Is General Education a waste of Time ?

LeixlipRed · 03-11-2011 03:57PM

No, none of that is true. You haven't thought it through. Being intelligent is partly about accumulating life experience and it's difficult to do that if you don't know how the **** anything works.

Ellis Dee · 03-11-2011 04:00PM

Biggins wrote: »

Now if you were an I.T. technician at a party...

* "Hi beautiful... would you like to play with my floppy?"

* "Can I give you a hard drive?"

* "My stick will fit into yours!"

* "Where would you like me to insert it?"

Yea, a lot more fun at parties!

LOL:D

Big busty blonde to guy at party: "What do you do?"

He: "I'm a dentist."

She: "Good, let's go back to my place. I have a couple of cavities that badly need filling.";););)

policarp · 03-11-2011 04:09PM

In the good old days, daddy would give us a big bag of money and send off on "The Grand Tour". We would go to places like Paris, Madrid, Rome, Venice, Florence, Athens, Alexandria and other such places that tickled our fancy. There we would polish up on our formal education and sow a few wild oats along the way.
That's the proper way to learn the facts of life, IMO. . .

CrazyRabbit · 03-11-2011 05:06PM

Domo230 wrote: »

That sounds a lot like home economics and woodworking

Academic schools don't always teach woodworking. Mine didn't teach any practical skills. I did a PLC in a technical college and they taught car maintenance, woodworking, and programming....but only as a PLC.

parker kent · 03-11-2011 07:39PM

jester77 wrote: »

The OP has a point. The last time I had to remember a theorem or something from Shakespeare was back in school, not once in the many years since have I ever needed or wanted this type of info. My time would have been better spent learning finance, politics, nutrition... you know, the type of stuff that is actually relevant to life.

Yes but I am sure you have had to problem solve, use logic, remember something, analyse something etc. They are all skills learnt whilst studying English and Maths. Plus as others have said, a rounded education leads to better decision making.

Chuck Stone · 03-11-2011 07:57PM

I think it is.

I'm mathematically stupid and would like to have stopped studying maths as soon as I would have been allowed.

I'm okay at English and, imo, that's not because of my schooling as much as it is from reading as a kid and being read to by my Dad.

I'm naturally attracted to topics of a sociological and philosophical nature and would have explored those if there had been an option in secondary school.

The only problem with these topics is that gaining a qualification in them is practically useless in the real economy.

4leto · 03-11-2011 08:06PM

I think a good rounded education does stand for you, it makes you more interesting and gives you a greater understanding of different challenges you may face.

Although most find science and maths difficult and boring, I loved them and these subjects have been incredibly useful in my life. I also found when I did my emigration stint the Irish education system as in the leaving cert gave me an edge on people abroad, I seemed to be smarter and that stood for me in interviews ETC.

Bannasidhe · 03-11-2011 08:12PM

LeixlipRed wrote: »

Imagine not knowing about the water cycle? People would go back to thinking the earth is flat again pretty soon.

Except that nobody ever seriously believed that

. They knew it was round but thought it was a lot smaller. See - this is why people need to learn a bit of history!

kowloon · 03-11-2011 08:59PM

policarp wrote: »

If all you could talk about was Accountancy, then you'd be a very boring person at parties. . .

Full of jokes about double entry.

Is General Education a waste of Time ?

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