google everything in your profession you're going to fall far below expectations, which is a good way to get canned especially if your coworkers can do three times as much work as you can.

IM0

Duggy747 wrote: »

How to dissect a rat.

I'm just aching to open something up

*twitch*

you were the housemate in the duggy thread werent you :eek:

languagenerd

A lot of JC Geography - except for a pub quiz, I can't imagine any situation where I'll be asked about the composition of soil or the formation of clints and grikes in the Burren since :P

Maths - Differentiation, proof by induction and most of probability (though that's probably just because I don't go around flipping 300 coins to see how many heads and tails come up!)

Cross-stitching - TY fun, God I was hopeless at it.

Most of Chemistry and Accounting, because I didn't go into Science or Business.

That said, I don't regret learning any of it, it's good to have a well-rounded education. How else do you find out what you're good at/what you like? And you never know when you might need it!

4zn76tysfajdxp

Overheal wrote: »

It's fundamental for everything else you do in math...

Maths.

Caliden

laplace transforms

phasers

Overheal wrote: »

Yes, algebra is pretty basic. It's fundamental for everything else you do in math especially. For anyone to say they don't use algebra is basically a misunderstanding of what it is. That will pretty much be the whole story of the thread. Chemistry? If your stomach is full of acids (lets see, espresso, pepperoni pizza, etc) - It's pretty uncomfortable, and gassy. Would you know that a little milk, or alkaline water will help you pH balance?

What's really going to hurt me later, is reading back on this thread at comments from folks who seem proud that they don't use a lot of the skills they learned in school.

That's all grand, except I didn't learn any of that in school. It may have been expanded upon to an unnecessary level, but everything you mentioned I already knew. My parents taught me about that stuff or it was so basic I figured it out on my own. What I learned in secondary school was stuff about the area of a curve and the names of people who discovered chemicals or other stuff that isn't relevant to daily life. The thread is about what you learn at school, not general aspects of subjects that you encounter in daily life.


I don't think anybody is particularly proud about not having used any of the pointless things we were taught. I'm not. It's just a fact. Tbh I feel like my time was wasted in secondary school from an educational perspective.

Besides that, I have friends who went on to do science courses and the first thing they were all told is "forget everything you learned for your leaving cert because it's outdated and just plain wrong." FFS like.

byhookorbycrook

Cobol.

Dravokivich

Re-wiring a plug.

I know how to, just haven't had a need to. Seemed like such an important thing as well...

lividduck

Roman Catholic Rules

herisson

the anatomy of a leaf...why would i ever ever need to know it??

IsThisOneFree

hmmm, let me see

Trigonomotry
Pretty much evertying I learnt in Physics (which is not much)
Probably some spelling .... google and word does all that now for me (I'm sorry to have to say)
And finally, writing

I must pay attention in Mr. Owens English Class 200 times .... never seemed to find much use for that one either

ziggy23

Poetry by Emily Dickinson especially. What a miserable weapon

Father Damo

More to the point, what DIDNT you get taught that you really should have been educated on.

For example, not once in my schooling do I recall learning roman numerals. Sort of self taught myself from film franchises and working out what a "starting XI" was I guess. To this day I have absolutely no idea about the stock markets and such. I doubt most people have any idea on it. And currency conversion, never touched on, its only when you go abroad alone for the first time that you actually educate yourself about it.

All of the above is pretty important, basic stuff, and yet we spent the last 5 years of school learning algebra that no sod is going to use.

jeckle

The life cycle of a liver fluke

General Relativity

Father Damo wrote: »

More to the point, what DIDNT you get taught that you really should have been educated on.

For example, not once in my schooling do I recall learning roman numerals. To this day I have absolutely no idea about the stock markets and such. I doubt most people have any idea on it. And currency conversion, never touched on, its only when you go abroad alone for the first time that you actually educate yourself about it.

All of the above is pretty important, basic stuff, and yet we spent the last 5 years of school learning algebra that no sod is going to use.

This may come as a shock, but, just because you've left school dosen't mean you can't still learn. Teach yourself Roman Numerals if you feel you should know them. If you want to learn about the stock markets, do so. Start here; http://www.khanacademy.org/#banking-and-money

You use algebra all day. everyday. Everything from currency conversion :pac: to putting petrol into the car to doing the shopping. It's a fundamental skill.

SeanW

Irish and Religion would have been the two biggies.

Father Damo

General Relativity wrote: »

This may come as a shock, but, just because you've left school dosen't mean you can't still learn. Teach yourself Roman Numerals if you feel you should know them.

I do know them. Self taught. My point is that it is school who should really teach something like this which is used relatively commonly in the real world.

[QUOTE[

If you want to leran about the stock markets, do so. Start here; http://www.khanacademy.org/#banking-and-money [/quote]

I dont really care, twas just a point I was making :pac:

You use algebra all day. everyday. Everything from currency conversion :pac: to putting petrol into the car to doing the shopping. It's a fundamental skill.

Hardly. All of that is basic national school maths tbh.

fasttalkerchat

Father Damo wrote: »

Hardly. All of that is basic national school maths tbh.

The total for your shopping was 12.86. You had two identical baskets of 6.43 each. Each basket contained bread at 1.81 and 3 identical yoghurts.

How does yoghurt cost?

Even that basic maths requires algebra to do it in your head quickly.

Hande hoche!

jeckle wrote: »

The life cycle of a liver fluke

Ag science?

northernpower

Joined-up writing, or cursive or script or whatever you call it,

So much time wasted when i could've been learning the types of clouds

cumulus ftw

General Relativity

Father Damo wrote: »

I do know them. Self taught. My point is that it is school who should really teach something like this which is used relatively commonly in the real world.

Good. Everyone uses algebra in the real world far more then Roman numerals as I've already siad.

If you want to leran about the stock markets, do so. Start here; http://www.khanacademy.org/#banking-and-money

I dont really care, twas just a point I was making :pac:

If you don't care about learning it now, when you realise how important it is, what makes you think you would of wanted to learn about it when you were 14?

Hardly. All of that is basic national school maths tbh.

Really? I started secondary school in 2004 with absolutely no knowlage what-so-ever of algebra. It wasn't covered in primary school. I'm not sure if it's changed since.

grindle

Anything learned in Religion class was already known and is unusable, bar debates with thick people.
I was once made speak in front of the class about other religions because my teacher considered me a pseudo-intellectual (fair enough, her opinion, in mine she was a pseudo-educator), and she spent forty minutes arguing with my approximations of her religion with all others, telling us Seventh Day Adventists were full of shït (I agree) with a Seventh Day Adventist (my friend) in the class..
His parents came the next day to speak with the principal.
By all accounts the back-stepping was hilarious.

slade_x

Reading through the thread i have not come across the Safe Cross Code being mentioned, which i find surprising. As a driver it is clear that there is a lot of people that do not practice it :mad:

Also English is definitely another, as some seem to have trouble with. For example it is not "would of" It's would have.

humbert

Religion and CPSE, although I guess they both showed me that you shouldn't take adults too seriously a lot of the time either.

Maths, Applied Maths, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, even the parts I haven't used since have been well worth knowing.

I'm not sorry to be able to say a few words of Irish and I'd still like to know more German.

English made sure I didn't go through life without experiencing Shakespeare which is justification enough for the subject.

Oh and because you can model the motion of a car using calculus doesn't equate to doing calculus when driving, in the same way as using my computer doesn't equate to doing quantum mechanics.

fasttalkerchat

This:

Season 1 Episode 12 of Criminal Minds. Episode title, "What Fresh Hell" (2003). Gideon and Reid mention the “Stranger Danger” program that was widely shown in public schools. Gideon states that it "did the most harm to this country in terms of crime like this, child abduction". He went on to explain that it "taught a whole generation about a scary man in a trench coat, hiding behind a tree. Now we learn that strangers are only a... fraction of the offenders out there. Most are people you see every day, your... family, your neighbors... school teachers. You know the rest. Prepared our children for one percent of the danger, made 'em more vulnerable to ninety-nine percent."

EarlERizer

Contraception!

Rich11

x+y=9 ect. like WTF!

Rachelinksts

How to find X, it still won't even be useful when i go on my treasure hunt.

Overheal

Rich11 wrote: »

x+y=9 ect. like WTF!

https://www.google.com/search?q=y%3Dx-9&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=kvz&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&sclient=psy-ab&q=graph+y%3D9-x&oq=graph+y%3D9-x&aq=f&aqi=g-vC3g-jC1&aql=&gs_l=serp.3..0i15i33l3j0i18i33.56492l57693l2l58812l3l3l0l0l0l0l1595l3638l6-1j1j1l3l0.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=bb242dc4ab43ba95&biw=1920&bih=944

at every point on that line, x+y = 9.

Father Damo

Overheal wrote: »

Yes, algebra is pretty basic. It's fundamental for everything else you do in math especially. For anyone to say they don't use algebra is basically a misunderstanding of what it is. .

I think we are being a bit pedantic here. My grandad left school at 12 odd years old. Probably didnt see x + z= k(zl) all that sh1te in his life. However he could work out necessary every day maths relating to costs, weights, you name it really. Like anyone else can. Dont start painting regular standard important maths with algebra functions that nobody bar IT programmers, physicists and such ever have to deal with. I suppose I just zoned out of learning it because I knew none of it had any relevance to my life and never would.

General Relativity wrote: »

Good. Everyone uses algebra in the real world far more then Roman numerals as I've already siad.

.

Hardly.

conor.hogan.2

I do not use a lot of it, but that does not mean they were not important to learn.

Sierra 117

I've never used Irish. 13 years learning it, what a waste of time. I've never used metalwork or woodwork either.

RiseToTheTop

Irish

/topic

Biggins

Calculus, prayers and Irish.
All a massive waste of time that could have been spent better on other areas.

Grayson

Irish was definitely the biggest waste of time. I've used irish history plenty of times. But the irish language was a complete waste. 13 years of being taught a language and I couldn't speak it at the end. Except to say what my hobbies were. I spoke better french at that stage.
And I've had plenty of opportunity to speak french since then. Irish has never been of any benefit at all.

pickarooney

Overheal wrote: »

And yet it is, you're just balancing an equation by selecting things you want to buy and using them as your variables.

Unless you're haggling at the checkout, how are they variables?

marty1985 wrote: »

It's good but it's not right. October 14 is what we were looking for, October 14. But you don't go away empty handed, you get a free mug. Give him a big hand ladies and gentlemen, 44leto, there he goes, alright. What a sport.

By unbelievable coincidence that's actually the date he gave - 10/14, if you forgive the American date format.

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

The total for your shopping was 12.86. You had two identical baskets of 6.43 each. Each basket contained bread at 1.81 and 3 identical yoghurts.

How does yoghurt cost?

Even that basic maths requires algebra to do it in your head quickly.

If school taught you to go to ridiculous lengths to solve a problem which has a straightforward answer (look at the price on the shelf or scan it) then truly you were wasting your time.

tfitzgerald

I forgot most of what I was taught. But I can remember a few teachers threatening me with violence

Kolido

Overheal wrote: »

My brain does calculus every time I drive the car.

And if you don't use algebra what happens when you go shopping? Do you just buy more than you have money for?

Overheal wrote: »

Yes, algebra is pretty basic. It's fundamental for everything else you do in math especially. For anyone to say they don't use algebra is basically a misunderstanding of what it is. That will pretty much be the whole story of the thread. Chemistry? If your stomach is full of acids (lets see, espresso, pepperoni pizza, etc) - It's pretty uncomfortable, and gassy. Would you know that a little milk, or alkaline water will help you pH balance?

What's really going to hurt me later, is reading back on this thread at comments from folks who seem proud that they don't use a lot of the skills they learned in school.

You will learn these basic concepts weather you were taught them in school or not. Sure it can help to know the theory to something but its not neccessary to carry out the practice.

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

The total for your shopping was 12.86. You had two identical baskets of 6.43 each. Each basket contained bread at 1.81 and 3 identical yoghurts.

How does yoghurt cost?

Even that basic maths requires algebra to do it in your head quickly.

Shopping with you sounds a blast!

Gillo

Most of the junior and leaving cert maths, what pi$$ed me of about maths was we were thought how to do loads of stuff but never how it'd be useful in the real world.

In fifth year we had the option of doing a typing course, I noticed that all thirty places were nearly gone and only one guy had signed up so being a crafty horny sixteen year old guy saw an opportunity. It turns out typing was the most useful thing I learnt in school.

SEPT 23 1989

My knowledge of Oxbow lake's has never been fully tested since i left school

sbsquarepants

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

The total for your shopping was 12.86. You had two identical baskets of 6.43 each. Each basket contained bread at 1.81 and 3 identical yoghurts.

How does yoghurt cost?

Even that basic maths requires algebra to do it in your head quickly.

The real question is what's for dinner, yoghurt sandwiches?:D
And you don't need 2 baskets for 2 sliced pans and 6 yoghurts - see what happens when you complicate everyday things with needless algebra! If i wanted to know the price of the yoghurt i wouldn't start looking for square roots and common denominators - i'd look at the price tag!

mikemac1

Was I told lamb of God or lamp of God
I'm not entirely sure


I remember having to learn off answer to multiple questions
The older teachers called it catechism or something like that