It may seem as if what’s taught in school is largely useless to 99% of the population, but it’s not. Here’s the reason why learning things like calculus, that you may never use in real life, is still actually helpful. Content is less important later in life than context:
What do you think? Do you agree with this? Let us know in the comments below!
I wholeheartedly agree with this. I am currently a computer programmer, but way back when I tried my hand at teaching high school science as a possible profession. It wasn’t the final path my life took, but it confirmed my methodology wholeheartedly.
One opportunity I tried was in a 9th grade science class in a “less than optimal” school system. My whole philosophy was that if I could get the students to THINK, then it would all be worth it. One example was that for the first “laboratory experiment” I came into class and took off my shoe, put on a sneaker (untied), and had the class tell me how to tie it properly. Lots of talking over each other, of course, so I was able to pick and choose which “directions” to use at any step. I tried to choose something “reasonable” and interpret it how I could, depending how vague the directions were, to show that being specific was the key to moving forward. Lots of missteps from the class, but they realized what I was doing and tried to get more specific with the directions. Of course we ran out of time, but at the end I explained that even the simplest of tasks needed to be thought out clearly, and even a small deviation could lead to dead ends if not careful. Even more importantly, I was able to get the ENTIRE CLASS to participate, since everyone had a good idea somewhere along the line, and they felt like they understood the point. The “lab report” they were required to write showed that they (for the most part) were receptive to the ideas, and thought about the process of how to tie a shoe so that anyone could follow.
Funnily enough, I left the job not long after that (long story) but stayed in the area. At one point I was in a gaming store in the town, minding my own business, when one of my students was walking by and looked in the window and saw me. Not the worst student in my class, but definitely not in the top 50% either, so I was surprised when he came in to say hello to me. He knew that I wasn’t a teacher there any more, but he just wanted to come in and say how he appreciated me while I was there, and that he was sorry that I wasn’t a teacher for the school any more. Then he wandered out of the store and went on his way, letting me know that I had an impact on somebody and got some people to open their minds, even just a little.
Calculus not used in everyday life? I suppose if you never watch the news and don’t manage to save any money. Derivatives are used frequently – things like inflation and interest interest rates. Even second and third derivatives are sometimes used.
Integration is rare.
I read this and while I agree with the whole weight-lifting analogy to a point , my issue is that “higher concepts” have taken the place of foundational things. I’d even go so far as saying that most of our current political dysfunction is due to people not being able to balance a checkbook (or know why they should), but are still expected to sort out who to believe on the presidential stage when either side starts baffling them with high-level economic BS that the candidates cant really comprehend. I know people who don’t understand rudimentary basics of life, but their vote counts as much as anyone else’s (and that’s a problem). They’re not stupid and several of them have taken plenty of advanced classes. The worst conspiracy theorist I know is an engineer. Calculus does no good if you can’t understand the basics. Give us a generation or two of life-prepared Americans and save that stuff for college for the 1 in 10,000 that will use it, bring it back when the average person can fill out a bank loan or maybe understand why they shouldn’t be doing so. Currently, people making minimum wage think education is meaningless and you cannot argue that point for them.