More than one writer has complained about being forced to
study subjects in school in order to graduate that have no application in
real life. They particularly like to whine about math.
I get a little burr up my behind when people complain about
having to learn things that they state they are later unable to use. Here's why.
In school--even in college--our brains need to be exposed to
a wide variety of things, as most of us still don't fully know what we like and
what we're best at doing.
Look at math. These complainers fail to understand that, apart
from permitting us an opportunity to appreciate the sheer beauty of mathematics
(revered in ancient times, but an art form which our current society sadly does
not honor), studying math helps us to create patterns of logic, which in turn
may help us years later to decide things like which candidate for president is the most
reasonable.
Although this is not something to which she was exposed in
school, it is close enough to be used as an example. In college, a friend of
mine, who was a psychology major, got a summer temp job. She wound up stuck in
a drab accounting office in a shoe factory. She complained about what a
miserable blow it was that she was forced to drudge away in a field so out of
her area of expertise, and we commiserated with her...except, over the course
of the summer, she discovered not only that she had an aptitude for accounting;
she LOVED it. She went on to become a CPA, and not long afterward began teaching
accounting classes at an Ivy League University. While the rest of us, including the psych majors, were still
waiting on tables, she started making really good money, and among other
things, bought a three-story brownstone townhouse on Beacon Hill for twenty
grand. Today that house is easily worth a few million dollars.
Similarly, Harry Houdini, in his youth, was forced to get a
job in a locksmith’s shop. You know how that story ended!
The obvious moral to all of this: Do not be quick to scorn
learning something you don’t feel is pertinent to you and your life. You may be surprised!
©2016, M. E. Raines
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