Y=mx+b: Useful Where Else Besides Math Class? I
by Collin Benedict staff writer
A dive into a topic we all have experienced: the assumed uselessness of the things we learn in school
n a 2019 survey, it was found that only 37 percent of the information we learn in school is used by the average person. The survey, done by H&R Block, also discovered that 57 percent of adults would have wanted a money management class in high school. At Central, we have classes like Personal Finance and business classes, however, not many students end up taking them. Many who excel at other subjects are pushed to continue taking those classes, for example, if you excel in English you’ll be pushed to pursue an English-based career. Any class that dives into money management and economics provides direct, relevant skills for when you leave high school. Traditionally required English, science, math, and history classes, not so much. So why are we still learning these seemingly useless things? Not everything in school is useless, “but there’s definitely parts of it we could go without,” says Jameson Karas ‘23. “Anything past basic math isn’t needed in reality; in the real world you only need up to division [or] exponents, maybe.” Despite having a handful of useful skills, “the majority of it, all of us, we’ll never use again in our lives,” claims Ryan Grubbs ‘24. “When am I going to need the quadratic formula if I’m not a mathematician?” Karas believes that “if you want to be a rocket scientist or something, learn how to do math. But if you’re gonna paint or lay drywall, you probably don’t need it.” So if school teaches mostly useless things, then 20 // BGQ // January 2022
what is taught in school that is useful? Skills such as teamwork, work ethic, training yourself to meet deadlines, are all acquired through school indirectly, as well as other skills like “problem solving, a little bit of English because you have to know how to write a job resume. History’s always good to know, but math is just kinda…dumb,” Grubbs explains. “I would say some social skills [and] interacting with people and adults with authority over you [are important],” Karas chimes in, “I’m sure some history, some math, and the basics of each core class [are also important].” A flaw in our education system that is often recognized are grades. Grades are often seen as a reflection of a person’s intelligence. To get into college, it will mostly come down to GPA and SAT scores, athletes in some cases, however, many people have talents and abilities that aren’t reflected in the gradebook. Not every skill gets to be repeatedly shown on the school campus. Communication, facing live competition, responsibility, and conversation are all important skills that are not exhibited all that often. “A grade is just an overall scoring of what you’ve completed and what you haven’t completed, rather than a show of intelligence,” Karas claims. While many people believe that we are gaining nothing from school, that is not the case for everyone. “Not everything applies to everybody, but they all have applications to the real world,” says Collin Hall, an algebra and statistics teacher here
