What is the most pointless and useless subject you have studied
I used to think ISO Standardization (which I took purely to satisfy credit requirements) was the most useless course ever.. until I got into C++.
At risk of sounding old, Geography and English Lit both become so much more meaningful when you've had a few decades of life. Education is genuinely wasted on the young.
Accounting is pretty useless for anyone not actually having to do any accounting, though.
Accounting is pretty useless for anyone not actually having to do any accounting, though.
I'm okay with learning history but I am not okay with memorizing exact dates. Why do I need to know the exact dates things happened to prevent history from repeating itself? I can look those up as needed.
I found my English classes to be very useful, though. I like what I learned about literature. There's a book "How to read literature like a professor" that was really valuable to me.
EDIT: I should mention, I was part of a STEM program at my high school and the education we got was much better than the rest of the school. We actually learned useful things in our classes...
I found my English classes to be very useful, though. I like what I learned about literature. There's a book "How to read literature like a professor" that was really valuable to me.
EDIT: I should mention, I was part of a STEM program at my high school and the education we got was much better than the rest of the school. We actually learned useful things in our classes...
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@Moschops +1 re:English Lit.
I didn't get anything out of a Sociology course I took for elective credit.
I didn't get anything out of a Sociology course I took for elective credit.
| At risk of sounding old, Geography and English Lit both become so much more meaningful when you've had a few decades of life. |
One thing I've always wondered is, if Literature is a class, why there aren't any classes for appreciation of other forms of expression, such as cinema or painting. Smells like cultural snobbism on the part of whoever designs the curriculum to me.
Physical Education
Geography*
Chemistry
Computer Science
* Geography is useful for the sake of where I live in the country. That said, I don't exactly care about the Great Wall of China (aside from perhaps its history) because of where I live. It's interesting but frankly, I'd have found a class on cooking more productive.
Geography*
Chemistry
Computer Science
* Geography is useful for the sake of where I live in the country. That said, I don't exactly care about the Great Wall of China (aside from perhaps its history) because of where I live. It's interesting but frankly, I'd have found a class on cooking more productive.
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Religion (no, not even religious studies)
Trigonometry - my experience of the US education system in all its glory - http://postimg.org/image/o6y91rox3/
Trigonometry - my experience of the US education system in all its glory - http://postimg.org/image/o6y91rox3/
| I seriously doubt I'll find myself needing to know the relative age of large scale European mountain ranges. |
Well that doesn't sound very useful, but I learned things like why towns exist where they do and the effects that various stages of economic development have on populations and how geology affects the economy and infrastructure and all that sort of thing. Which I found much more interesting and is something I still use now to draw conclusions for myself.
| One thing I've always wondered is, if Literature is a class, why there aren't any classes for appreciation of other forms of expression, such as cinema or painting. |
I recall that music classes, in addition to smacking instruments around, covered various types of music (classical, baroque, modern and so on) with discussions of where they came from and how they were performed and what they became and so on. I recall that people in the Art class didn't just do their own paintings; they had similar instruction to the music class, but with art as the subject matter. I think the classes you refer to do exist; maybe you just missed out.
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| Trigonometry - my experience of the US education system in all its glory - http://postimg.org/image/o6y91rox3/ |
Hahaha at the question ... I may quote you if I ever get to teach trig again - from my summer semester of teaching precalc, I prefer it by a large margin over calc. Reason why I prefer teaching precalc: since it assumes less, it is actually less tainted by calculus instructors ...
I kid you not, my high school calculus teacher outright insisted that if it isn't in the class syllabus, than she would not even acknowledge it as a thing. She also taught straight out of the book, and did so rather tediously. Worst mathematics course I've ever taken, and I'm majoring in the subject right now.
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| DrZoidberg wrote: |
|---|
| Trigonometry |
Man that's unfortunate, trig is the only math I actually use in programming... Some of that stuff is super useful for game development. I wish math teachers would use game concepts to teach trigonometry- I feel like it would make things a lot clearer.
I think any real world example would help make it clear why trigonometry is useful. For example, repeating Eratosthenes' experiment in paper, or figuring out the optimal thrust direction for a spaceship.
The most useless subject in general, or the least useful for the individual? Everything is relative.
In addition, you have to consider that the brain is not just a fact gathering organ. It benefits even if not in an obvious way, or directly, by creative, artistic, and linguistic stimulation.
And what you get out of studying a subject is also heavily dependent on your attitude. If you don't take the study effort seriously, don't respect the subject, or are just plain lazy, you'll probably get nothing out of it.
By the way, the circle question isn't really that bad. It prompts creative thinking, and asks you to refer to knowledge you already have in the real world as you go through the maths that describes it. This is a proven technique that helps you learn. You'll learn about it in a psychology class. Sure it's a bit elementary, but if you take it seriously and try to think hard and creatively about objects in the real world that can be modelled by the mathematical functions you're learning, it's probably working some of that psychological magic whether you know it or not. Even as basic as this, where it seams pointless, it can still help establish important neural pathways between different parts of the brain.
In addition, you have to consider that the brain is not just a fact gathering organ. It benefits even if not in an obvious way, or directly, by creative, artistic, and linguistic stimulation.
And what you get out of studying a subject is also heavily dependent on your attitude. If you don't take the study effort seriously, don't respect the subject, or are just plain lazy, you'll probably get nothing out of it.
By the way, the circle question isn't really that bad. It prompts creative thinking, and asks you to refer to knowledge you already have in the real world as you go through the maths that describes it. This is a proven technique that helps you learn. You'll learn about it in a psychology class. Sure it's a bit elementary, but if you take it seriously and try to think hard and creatively about objects in the real world that can be modelled by the mathematical functions you're learning, it's probably working some of that psychological magic whether you know it or not. Even as basic as this, where it seams pointless, it can still help establish important neural pathways between different parts of the brain.
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As htirwin pointed out:
I don't thiink that pointless/useless subject to studied even exists.
The brain is like a muscle: The more you use it the more flexible it gets.
Further more: The more diverse the things you are learning the wider your mental horizon will be.
Accounting requires a certain learning appoach and Geography a complete different.
If you won't profit from the content you will profit from the learning as such.
I don't thiink that pointless/useless subject to studied even exists.
The brain is like a muscle: The more you use it the more flexible it gets.
Further more: The more diverse the things you are learning the wider your mental horizon will be.
| Accounting and Geography. |
If you won't profit from the content you will profit from the learning as such.
There are such subjects that could not possibly be useful to anyone, ever, such as a Alternate Physics class that uses constants and laws unrelated to those of the universe, or an Alternate Biology class that assumes a different evolutionary history.
While interesting, I think we can all agree that metaphysics does not belong in most classrooms.
Is cognitive maintenance the responsibility of the school system, or that of each individual?
I didn't mention these were subjects I had in high school after I had chosen a specialty. In this particular school, this was sort of like choosing a major. The classes were clearly geared to whatever you had chosen out of computing, chemistry, electronics, electricity, etc. No other specialty had these two subjects (I had other equally useless subjects, but these are the only two I remember the names of). Someone actually sat down and thought "yes! Software engineers need to know about accounting and geography!" I will also mention that I had three years of accounting and just one of data structures and algorithms. I can assure you you're giving whoever that was far too much credit.
While interesting, I think we can all agree that metaphysics does not belong in most classrooms.
| The brain is like a muscle: The more you use it the more flexible it gets. |
| Accounting requires a certain learning appoach and Geography a complete different. |
I'm inclined to agree with coder777.
I studied Euclidian Geometry as an elective, well out of my area of study.
The class was very difficult, but proved itself when I wrote tech manuals for the Army using the same theory style.
I studied Euclidian Geometry as an elective, well out of my area of study.
The class was very difficult, but proved itself when I wrote tech manuals for the Army using the same theory style.
What I mean is what subject did you find least useful for you as an individual, for example a subject that had the least positive impact in your life.