Does school really prepare us?

[Zantos]

I was on youtube, listening to music, when I happened upon This video. I was watching it and thinking to myself about what I really did or did not learn. While some of the things he mentioned I actually did learn, most of it I did not. I never learned how to do my taxes, how to get a mortgage, how to raise a child or its associated costs and a whole slew of other things that I am having to learn to live on my own. It made me remember about how the teachers in my school always had some speech at the start of the year to address the most common question they ever got, What does this have to do with real life? Every teacher in my high school had heard that enough to actually feel the need to tell us why it would be useful in real life.

This is in the United States granted, and every school is different. However, I feel the need to ask a few questions that I feel really should be discussed.
Do you feel like your school did a good job at preparing you for the real world?
Do you feel like schools over all do a good job at preparing the next generation for the real world?
Do you think that the schools curriculum should be re-evaluated to see if its practical to helping in the real world?

[XangXu]

School is good at absorbing children into the government's vision of "living". Life is not as black and white though and often young men and women learn the hard way.

[apepi]

Not really out schools(US) teach us more about memorization rather than actual learning.

[GennGreymane]

No school does not prepare you for anything.

[Independent voter]

Does school really prepare us?

No, it warehouses you for a few years so your parents don't have to put up with your crap all the time.

[NYC17]

Each experience is different. I had two very different experiences in the education system when I was in school. While on was vastly superior to the other as far as quality, ultimately helped to prepare me.

If we're expecting school to help us prepare for everything ever, that's just not a realistic expectation.

[Deleted]

School taught me facts and figures most of which are useless in adult life, I did not actually "grow up" until I moved out of my parents house and learned to fend for myself. School taught me mathematics and history but nothing about budget and paying bills, that I learned the hard way.

[Zantos]

If we're expecting school to help us prepare for everything ever, that's just not a realistic expectation.

Why do you believe this? In the us, we are in school from 5-18. More often, we are in high school from 14-18. That is four years to teach us things in real life that will help. Do I expect it to teach every little thing? No. But it could honestly teach us the important things. Such as getting a mortgage, more in depth about the voting system and the parties, what the costs of a child are, how do actually do our taxes and a lot of other things. Cut out needless stuff like geometry and chemistry, both of which I haven't used a single bit off since leaving.

[Sunnydee]

education is not learning of facts. but the training of the mind to think.
-Albert Einstein

[NYC17]

Why do you believe this? In the us, we are in school from 5-18. More often, we are in high school from 14-18. That is four years to teach us things in real life that will help. Do I expect it to teach every little thing? No. But it could honestly teach us the important things. Such as getting a mortgage, more in depth about the voting system and the parties, what the costs of a child are, how do actually do our taxes and a lot of other things. Cut out needless stuff like geometry and chemistry, both of which I haven't used a single bit off since leaving.

Do you not remember/use geometry and chemistry because you don't need it, or is it because when you're 15 you couldn't give any less of a shit about it?

Yea, it'd be nice if they taught those things but if someone is yapping about "how to get a mortgage, do taxes, or a lot of other things" its the same as geometry. Unless you care and wish to learn, it doesn't matter what is being taught.

[Zantos]

Do you not remember/use geometry and chemistry because you don't need it, or is it because when you're 15 you couldn't give any less of a shit about it?

I was 17. I literally have no use for it. Tell me, in day to day life, what do you use geometry or chemistry for? Unless its your job, in which there are colleges for that.

Yea, it'd be nice if they taught those things but if someone is yapping about "how to get a mortgage, do taxes, or a lot of other things" its the same as geometry. Unless you care and wish to learn, it doesn't matter what is being taught.

Not true at all. I would remember the practical skills. That is why I suggest teaching it at high school levels, where they Know its importance. I learned how to budget twice. The first time when I was in 5th grade. Didn't remember a thing about it. The second time was in high school. It sunk in and helped then.

Even if they don't want to hear it, there is a clear difference. Geometry serves no use in real life, nor does chemistry. How to do your taxes and get a mortgage have a use. They could be combined into one financial class rather then two separate classes for geometry and chemistry.

[Nillah]

Not me, it didn't. I only took a couple classes that really helped me out, typing was one and accounting was the other. Technically I guess one of my biology classes helped when I got into EMS, I knew some shit about anatomy but for most people that wouldn't do much.

I wish I was taught how to pay taxes, the more in-depth stuff about insurance and owning apartments/houses, etc. Things I can actually use.

[NYC17]

I was 17. I literally have no use for it. Tell me, in day to day life, what do you use geometry or chemistry for? Unless its your job, in which there are colleges for that.

Not true at all. I would remember the practical skills. That is why I suggest teaching it at high school levels, where they Know its importance. I learned how to budget twice. The first time when I was in 5th grade. Didn't remember a thing about it. The second time was in high school. It sunk in and helped then.

Even if they don't want to hear it, there is a clear difference. Geometry serves no use in real life, nor does chemistry. How to do your taxes and get a mortgage have a use. They could be combined into one financial class rather then two separate classes for geometry and chemistry.

I was 15. Different experiences(which is what my first sentence originally stated.) It taught me a different way to think and solve a problem. As someone said earlier, it trains the mind. So, what's your point?


It's actually quite true. If you don't give a shit about the subject at hand you aren't particularly likely to learn and make use of it.
You made this declaration that there's a clear difference like it's superior...without actually demonstrating how it is superior. Because you think you'd get more benefit from it? Ok, great. Not everyone is into chemistry and geometry(I know I'm not). However not everyone is interested in doing their own taxes or owning a home.

You should rename this thread to "Why didn't school prepare me for the things me myself and I are interested in?"

[Deleted]

School prepares you for more school.

[Deleted]

Not really. What's the point of me knowing all the names of the bigger cities in the world? When will I ever have use for that?

There's some things that can prepare you but most of the stuff doesn't prepare you for anything at all and is things you don't need to know to manage to get by in life.

[Deleted]

Not really...

Outside of me grabbing 5 GCSE's with 2 certificates and a HNC/D CQA in applied science I consider my cooking lessons as the second most important.

I love me some pie!

It really just led to me being disillusioned as my head of house was a colossal prick who sucked the life out of me.

[Pull My Finger]

School isn't there to teach you how to live life. It's there to provide you with the most relevant bits of general education (literacy, math, geography etc.) that are needed in life. And it's of course there to let people know very early on that they're expected to assimilate, do work because someone told them to, to respect authority, to not step out of the line too much, and to subscribe to the "in the sweat of one's brow" and "business before pleasure" dogma.

[Graeham]

I found my experience throughout school life to be utterly useless. Anything of note that I've learned beyond the basics has been passed onto me from friends, family and seeking out information on my own.

[Torgent]

education is not learning of facts. but the training of the mind to think.
-Albert Einstein

Exactly right.

I've seen people complain that school didn't teach students how to do their taxes or buy a car or work around the house. To the people who think you're unprepared for life, it's not school's fault. It's your parents, they didn't teach you anything I guess. School trains you to study and be a student of life, your parents should be the ones preparing you to know what to do when you live.

[Grummgug]

Learning to do your taxes, raise kids, how to get a mortgage, and how to live on your own are things your parents can teach you. School is arguably more for specialized learning like math, science, history, etc. It sounds to me like you might have had bad parents / guardians that didn't do their job.