# What was the most pointless thing your school made you do?



## Furryanimal (Dec 14, 2016)

As a teacher I made it my mission to eradicate rules that made no sense and caused more trouble than they were worth


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## Warrigal (Dec 14, 2016)

Projects as in "do a project on Ancient Egypt" without any guidelines.
All that happened was that we copied slices of encyclopedia onto a sheet of cardboard and then tried to hand copy some maps and illustrations. Complete waste of a child's time because no actual learning took place.


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## NancyNGA (Dec 14, 2016)

That's a tough one.  

In elementary school, starting in 1st grade (5 years old), the girls had to wear dresses at school.  It was a cold climate. We all wore snow pants to school, took them off when we arrived, and put them back on when we left.  Back in the dark ages when I went to school.


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## Furryanimal (Dec 14, 2016)

Warrigal said:


> Projects as in "do a project on Ancient Egypt" without any guidelines.
> All that happened was that we copied slices of encyclopedia onto a sheet of cardboard and then tried to hand copy some maps and illustrations. Complete waste of a child's time because no actual learning took place.



Happened all the time when I was a pupil.Problem is lots of politicians think that constitutes learning.


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## Furryanimal (Dec 14, 2016)

NancyNGA said:


> That's a tough one.
> 
> In elementary school, starting in 1st grade (5 years old), the girls had to wear dresses at school.  It was a cold climate. We all wore snow pants to school, took them off when we arrived, and put them back on when we left.  Back in the dark ages when I went to school.


In my secondary school in the seventies there was one senior teacher who declared that for as long as she was in the school girls would never be allowed to wear trousers. I asked her once why she thought this and was torn off a strip for being rude to her!!Today my teenage nephew attends the same school and the girls can wear trousers.


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## Butterfly (Dec 15, 2016)

In the fifth grade I had to make a Parthenon out of sugar cubes.  All it got me was ants in the living room and my mother had a FIT!  Why would anyone want to make a Parthenon out of sugar cubes, anyway??  I cannot envision any possible scenario in which that particular skill would do anyone any good at all.


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## Mrs. Robinson (Dec 15, 2016)

Algebra.


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## Shalimar (Dec 15, 2016)

Wearing micro mini skirts with hot pants and high heels was acceptable in middle school, while jeans weren't. ?????


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## Carla (Dec 15, 2016)

Grade school science projects. Paper mache volcanoes were popular, along with dioramas of the solar system. I mean, what do expect from grade school and junior high students?


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## Ruth n Jersey (Dec 15, 2016)

I went to grammar school in the fifties. The first day of school the teacher told us we needed to have a loose leaf note book and an assignment pad. That would have been ok but she wanted us to have it the next day and the assignment pad had to be exactly the dimensions she gave us. My Dad worked late,we only had one car, and back then there were no malls and stores closed early. My poor Mom borrowed my Grandfathers car and we rode around to the few stores we had looking for the darn pad. Sometimes they were sold out because other kids got there first. Somehow we managed to locate the proper size and I breathed a sigh of relief. The teacher actually did measure the pad the next day. How I would love to go back in time and give those teachers an ear full.


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## Gemma (Dec 15, 2016)

For me, it had to be 10th grade History class.  

The whole school year, the teacher expected the class to take dictation. No kind of books involved.  He'd go on and on about History and we had to write word for word in notebooks, every single day, what he said. Couldn't be taken in shorthand, had to be completely written out.  Our notebooks would be graded on neatness and content, and we also would have tests on what we learned, every semester.  Talk about a boring class!  Might as well just have handed us History books and tell us to go read them, then test us on that.


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## Furryanimal (Dec 15, 2016)

Butterfly said:


> In the fifth grade I had to make a Parthenon out of sugar cubes.  All it got me was ants in the living room and my mother had a FIT!  Why would anyone want to make a Parthenon out of sugar cubes, anyway??  I cannot envision any possible scenario in which that particular skill would do anyone any good at all.


Completely weird.


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## Furryanimal (Dec 15, 2016)

Mrs. Robinson said:


> Algebra.



Exactly


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## Furryanimal (Dec 15, 2016)

Carla said:


> Grade school science projects. Paper mache volcanoes were popular, along with dioramas of the solar system. I mean, what do expect from grade school and junior high students?



As a teacher of 7 to 11 year olds I had classes make such things.But I made sure the science behind them came alive.


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## Furryanimal (Dec 15, 2016)

Gemma said:


> For me, it had to be 10th grade History class.
> 
> The whole school year, the teacher expected the class to take dictation. No kind of books involved.  He'd go on and on about History and we had to write word for word in notebooks, every single day, what he said. Couldn't be taken in shorthand, had to be completely written out.  Our notebooks would be graded on neatness and content, and we also would have tests on what we learned, every semester.  Talk about a boring class!  Might as well just have handed us History books and tell us to go read them, then test us on that.




History is exciting. I have a degree in it and trained to teach it but taught like that a complete turn off. Had a geography teacher who wrote notes on the board every lesson for us to copy. Boring.


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## Capt Lightning (Dec 16, 2016)

Our school had a road round its perimeter.  Boys were supposed to walk clockwise round it and girls were supposed to walk anti-clockwise.  I don't suppose they realised that we were bound to meet in the middle!

There was also a rule that we shouldn't fraternise with the pupils from the 'secondary modern' school in town.  That didn't work either - I married one of them 43 years ago.


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## OneEyedDiva (Jan 9, 2017)

Probably those penmanship exercises. Remember they called it that back then, not cursive. They made us draw those continuous circles and up and down strokes. Maybe it did help...I got penmanship awards.


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## dog lover (Jan 9, 2017)

Haha, standing in the corner for being naughty!


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## Aunt Marg (Jul 21, 2020)

Writing lines on the chalkboard... elementary school.


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## JaniceM (Jul 21, 2020)

The first school I attended, the most pointless thing:  to show up.


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## Duster (Jul 21, 2020)

I also have to say algebra.  I have never, ever needed it, in all of these years.  What a waste of time.

The other pointless thing was to make us go outside whenever a bomb threat was called in. Since they didn't have caller I.D. back then, students routinely phoned the school, making bomb threats on a daily basis.  This was in Junior High School.


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## Pecos (Jul 21, 2020)

Some of that crap we did in boot camp was way up there on the pointless scale.


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## jujube (Jul 21, 2020)

Memorizing dates, i.e. when was the Battle of Hastings fought?  If, 40 years later, I needed that information, I'd look it up.  But, for some reason memorizing the date was more important than learning WHY it was fought.

Has anyone walked up to you on the street and asked, "Pardon me, but do you know when the Battle of Hastings was fought?"  I didn't think so.


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## Keesha (Jul 21, 2020)

Butterfly said:


> In the fifth grade I had to make a Parthenon out of sugar cubes.  All it got me was ants in the living room and my mother had a FIT!  Why would anyone want to make a Parthenon out of sugar cubes, anyway??  I cannot envision any possible scenario in which that particular skill would do anyone any good at all.


Hahaha Butterfly?

You have a valid point there.
In grade 5 once our history teacher got mad at a student so punished us all by making us twist our heads to look at the clock from 3:15 to 4:00. Most of us had crocked necks and most parents were furious. She then got mad at us for complaining about hurting but it truly was needless barbaric punishment. She never did it again but we were all hoping she’d get expelled. She didn’t.


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## Furryanimal (Jul 21, 2020)

jujube said:


> Memorizing dates, i.e. when was the Battle of Hastings fought?  If, 40 years later, I needed that information, I'd look it up.  But, for some reason memorizing the date was more important than learning WHY it was fought.
> 
> Has anyone walked up to you on the street and asked, "Pardon me, but do you know when the Battle of Hastings was fought?"  I didn't think so.


Bet you were taught Harold was shot in the eye....not at all certain...


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## Gaer (Jul 21, 2020)

Montana   50's.  freezing winter.  We could only wear dresses or skirts to school. In grade school, we wore our jeans under our dresses and took them off in the hallway before we went to class. After school,we would put them back on so our legs wouldn't freeze on the way home.


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## Ruthanne (Jul 21, 2020)

Show up..


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## hollydolly (Jul 21, 2020)

Gaer said:


> Montana   50's.  freezing winter.  We could only wear dresses or skirts to school. In grade school, we wore our jeans under our dresses and took them off in the hallway before we went to class. After school,we would put them back on so our legs wouldn't freeze on the way home.


Same here...snowy Scotland minus -  many degrees... .. Skirts to school for the girls... while boys were able to wear long trousers.!!  Things didn't change to allow trousers for girls  until my own daughter was in the 5th year ( 16 years old)  which was approx 20 years after I left school


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## hollydolly (Jul 21, 2020)

Most pointless thing was PE classes outdoors for girls, wearing only School shirts and Knickers... I mean navy pants, underwear knickers, not shorts!! It was humiliating, and especially as our sports field was directly outside the large glass windows of the Boys techi drawing classes.. 

They would never be allowed to do that now!!


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## JaniceM (Jul 21, 2020)

hollydolly said:


> Most pointless thing was PE classes outdoors for girls, wearing only School shirts and Knickers... I mean navy pants, underwear knickers, not shorts!! It was humiliating, and especially as our sports field was directly outside the large glass windows of the Boys techi drawing classes..
> 
> They would never be allowed to do that now!!


Did you just say you had to do gym class outdoors in your underwear?!?  WTH?!?


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## RadishRose (Jul 21, 2020)

Not chew gum.


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## asp3 (Jul 21, 2020)

I actually find that there are few pointless things that are learned in school.  Even if you never use the knowledge or skills during the rest of your lifetime it does give you a better understanding of the world we live in.  I think there are far too many people who are ignorant about the way the world works these days.

I'd say the assignment that was the closest to being pointless for me was requiring that we write 20,000 words in a journal during the school year.  I had a lot of pages with the word I repeated many times on the same page to get my 20,000 words.  However I do see value in getting students more comfortable with writing but I would have preferred something that actually motivated me to write well rather than just shooting for a number.


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## gennie (Jul 21, 2020)

Learn a version of Virginia history that had been white-washed to make us believe we were the good guys in 1861.


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## Furryanimal (Jul 21, 2020)

hollydolly said:


> Most pointless thing was PE classes outdoors for girls, wearing only School shirts and Knickers... I mean navy pants, underwear knickers, not shorts!! It was humiliating, and especially as our sports field was directly outside the large glass windows of the Boys techi drawing classes..
> 
> They would never be allowed to do that now!!


This came up on another forum I am on.Our friends across the pond remain unconvinced.


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## hollydolly (Jul 21, 2020)

Furryanimal said:


> This came up on another forum I am on.Our friends across the pond remain unconvinced.


Really ?... what, unconvinced it happened or that it was a bad idea ?


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## Keesha (Jul 21, 2020)

Gaer said:


> Montana   50's.  freezing winter.  We could only wear dresses or skirts to school. In grade school, we wore our jeans under our dresses and took them off in the hallway before we went to class. After school,we would put them back on so our legs wouldn't freeze on the way home.


And I thought everyone did this. This was our norm.


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## Treacle (Jul 21, 2020)

Mrs. Robinson said:


> Algebra.


Didn't use it but I loved it


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## win231 (Jul 21, 2020)

In Kindergarten, "Nap Time."  Around noon.
In elementary:  History. In Jr. High:  algebra, wood shop, metal shop, electric shop, P.E.
In High School - required English literature.


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## bowmore (Jul 21, 2020)

I had a print shop class in HS that taught us typesetting. I never typeset, but I learned how to read upside down and mirror image. This came in handy at work when I could read something on a persons desk.


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## Warrigal (Jul 21, 2020)

I have long maintained that there are only two things that all children must learn. One is to read because then we can learn everything else we need from books (and now computers) when we need to. The other is learn to swim.

As a teacher of junior high school girls I decided that the most important thing they needed was to learn how to think (reason) but not necessarily what to think. To do this it was first necessary to impart some knowledge. Whether the knowledge was in the field of science, history, geometry, or bushcraft didn't matter. As long as there was something to engage the grey matter any subject would do. For some algebra is engaging but not for all. For others design and technology hits the spot. It helps if the teacher is enthusiastic about their subject, and finds satisfaction in developing young minds for unknown futures.


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## Sliverfox (Jul 21, 2020)

The horrid  3 piece gym suits we wore in gym  class In   high school.
There was a skirt  with  build in panty attached to  button  front  blouse.

You had to step in the  panty  than twist to get  blouse on,, than untuck the  skirt from where it  got  caught on.


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## Sliverfox (Jul 21, 2020)

Science teachers who wanted you to collect  different tree  leaves in the Fall,, after the leaves were changing  color.


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## Kayelle (Jul 21, 2020)

I have to agree with the Algebra, and also Latin being useless. Come on now...
By far, the most valuable thing I learned was taught by a wonderful Nun teacher...*TYPING 101*. Classic *Touch Typing  *was by far the best and most useful thing I learned in school. Sister Mary Margret was a taskmaster to be sure and I have used what she taught me every day of my life. It's such a pleasure to sit here and not only type, but also proof read as I type, never looking down. Those of you who classically touch type know what I mean, but others don't.


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## Keesha (Jul 21, 2020)

I hated that kindergarten nap time thing too. Who wants to go to school to sleep on a hard floor with boys? Yuck!


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## jujube (Jul 21, 2020)

Sliverfox said:


> The horrid  3 piece gym suits we wore in gym  class In   high school.
> There was a skirt  with  build in panty attached to  button  front  blouse.
> 
> You had to step in the  panty  than twist to get  blouse on,, than untuck the  skirt from where it  got  caught on.



We had one-piece puke green gym suits that were made of a thick broadcloth that wrinkled like mad.  They were pretty much _one-size-fits-none _and length-wise they either were too short and annoyed you in the lower regions or they were too long and it looked like you were wearing a saggy diaper.  Not even the prom queens looked good in them.


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## MarciKS (Jul 21, 2020)

Algebra


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## win231 (Jul 21, 2020)

Keesha said:


> I hated that kindergarten nap time thing too. Who wants to go to school to sleep on a hard floor with boys? Yuck!


I remember mats being spread out on the floor.
Doesn't get much more stupid than forcing children to sleep in the middle of the day.  The teachers probably used nap time to have a few drinks.....


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## Knight (Jul 21, 2020)

1st. day of  history class in the eleventh grade the teacher had if I remember right 7 black boards filled with what was in the 1st. chapter of our history books.  We were supposed to copy everything she had written. About 10 minutes into the class she stopped by my desk & asked why I wasn't writing out the assignment.  I said something to the effect I didn't need to I could read it in my book.  That got me a trip to the principles office where I explained my side of why I was there. Thankfully I was reassigned another teacher. One that could actually get students interested in history.


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## peramangkelder (Jul 22, 2020)

Algebra and Slide Rules....I have NEVER used either in almost 50 years.... a complete and utter waste of time
Needless to say I did not do well in my respective mathematic exams involving Algebra or Slide Rules


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## jerry old (Jul 22, 2020)

I suppose every school had it's 'Beast.'  A teacher that was a rabid human being and
should never have been in a school.


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## Ferocious (Jul 22, 2020)

*What was the most pointless thing your school made you do?*

*Learn the wonderful English language, then have to live in a world that speaks with phones, in text.*


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## hollydolly (Jul 22, 2020)

JaniceM said:


> Did you just say you had to do gym class outdoors in your underwear?!?  WTH?!?


yes we did... it was horrific.. and it happened in all our schools not just ours!!


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## Fyrefox (Jul 22, 2020)

Algebra as well; _two years _of it were required for anyone considered college prep, and I‘ve never had to use it since.  That’s time I’ll never have back that could have been used to study something interesting or worthwhile...


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## fuzzybuddy (Jul 22, 2020)

I went to a Catholic school. I had nuns. I don't need to say anymore.


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## Furryanimal (Jul 22, 2020)

hollydolly said:


> Really ?... what, unconvinced it happened or that it was a bad idea ?


Unconvinced it happened


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## Judycat (Jul 22, 2020)

A class called Global, taught by the football coach. It was a study hall except for one project, no teaching required. The coach taught kids how to scramble their brains, not grow them. 

The project was pick a country and make a plaster rendering of said country on a slab of wood. School supplied the materials. We had to paint it so it looked map-like. My partner was the one who painted it. I said leave it blank because, who cares. Yes we had to pair off to make that insulting piece of crap. What an embarrassing waste of time.


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## debodun (Jul 22, 2020)

Diagramming sentences. There's a skill everyone uses every day.


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## toffee (Jul 22, 2020)

well thats easy --has to be science -complete waste of his time and mine '
it gave me no interest what so ever in my school days - bored me rigid...


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## hollydolly (Jul 22, 2020)

toffee said:


> well thats easy --has to be science -complete waste of his time and mine '
> it gave me no interest what so ever in my school days - bored me rigid...


Me too..or me neither. Either way I hated science particularly Physics...


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## Pink Biz (Jul 22, 2020)

*Creating dioramas. I wasn't an artistic kid to start with and did not enjoy being embarrassed in 3-D, no less!*


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## moviequeen1 (Jul 22, 2020)

God knows why,in my senior year of high school I had to take business math course,barely passed it
I've always had problems with math but it did come in handy when I was a pharmacy tech.Every time I had to deliver narcotics to nursing units,I had to count a large amount of drugs that were in the drawers.Once in awhile I would lose count, because an impatient nurse or doctor wanted to get into the machine I was using. I would get very frustrated ,then they say'Oh,the count is off'


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## Giantsfan1954 (Jul 22, 2020)

OneEyedDiva said:


> Probably those penmanship exercises. Remember they called it that back then, not cursive. They made us draw those continuous circles and up and down strokes. Maybe it did help...I got penmanship awards.


The Palmer method,remember it well.


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## Giantsfan1954 (Jul 22, 2020)

fuzzybuddy said:


> I went to a Catholic school. I had nuns. I don't need to say anymore.


Same here,agreed! Did yours have the brass ruler?


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## Pappy (Jul 22, 2020)

Gave us a gallon of white paste and it was good, so we ate it. For me, algebra. Never have used it, never will.


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## Giantsfan1954 (Jul 22, 2020)

Algebra that makes no sense even in this day.
The frogs that we had to dissect in Biology, felt sorry for the poor things!
I went to Catholic school we had to learn how to use a fountain pen,never forget the messes with the inkwells and all then one company,Schaefer, maybe,came out with this ink cartridges that were way less messy, no couldn’t use them,I wouldn’t know where to find a fountain pen today,lm 65,went to school when the dinosaurs walked the earth
Walked uphill to school both ways through 8 foot snow drifts,ya know that drill


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## Camper6 (Jul 22, 2020)

A class in health taught by the gym teacher.  Boys taught by the male teacher.  Girls taught by the female gym teacher.  I can't remember anything I learned from that class. I would have preferred learning from the female teacher.  There would be plenty of questions I could have asked.
The only reason they were teaching health was because they were forced to.  I suppose a gym teacher wasn't a real job. They were good at sports teaching however.
I took a cooking class.  Now that has served me well. In those days they taught home economics.
I was terrible in math until I learned algebra.  Now it was easy for me to solve for the unknown when the dumb farmer measured one side of the field in feet and the other side in yards and I had to compute the area.  Area = l x w. Length is in feet.  Width is in yards
Therefore Area= (l/3) x w .
Now for more fun the area of a circle.  You really need to know that when buying a pizza that is offered as round and one that is offered as square.


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## Camper6 (Jul 22, 2020)

jujube said:


> Memorizing dates, i.e. when was the Battle of Hastings fought?  If, 40 years later, I needed that information, I'd look it up.  But, for some reason memorizing the date was more important than learning WHY it was fought.
> 
> Has anyone walked up to you on the street and asked, "Pardon me, but do you know when the Battle of Hastings was fought?"  I didn't think so.


You will never make it on Jeopardy or the pub trivia team.


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## jujube (Jul 22, 2020)

Camper6 said:


> You will never make it on Jeopardy or the pub trivia team.



Well, you obviously don't know me. You would be surprised at how good I am at trivia or Jeopardy.  I'm a voracious reader and I feel I received most of my education through reading.   That said, I still don't know when the Battle of Hastings was fought.  I just hope it doesn't come up when I'm going for bonus points.


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## Marie5656 (Jul 22, 2020)

Furryanimal said:


> As a teacher I made it my mission to eradicate rules that made no sense and caused more trouble than they were worth


Wow, your font is tiny. For me it was Shorthand.  And Algebra. Did not use either. Do they even teach shorthand any more?


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## Camper6 (Jul 22, 2020)

jujube said:


> Well, you obviously don't know me. You would be surprised at how good I am at trivia or Jeopardy.  I'm a voracious reader and I feel I received most of my education through reading.   That said, I still don't know when the Battle of Hastings was fought.  I just hope it doesn't come up when I'm going for bonus points.


Well trivia buffs, and I'm one of them find out these things. To remember them is the hard part.


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## Sassycakes (Jul 22, 2020)

Giantsfan1954 said:


> Same here,agreed! Did yours have the brass ruler?



*It seems like we all went to the same school. All my Nuns had rulers and they used them often. One thing that sticks out in my mind was everyday the girls had to kneel on the floor so the Nun could make sure that your uniform touched the  floor and wasn't too short. Little did they know that once we left school 
we used our uniform belt to hike up our uniforms. Of course none of the boys told the Nuns.*


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## Ellen Marie (Jul 22, 2020)

Take Latin.


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## Ellen Marie (Jul 22, 2020)

Pecos said:


> Some of that crap we did in boot camp was way up there on the pointless scale.


That needs to be it's own posting.


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## jerry old (Jul 22, 2020)

I know when the Battle of Hastings  occurred, but just like the questions on Jeopardy,
'it won't come to me.'
I know it was William the Conqueror vs  the Brit king (who ?)  it was not yesterday or the day before.

I think my memory is hampered by thinking about all those Brit girls running around
in there underwear during P.E.... Hmmmmm....


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## Warrigal (Jul 22, 2020)

jujube said:


> Well, you obviously don't know me. You would be surprised at how good I am at trivia or Jeopardy.  I'm a voracious reader and I feel I received most of my education through reading.   That said, I still don't know when the Battle of Hastings was fought.  I just hope it doesn't come up when I'm going for bonus points.


Well, obviously you never read the definitive history book titled 1066 and all that. If you had you would know that history is not what happened but what everyone remembers. Surely everyone remembers 54 BC and 1066? No?


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## jerry old (Jul 22, 2020)

Showoff


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## Furryanimal (Jul 22, 2020)

Warrigal said:


> Well, obviously you never read the definitive history book titled 1066 and all that. If you had you would know that history is not what happened but what everyone remembers. Surely everyone remembers 54 BC and 1066? No?


Yes-and 1832 and 1848 and 1415.....i could go on.Did i mention i have a History Degree?It annoys me when politicians think that knowing dates is knowing History.
And 1066 is a date most know.I had kids studying the alleged battle site(turns it wasn’t where everyone thought it was-it’s on a roundabout in Hastings!) and trying to work out how Harolds side lost.It was because they were  knackered by the way..had just come from another famous battle.


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## Furryanimal (Jul 22, 2020)

deleted


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## jerry old (Jul 23, 2020)

So Furryanimal, with his history degree,  was sandbagging.  That's a kick in the head, can't trust anyone these days.
Showoff
Lay in wait like a big old snake, then up pops the devil:☝ 'Did I mention I have a history degree...'🗣


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## Warrigal (Jul 23, 2020)

jerry old said:


> Showoff



  

That's me. 
Actually I dropped History as soon as I could because I hated memorising random numbers.
Swapped it for German. Big mistake!


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## hollydolly (Jul 23, 2020)

jujube said:


> Well, you obviously don't know me. You would be surprised at how good I am at trivia or Jeopardy.  I'm a voracious reader and I feel I received most of my education through reading.   That said, I still don't know when the* Battle of Hastings was fought.  *I just hope it doesn't come up when I'm going for bonus points.


14th October 1066... one of the first dates we learned in history


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## fuzzybuddy (Jul 23, 2020)

Giantsfan1954 said:


> Same here,agreed! Did yours have the brass ruler?


No. It was a thick yard stick. I still remember the yellow color.


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## old medic (Jul 23, 2020)

breathalyzer.... hell we were smoking dope...


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## LindaB (Jul 23, 2020)

Girls couldn't wear pants, skirts, blouses and dresses only. This was in the mid fifties to the early sixties.


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## Aunt Marg (Jul 23, 2020)

Stand on one side of the school grounds. 

One side was for the boys... the other side for the girls.

Lasted until I was in grade 1 or 2, if I remember correct.


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## Phoenix (Jul 23, 2020)

LindaB said:


> Girls couldn't wear pants, skirts, blouses and dresses only. This was in the mid fifties to the early sixties.


Same here.  So there we were on the monkey bars tipping upside down and showing our wares.


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## Kayelle (Jul 23, 2020)

Hate to be a party pooper here, and disagree about my education with the Catholic school Nuns who taught me. 

My Sisters of the Holy Cross were compassionate taskmasters, and caring woman who lead lives most of us wouldn't choose, but did it with grace and devotion to life and learning. I was never abused by any of them in my 12 yrs of education by them, nor did I ever hear of any abuse in the student body of only 128 students of the private school I attended. I still think of them as remarkable people.


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## Bee (Jul 24, 2020)

I hated school with a vengeance and couldn't wait to leave.......I found the female teachers were the worse ones for humiliating you in front of the class.

I left school aged 15 years and one month, on the day I left we had a school leaving ceremony and afterwards I was in the cloakroom collecting my belongings when my last class teacher came in and asked if I had a job to go to....yes I said I start tomorrow........her reply was...you won't be able to have so much time off when you are working....,my response to that was..........I won't need to because I won't be facing you everyday........with that she turned on her heels and walked out.


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## JaniceM (Jul 24, 2020)

Marie5656 said:


> Wow, your font is tiny. For me it was Shorthand.  And Algebra. Did not use either. Do they even teach shorthand any more?


Considering the increasing popularity of computers, I'd doubt if kids are even taught _longhand _anymore.     

I'm with you guys on algebra-  and for that matter _all _upper-level math.


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## Kayelle (Jul 24, 2020)

JaniceM said:


> Considering the increasing popularity of computers, *I'd doubt if kids are even taught longhand anymore.    *
> 
> I'm with you guys on algebra-  and for that matter _all _upper-level math.



Young people will grow up never being able to read longhand. 
The written word of yesterday will require translation with a computer program by scanning grandparents love letters to one another.
Very sad indeed.


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## FastTrax (Jul 24, 2020)

When I was in school the two issues that truly irked me was the unrealistic "Duck & Cover" ritual that none of us students was buying since we lived on Long Island at the time when Grumman Aerospace was designing nuclear missiles in Bethpage. Anyone here ever notice the teachers never ducked and covered up? Was it that they didn't want to ruin their clothes or they knew better. Hmmmm.






The infamous report card dilemma.

If only I knew this back in the day of leather straps.






Live and learn.


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## Phoenix (Jul 25, 2020)

Bee said:


> I hated school with a vengeance and couldn't wait to leave.......I found the female teachers were the worse ones for humiliating you in front of the class.
> 
> I left school aged 15 years and one month, on the day I left we had a school leaving ceremony and afterwards I was in the cloakroom collecting my belongings when my last class teacher came in and asked if I had a job to go to....yes I said I start tomorrow........her reply was...you won't be able to have so much time off when you are working....,my response to that was..........I won't need to because I won't be facing you everyday........with that she turned on her heels and walked out.


Did you ever go back to school?  Sometimes when a person is going because they want to, not because they have to, it makes a difference.  I didn't start college until I was 24.  It was the right choice and the right time for me.


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## Bee (Jul 25, 2020)

No I never went back to school, when I started work I was a junior clerk for a shipping and forwarding agency doing all the running about between the Customs House and the Railway offices, by the time I left 9 years later to have my first baby I was the manageress of the office, when the manager was on leave I was in charge of the office and staff and made sure any new clients got through the Customs and onto a railway truck with no problems...I thoroughly enjoyed the work.


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## Autumn (Jul 25, 2020)

Cooking and sewing classes in 7th and 8th grades.  Just for the girls, the boys had shop.  I would have rather done that.

We made a sewing bag and then an apron to use in cooking class.  All by hand.  I was already sewing at home on my Grandma's treadle sewing machine, and had no patience for the dreaded backstich.  And I vividly remember making creamed carrots in cooking class, a dish I've never been tempted to repeat.

The boys learned to use basic tools, do home repairs and build small tables and racks.  I was *so* envious...


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## JaniceM (Jul 25, 2020)

Autumn said:


> Cooking and sewing classes in 7th and 8th grades.  Just for the girls, the boys had shop.  I would have rather done that.
> 
> We made a sewing bag and then an apron to use in cooking class.  All by hand.  I was already sewing at home on my Grandma's treadle sewing machine, and had no patience for the dreaded backstich.  And I vividly remember making creamed carrots in cooking class, a dish I've never been tempted to repeat.
> 
> The boys learned to use basic tools, do home repairs and build small tables and racks.  I was *so* envious...


Oh, same here.  Especially since we students knew how to do those things long before we took the classes.
It wasn't intentional, I'm sure, but one classmate summed up the class by writing HOME ACK" on her assignments.  (It was supposed to be "Home Ec." )


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## jerry old (Jul 25, 2020)

'How to Change your Report Card Grades-
Where was this video in 1955?  Damn!
Do schools still issue report cards?

Duck and cover:
That nonsense went on through the early fifties, it is a wonder we weren't all traumatized-of maybe we were?  Good topic to follow up...

Remember the bomb shelters? 
Any college student of that era would tell you it takes several inches of solid charcoal
to filter out the radiation present in air, making any oxygen breathing creature doomed.
Yet, those with this knowledge made no public announcement that bomb shelters were useless.
Oh well, there excellent tornado shelters, bet the survivalist grab 'um up.


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## Fyrefox (Aug 7, 2020)

Ahh yes, Shop classes for boys, while girls took Home Ec and learned the fundamentals of cooking, sewing, and home management, you know, _useful _stuff!   I made crooked bookcases and ugly table lamps, things which if I now need I can buy better versions of numerous places.  Gender-based curriculums apparently assumed that males would never need to cook or mend clothing, and that there would always be a submissive female around who would hasten to make the hapless male a meal...


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## macgeek (Aug 7, 2020)

dissect frogs.   wonder how many serial killers they created by making us do that?


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## oldman (Aug 7, 2020)

Furryanimal said:


> As a teacher I made it my mission to eradicate rules that made no sense and caused more trouble than they were worth


Example?


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## oldman (Aug 7, 2020)

Mrs. Robinson said:


> Algebra.


Algebra by itself is not necessary, but if you are going to a job where math is critical, then you also need subjects like Advanced Geometry and Trigonometry or Trig. It teaches the pupil about equations, formulas and rules. It’s like a precursor to the next level. It makes learning the next level more understandable. My very first job out of college was a Product Engineer for DuPont. Algebra really did help me to get through Trig. If the student has no plans where math would help them with their vocation, then it’s unnecessary. Even as a pilot, I have used some geometry and of course, some math. 

Back in high school, we were told that most colleges wouldn’t consider you, unless you had taken an advanced math course.


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## Kayelle (Aug 7, 2020)

macgeek said:


> dissect frogs.   wonder how many serial killers they created by making us do that?


I remember dissecting frogs too, and I can hardly believe that was really me who did that. It was like some kind of mind control at the time because I'm so opposite of that person now. Interesting question about how many serial killers were created with those science projects. On the other hand, we know all scientists started the same way.


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## Furryanimal (Aug 7, 2020)

oldman said:


> Example?


One school I worked in banned football on the yard at break time and insisted kids just stood around talking....so much for letting off steam before returning to the classroom.
They saw sense eventually but it took a couple of months...


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## oldman (Aug 7, 2020)

Furryanimal said:


> One school I worked in banned football on the yard at break time and insisted kids just stood around talking....so much for letting off steam before returning to the classroom.
> They saw sense eventually but it took a couple of months...


You're right. Dumb idea.


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## Pappy (Aug 7, 2020)

Duck and cover when I was younger. The thing I hated most was climbing those damn ropes in gym. Besides hurting your hands and getting rope burns on your thighs, there was never anything at the top anyway. Of course I wouldn’t know because I never made it to the top.


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## JaniceM (Aug 7, 2020)

Furryanimal said:


> One school I worked in banned football on the yard at break time and insisted kids just stood around talking....so much for letting off steam before returning to the classroom.
> They saw sense eventually but it took a couple of months...


One high school I attended was even more restrictive:  during the wintertime, and any other time of inclement weather, students could only be in either of two places during lunch break-  if not actually eating lunch, kids had to either play basketball in the gym _or _sit on the bleachers in the gym. We weren't allowed to be anywhere else unless we needed to use the restrooms.


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