why do teachers make you learn math lessons when you dont use it when you get older?

Answer 1

Because it teaches you problem solving skills. That's their reasoning. Personally, I think I learn things like that better...if it's a practical application...meaning that I learn from situations and conversations better than from formulas and cold hard numbers.

Answer 2

As a side thought, my husband (who never took math beyond geometry in high school) really wishes he had gone on to take calculus now because of his job. He works in internet telephone communications, and he uses calculus reasoning skills when making his programs to make the technology work! I was so proud to find out that people really do use calculus in the "real world." I'm pretty sure engineers do too, and they make good money. (Consider it.)

You will use the reasoning skills you learning from basic algebra and geometry in all sorts of things, regardless of whether you are conscious of your thought processes. By knowing basic computational skills, you can figure out if someone is charging you too much at a store or restaurant. You can figure out how much your wedding is going to cost. You can plan out your garden plot. You can figure out how long it will take to pay off your house/car/credit card payments (including interest on your loan.) With measurements, you can build your kids' treehouse, sew your own clothes, find the right wrench to fix the drain pipe, and read the thermometer to tell if your kid has a fever.

Musicians use math. Insurance adjusters use math. Scientists use math a lot. Even if your highest goal is to work at McDonald's, you're going to stay employed a whole lot longer if you can accurately count money and record statistics on what is happening in the store.

Don't just think of math as dealing with the abstract "x plus the square root of an imaginary number." It's the ability to solve problems with known data. Logical thinking has a great purpose. Without it, you'd be a fool and stay a fool. With it, you can be a leader and a solver.

Answer 3

The act of learning how to do complicated math develops the brain in untold beneficial ways.

If you play a video game for 1000 hours, will you use those skills later in life? Possibly, but not likely.

But you will use that math many many times, and also the logical and analytical processes in general even more times. You just don't realize it.

When you learn new vocabulary words, you benefit from them for the rest of your life, and can pull out useful words when you need them, and you don't even think about doing so. Same with math skills.
If you didnt learn new words each year, you would talk like a silly baby for the rest of your life.
If you didnt learn new math skills, which keeps building on top of itself, you'd never be able to think in logically , analytically, 3 -dimensionally, or spatially. You world would just be random and nonsensical, with no apparent rhythm, method, or order. You would be in a madening state of mind because you could not figure out anything for yourself. You would need to ask everyone why all of your money is gone, or why nothing that you build fits together properly, or why you can't program your computer but all of the people from China and INdia who are stealing your jobs can do the math 100 times better.
Sorry, i am blabbing too much.
Learn your math, or you will be poor, cold, and sad when you grow up.

Answer 4

I totally agree with you Rubi. I can count and even remember my tables and do not use a calculator but pen and paper. Yet I now have a successful career and never needed to be bothered and even stressed by all that drivel. The square root of 3x +5% =z or other abstract 'language'; what is all that about? Proof that, as far as I am concerned, there was not much need for it in the first place!

Answer 5

I used to grumble about this when I was in high school... guess what... you DO use it... typically in business and office environments.
Take Microsoft Excel for example.... you need to have basic mathematical foundations to understand the formulas you will be using when entering data, etc...
The bottom line, many of us in this world are not "worldly" at math, BUT in order to be self sufficient, you need to have a baseline of solid mathematical skills, no matter where you are working. For example of how wide the spectrum is.... Accountants use math, Retail Managers use Math, Teachers use math, Business Analysts use Math, Customer Service Reps (particularly those in call centers) use Math.... the list goes on and on.
You DO use it when you get older.

Answer 6

You use math your whole life...plus you need to learn basic problem solving skills and critical thinking skills that are essential in the real world. Plus, because of No Child Left Behind, the tests that are given every school year determine if you pass a grade or not, ALSO, if your teacher is doing his/her job, and if their not....they get fired. Therefore, the teacher HAS to teach this test so you can pass and move on to the next grade. Nowadays teachers don't get to choose what they teach, they have specific content and lessons they have to teach. So everything you are doing in class is to prepare you for these tests. Yes, its not fair...to anyone...but thats Bush for ya.
Good luck

Answer 7

I am an 8th Grade math teacher.....several reasons, it helps students build their reasoning skills. The ability to sit down and work out a math problem procedurally builds your ability to work out many other life's problems procedurally. Also, no child knows what he/she wants to become when he/she first start out in school. Many students end up choosing jobs where math skills are required; the others find that math skills are required in the ordinary trials of life from doing taxes to building an add-on room to the house.

Answer 8

You're 30 and $600 in debt. You win $875 on the lottery and want to pay half your debt off. How much of your winnings do you have left?

Don't learn math and you're buggered. Learn it, and it may just save you a cent or two in the future.

Answer 9

The purpose of an education is to socialize the student and to expose the student to concepts. This creates a well-rounded citizenry necessary to a democracy.

Answer 10

teachers do not determine the curriculum, the objectives, or other requirements. plus, you need all the seemingly useless facts as a base of knowledge to acquire more difficult skills.