I have always valued education as a means to know about the world. But, I find some types of math (which I actually love) to be somewhat unnecessary (like multivariable calc, linear algebra, etc.). I have an interest in learning literature and history, but sometimes I wonder if some of it will not affect my life in any way. Literature are lessons woven into different writing styles in the make-up of a book, poem, etc. But what do I get from all this literature and history? If the ice age occurred, so what? I really want to know: what exactly am I looking for in knowing about history of many years ago? I read up on things, yet don’t understand what I’m looking for. And it really troubles me inside sometimes because I wonder, am I wasting my time?
Some countries are very occupation driven like China (well some of it). So, is the US better off just training students for a specific occupation to make sure all time used is used productively? And, from the stated question above, what is the value of the breadth of education in the US? Is most of it extraneous knowledge?
<p>It is more than just being trained to do a job. Anyone can be trained to do a specific job. Education is about more than just preparing you for a career. It is about becoming a well-rounded human being. Sure if you just studied to become an engineer you could do well and make money, but what's the purpose. The value of education is what you make it. Either you appreciate it or don't.</p>
<p>"It is about becoming a well-rounded human being"</p>
<p>Simple facts like when the ice age occurred and what occurred in it will not necessarily make me a better person. It is almost a non-factor. Therefore, I can still be a well-rounded person if meaningless facts are rendered practically useless.</p>
<p>"what exactly am I looking for in knowing about history of many years ago?"</p>
<p>If people didn't know about the history of many years ago how would we learn from our mistakes? Wouldn't we just repeat them instead? </p>
<p>Maybe you don't see the benefit of learning certain things, but that doesnt mean they are not there. The things that you learn and retain will most likely at some point factor into your life late on, through decisions and such. Some things are probably useless, like the ice age. Higher level math may not seem usefull, but it requires a higher level of thinking that can benefit in your other studies, which you consider to be "more useful".</p>
<p>If there isn't a benefit to learning some things that remain useless, why doesn't the US have a system with education just for a certain occupation? And, once again, I will be a lot better off having been trained for a job like in middle school than attempting to start to learn the real bunch of what I need to know in college. I wouldn't need the "higher level of thinking than can benefit" me in other studies, I would be so far ahead in my training that i wouldn't need it.</p>
<p>I still don't see the point to the breadth of education in America.</p>
<p>It is good to have a well rounded education, it would be absurd for you to start training for a career in middle school. For starters, your education would be insanely boring if you studied the same thing for 10 years at that age. You would have absolutely no diversity in thought and would not understand general economic/political/social/historic principles with such a concentrated education. </p>
<p>Like someone else mentioned, just because you don't see an immediate point to studying something in particular doesn't mean there is no value to it. Without multi-variable calc or lin alg the world would be much different. Modern technology thrives because of these subjects, this is just an example where you are missing the value of these subjects</p>
<p>Personally I've always loved learning things for the beauty and joy of knowing them. I also don't really understand people who do not this sentiment because the world around us is just so wonderful!
Oh, and if that isn't "good enough" for you consider this: every class you take that is away from your traditional plane of thought introduces you to new ideas, new people, and a whole new way of thinking. It sounds crazy, but down the road it might really help you to think like a mathematician if you are a humanities student and vice versa. Wouldn't it be horrible to just be like everyone else because everyone else learns the exact same thing instead of the random stuff along the way? Where on earth would you get your lucrative "edge" from?</p>
<p>"Wouldn't it be horrible to just be like everyone else because everyone else learns the exact same thing instead of the random stuff along the way? "</p>
<p>I wouldn't be like everyone else. I would have my speciality which I have been trained in for many years.</p>
<p>"For starters, your education would be insanely boring if you studied the same thing for 10 years at that age."</p>
<p>Not necessarily.</p>
<p>"You would have absolutely no diversity in thought and would not understand general economic/political/social/historic principles with such a concentrated education."</p>
<p>I would have learned necessary things like the general (absolutely general) economic/political/social/historic principles because that too would obviously be included in speciality training, because the training is greatly affected by those general factors. I would have to know them, whereas certain lessons from novels could easily be told to me.</p>
<p>"I would have learned necessary things like the general (absolutely general) economic/political/social/historic principles because that too would obviously be included in speciality training"</p>
<p>This statement contradicts what you said earlier:</p>
<p>"If there isn't a benefit to learning some things that remain useless, why doesn't the US have a system with education just for a certain occupation"</p>
<p>If you were training to be an engineering what would be the point of wasting your time by studying politics, econ, etc. (this is of course under your proposed method of education). I don't see why, under your system, you would get any education in the subjects stated above. Political theory is not needed to design a car, so why waste your time studying it? Why not just have someone specializing in politics tell the engineer what to do?</p>
<p>You understood me wrong. I would betrained in a specific field, but I would have to know the GENERAL occurrences of the world to be successful at my job because they influence it. Thus, I would be fine. I didn't contradict myself, I merely explained more.</p>
<p>Politically theory....first of all I would only need to know general political theory. And, the application to a car, I would have to know how politics affect the production of my car. Also, politics affects the economy, which is very essential to my field of engineering (or whatever). So, I would need to know the current state of the country and the politics of economics and the government in general to maximize profit.</p>
<p>I completely understood what you said earlier and can obviously see the need for knowledge in politics, econ, etc. but that was my point. You stated earlier that we don't need to study useless things, but I ask you what useless things do you study? Politics, econ, history, etc. are obviously not useless to any practice, so what then is?</p>