Up the xylem, down the phloem!!

Des Carter

I just realized that you learn the most useless information in secondary school. Ok im sure theres some worthwhile stuff but for some reason you only remember the pointless irrelevant crap like
Up the xylem, down the phloem in biology.

Any other examples?

bluto63

Never once has knowing the plant reproductive organs come in handy in day to day life

GLaDOS

Phloem is for food, phood... that's how I remembered it.

bluto63 wrote: »

Never once has knowing the plant reproductive organs come in handy in day to day life

Good thing you don't know them then, eh?

OutlawPete

E = mc2

Who gives a shit.

My name is URL

bluto63 wrote: »

Never once has knowing the plant reproductive organs come in handy in day to day life

They do?

Scarydoll

The life cycle of an earthworm was a particular useful piece of information:rolleyes:

SoWatchaWant

bluto63 wrote: »

Never once has knowing the plant reproductive organs come in handy in day to day life

Ah well, sure early education always has a broad scope.

partyatmygaff

Learning to analyse and "dissect" irish poems sure comes in handy in day to day life....

Conor108

Hmm had a biology test on Plant Biology today.....cosmic

Pace2008

There are many often-negelcted fields I think should be made compulsory as they're so universally useful in day-to-day living, and in my opinion would improve our polulation as a whole- politics, economics, logic/reason, and how to construct a sound argument - but I'd never knock the hard sciences. In any case, I don't think there's such thing as truly "useless" information.

AnonoBoy

Des Carter wrote: »

I just realized that you learn the most useless information in secondary school. Ok im sure theres some worthwhile stuff but for some reason you only remember the pointless irrelevant crap like
Up the xylem, down the phloem in biology.

I'm pretty sure biologists use that information. Just cause you flunked out of biology school don't go bad-mouthing nature dude.

sam34

i vaguely recall learning the life cycle of fucus something or other, aka seaweed

google tells me its fucus vesiculosis

mighty important information

brummytom

The quadratic formula.


Fuck off with that! I don't want to be a mathematician, stop bloody teaching me it

Pace2008 wrote: »

There are many often-negelcted fields I think should be made compulsory as they're so universally useful in day-to-day living, and in my opinion would improve our polulation as a whole- politics, economics, logic/reason, and how to construct a sound argument - but I'd never knock the hard sciences. In any case, I don't think there's such thing as truly "useless" information.

Here, we study economics and politics as part of 'Catholic Citizenship'; and logic/reason and constructing/dissecting arguments as part of Critical Thnking

WindSock

I Stalag might go up, if the Stalac tights come down :pac:

BooShank

Sums is importint fer...like stuff !

Des Carter

pythagoras theorem: who could forget that.

Des Carter

WindSock wrote: »

I Stalag might go up, if the Stalac tights come down :pac:

Tights always come down :P

Novella

An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas le do thoil?

InkSlinger67

I learned student teachers don't like their arse being pinched (....during school hours only.....Niiice!)

Ickle Magoo

Osmosis - the movement of water from a high concentration to low concentration through a semi-permeable membrane...

I learnt that in biology at school 17/18 yrs ago, I still know it off by heart and I have never, ever had the use for it.

GLaDOS

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

I learnt that in biology at school 17/18 yrs ago, I still know it off by heart and I have never, ever had the use for it.

Nonsense, osmosis happens all the time in your body

Ickle Magoo

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Nonsense, osmosis happens all the time in your body

Har har! Not the process, never had the need to use the phrase.

Creed Bratton

Des Carter wrote: »

pythagoras theorem: who could forget that.

Pythagoras' theorem is actualy use all the time! For example when you are trying to cross a river in the shortest time possible and you want to find your velocity relative to the current! Cause u know how often you need to find that out...

biko

Every time you play pool you show good skills of geometry.

mikedragon32

biko wrote: »

Every time you play pool you show good skills of geometry.

Clearly you've never seen me play pool.

bluto63

Things like maths and English I think were quite useful. They're used everyday, no matter how small it might be. But Biology or Physics are specialist subjects, which unless you have a particular interest in that field, serve no purpose for you.

ride-the-spiral

Creed Bratton wrote: »

Pythagoras' theorem is actualy use all the time! For example when you are trying to cross a river in the shortest time possible and you want to find your velocity relative to the current! Cause u know how often you need to find that out...

More of an Applied Maths application really...:o

christina_x

i haaaated learning about the dessert in geography. I dont think i will ever need to know how animals survive in the dessert... unless i get lost and decide to find shade in a cactus - like some owl or something!

anniehoo

Des Carter wrote: »

pythagoras theorem: who could forget that.

Eh me What was it again?Somethin to do with a triangle isnt it?

Novella wrote: »

An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas le do thoil?

Oh yeh..except we had to say mais é to thoil é (immediately haha)

Calibos

christina_x wrote: »

i haaaated learning about the dessert in geography. I dont think i will ever need to know how animals survive in the dessert... unless i get lost and decide to find shade in a cactus - like some owl or something!

I'm not sure if many animals could survive on dessert. I am sure dessert doesn't have all the vitamins and minerals that they require. Tastes good though.

In school I learnt that you sound like an eejit when you tell the teacher about the time you saw xyz on Aston Qway in Dublin. "Aston what?" she says. "Aston Qway says I, ya know, Qwa ...aaaay". "Aston Key!!" says she. "Thats what I said", says I, "It musn't have come out right cause I had some plegum in me throat!"

Chuchoter

Triangles!!! I can do amazing things with them. Someones after hitting a pole with their car, I can tell you the triangle it makes with the ground. Can't ring an ambulance though, too busy c^2=b^2+a^2-ing it up.

Basstonio-my friends did a project on the "romance" between Antonio and Bassanio in the Merchant of Venice for English.

The entire Irish language.

alwaysadub

I wonder did Ann and Barry end up together in the end?

Sulmac

Sin, Cos, Tan.

ironictoaster

Yeast cells found in beer is called Saccharomyces carlsbergensis.

Originally discovered by carlsberg.

GLaDOS

creggy wrote: »

Yeast cells found in beer is called Saccharomyces carlsbergensis.

Originally discovered by carlsberg.

And the yeast is patented

Fremen

Not to put a damper on things, but none of that stuff is designed to be useful in its own right. It's designed to give you options, and to a lesser extent, to teach you how to think.

Maybe you don't use pythagoras' theorem or transport in plants via xylem and phloem. The point is all of that stuff opened doors for you. Maybe you took an office job didn't go through the doors, but the point is that they were open.

sponsoredwalk

It's a shame you don't all appreciate half of the stuff you've all knocked, there's some awesomeness in all of it. Up the Xylem, down the Phloem! Why??? They don't really explain it well in secondary school but if you mix it with chemistry (hydrogen bonds) you'll never forget it. Oh! This is the same reason why the sugar in my morning coffee dissolves! Wow...

well, partly :rolleyes:

& Pythagoras, omg you see it everywhere. soh cah toa ftw! If you don't like the quadratic formula try to derive it and see how cool it can become. Next time you throw a ball in the air you will see a quadratic formula in action

I think the purpose of learning these things was so that you wouldn't walk around thinking fairies did it, or the turtle who's back we live on was just crying everytime it rained, i.e. that you could know this freaky ****. damn school ruins it for so many people :mad:

(also, check out saccharomyces reproducing, it's crazy how "smart" it is).

goose2005

bluto63 wrote: »

Things like maths and English I think were quite useful. They're used everyday, no matter how small it might be. But Biology or Physics are specialist subjects, which unless you have a particular interest in that field, serve no purpose for you.

How are you to know you have an interest/aptitude for subject if you haven't already worked at it?

Pompey Magnus

Tom's Old Aunt - Sat On Her - Coat And Hat

(Tan = Opposite/Adjacent, Sine = Opposite/Hippopotamus, Cosine = Adjacent/Hippopotamus)

efb

Earthworm sex, like WTF????

PhysiologyRocks

The Stone Age.

Pointless. Absolutely pointless.

Not uninteresting.

But I'll never use it.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Sulmac wrote: »

Sin, Cos, Tan.

Woah, I haven't seen those words together in five years.

Indubitable

Any sex education, porn is so much easier to understand

GLaDOS

kingofthe3rdyrs wrote: »

Any sex education, porn is so much easier to understand

I found it quite hard myself...

Pompey Magnus

PhysiologyRocks wrote: »

The Stone Age.

Pointless. Absolutely pointless.

Well it wasn't fully pointless, I mean they did have arrowheads, flint knives and needles so there were plenty of points to be fair.

Fremen

Sulmac wrote: »

Sin, Cos, Tan.

I've never understood why people think that stuff is complicated.

Pompey Magnus

kingofthe3rdyrs wrote: »

Any sex education, porn is so much easier to understand

We got to watch Deliverence in our religion prayer room...yes, including the gay rape scene!!

efb

They made us watch Not without my Daughter in RE. I asked when we'd watch Song for a Raggy Boy... she said I was being deliberately obtuse, well duh!

gd1987

A crannog is a man made island in the middle of a lake.
I'd be unemployed if I hadn't learnt that.... oh wait!

generalmiaow

oxbow lakes

sbsquarepants

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

We got to watch Deliverence in our religion prayer room...yes, including the gay rape scene!!

Why not? Sure doesn't gay rape sum up the catholic church just about perfectly!