Douglas Johnson wrote:
"J. Clarke" wrote:

Douglas Johnson wrote:
"J. Clarke" wrote:

The schools are a miserable experience that produce mediocre
results. The argument that they are better than nothing doesn't
wash. What did you personally learn in the public schools school
other than to read and write and do sums that was of any real value
in later life?

Driver's Ed.
Really worthless. Learned more from my Dad in an hour than in a whole
semester of that crap.

If my Dad had tried to teach me to drive, one of us would have been in the
hospital, the other in jail. Not that I didn't learn a lot from him, just more
by example than instruction. Besides, in my state you could get your license
two years earlier with Driver's Ed. It was also good for an insurance discount
into my 20's.


History and Government.
What did you learn about history and government that was (a) useful
and (b) true? I'm _still_ unlearning that crap.

A history teacher gave me a love of history. Maybe half my recreational reading
is history. As for government, understanding of the structure and powers of the
Federal government is useful almost every day.


Chemistry and Physics.
When have you actually used it?

It lets you call "bull****" on someone or something that claims to violate basic
principles.

Geometry, Trig, and Intro to Calculus.
Lucky you with the intro to calculus. I've never found mathematical
proofs to be particularly useful.

I have a patent which has a formal proof as a key component.

-- Doug
This post explains a lot. Chemistry and Physics are the basis for life
in the 21st century. If you don't have a basic understanding of
chemistry you will accept the fact that you can capture all of the CO2
from burning coal. That computer that you are using is based on
physics and math, from it basic operation to the user interface.

As for history, if you don't understand the past you will keep repeating
it with the same results. A good example is the policies of the
thirties. They failed and it took a world war to fix the economy, yet to
day we are getting ready to retry those policies.

If you don't understand government you will accept Biden statement that
the White House should not be involved in the Senate. The Constitution
defines the Vice President's responsibilities as being the Speaker of
the Senate with no voting responsibilities except to break tie votes

It frustrates me to read articles about the lack of education in America
today. Education has been a basic part of the government since 1780.
Every child is required to go to school yet the parents do not encourage
the children to learn. Don't complain about be second class citizens if
you don't make most of the schools and library's that are everywhere in
the United States