Thursday, March 4, 2010

Why do I need to learn this?

As any teacher knows (especially math and science teachers), the most irritating question a student can ask is "Why do I need to learn this?"

This is of course closely followed by "Did we do anything while I was gone?" as the second most annoying question but that is not this post.

So why do we make kids learn all of that stuff anyways? The answer is complicated of course, which is why most students don't actually want to hear it. It is sometimes easier to just tell them that they have to learn it because the politicians say so and they get to decide that stuff.

One of the real reasons is that we teach the increasingly complicated science material in high school is to prepare the students that will be going on to careers in science. If you are going to take a chemistry or physics class in college it is a good idea to take it high school first. And while most high school students are sure they will be professional basketball players or the next American Idol, in reality most of them will get real jobs of some kind. And even some of the students that think they will never take another science class will decide later on that they want to be nurses or engineers.

So in order to prepare the students that will need to take science classes later on, we need to prepare everyone just in case. As you can imagine this answer doesn't really go over well with Mr. future-pro-basketball and Ms. next-American-Idol.


The next reason is that real life as a responsible involved citizen actually requires some basic science knowledge. If someone is trying to sell you something that is supposed to magically remove hard water stains, and you understand the basics of chemical reactions you might be able to decide whether or not to spend $45 dollars for vinegar. And if you know how the water cycle works you will know how to participate in discussions about acid rain or water pollution and how to make informed decisions about voting and policies. We really do need people to understand the science behind all of the tricky political issues that we hear about all of the time.

Somehow students don't actually think this is a good reason, they are pretty sure they can just listen to the television, internet, politician, advertisement, famous person or anyone else and then they don't have to think for themselves.


The last reason, and actually the one I think might be the most important, is that science teaches us how to think. It teaches logical reasoning, problem solving, critical thinking and following directions. Ok, the last one might not actually count as how to think, but I think it is pretty important for people to figure out "Read step 1", "Do step 1", "Read step 2", "Do step 2", etc, etc. This skill seems to be in short supply. And that, along with the other thinking skills are necessary to do a good job no matter what you end up doing. Employers want to hire people who can look at a problem, see multiple ways of solving it, evaluate the possibilities and then solve the problem efficiently. Also, the more you use your brain, the better it works and the longer it works. We know that people who do problem solving and reasoning tasks as they age show less mental deterioration.

This one seems to be the least popular with students, who of course will do whatever they can to avoid thinking...ever.

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