Y=mx+b: Useful Where Else Beside Math Class?

Y=mx+b: Useful Where Else Besides Math Class?

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

Iwhat 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

at Central. “You get some elective choice, but the different required courses are what builds you up to be a well rounded person. So no matter what you do after high school, you have a basic understanding of core contents.” Whatever you decide to do in life, chances are something you’ve done in school will relate to it. For example, “if you decide to be an engineer after high school it’s a good thing you took these math classes. If you decide you’re gonna fall back on writing, it’s a good thing you took your English classes,” Hall states. When it comes to grading being a reflection of a person’s intelligence, Hall sides with Karas and Grubbs, but notes that grades are not supposed to be a measure of intelligence. “A grade should accurately reflect how well you understand and can apply content from that specific course,” Hall says. Rarely is someone a genius in every subject, and GPAs of students aren’t always equivalent because we all take different classes. “A student can take easier courses and more challenging courses and their GPAs aren’t necessarily comparable as a measure of intelligence. It all has to do with specific classes and how well you understand and apply [those classes],” Hall defends. Karas and Grubbs both agree that math is the most useless of the core courses. However, Hall sees it a different way. “Any scientific advancement we’ve had has stemmed from math. Like any medication you take, any new medical procedure, all that is determined through statistics to see if it’s effective or not. Everything applies to the world as we know it today,” Hall says. It can be reasonably inferred that most of the math teachers at Central have had encounters with students’ lack of motivation. Many students remain convinced they will never use any of this material ever again in their lives. “I’m a math teacher, so kids complain that they don’t see the use of what we’re doing in school outside and how it applies to their life. The primary goal of math classes is teaching critical thinking and problem solving skills so that you can reason your way through problems, you can solve things logically, you can make an argument. Obviously math teachers get that argument a lot,” Hall addresses. Throughout the school year, teachers teach more than just how to solve for the value of X in an equation. Although it may not seem like this is the case, there are a handful of life skills developed in school. Skills such as “communication, problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, perseverance, work ethic, relationship building, and then you learn how to learn. So no matter what you do, you have the ability to learn a new skill,” Hall explains. Although a number of life skills are developed in school that are resourceful, there still are some life skills that don’t make the cut, “stress management and other wellness strategies - I think that’s changing and I don’t know what’s tackled in health classes, but staying organized and managing your stress are things that could be taught more,” Hall explains. Maybe students will never use the Pythagorean Theorem again in their lives, but that’s not the only thing to gain from Geometry. “I don’t think it’s about whether or not you use specific content in your everyday life, it’s about whether or not you’re developing those skills. If you have a vision of what you want to do, your class has become more relevant cause you see a path of how to get there,” Hall says. Even if you go into something that doesn’t involve all the subjects you can still gain skills from those subjects. “Maybe what you want to do doesn’t involve math, but focus on the takeaways that you can get from that [such as] problem solving, logic, communication based [skills]…you might have other classes that apply more to what you want to do that you’ll find more interesting,” Hall states. //

Photos: A. McGraw