[GratefulCitizen]

After taking that quiz, I just realized that most of the stuff on there I didn't learn in high-school or college.

Most of it was learned in elementary/middle school, from my parents/parents' library, or in the world at large.
The internet and the various Discovery channels have been nice places to induldge.

Both parents were career teachers (dad - English/history/math, mom - English/French/Spanish) and both loved to bloviate (hmmm...that must be from where I get it.).


My long-winded point: school is a place where you learn how to learn.

IMHO, much of the modern curriculum and scholastic dogma is getting the cart before the horse.
They try to get the end result while skipping the intermediate steps.

I taught high-school math for one year, and the students would frequently ask "when am I going to ever use this?".

My reply would be this analogy:
Most football players spend plenty of time in the weight room training.
During a football game, have you ever seen the referee stop the game, bring out the weight bench and a barbell, and see which team captain could lift the most?
Football players still lift weights.


The primary objective of school should be to exercise, discipline, and order the brain (and perhaps the body, in P.E.).

The secondary objective should be to train basic skills which enable the student to learn on their own.

The tertiary objective should be train actual skills which they may use in the business of being an adult member of our society.


Attempting to achieve secondary and tertiary objectives is no justification for sacrificing the primary objective.