what was the most useless subject you studied in high school

[moonangel]

i have never had a need to use algebra nor has history really been usefull nether has biology

[rghvac69]

I would have to say algebra. I've been out of high school for over twenty years and I've never used it.

[Nancy5]

Algebra 100%!  I have never used this and I don't expect to.

[ladavia89]

i have never had a need to use algebra nor has history really been usefull nether has biology

You've never had a need for history?

Outside of college, I don't think I've had any real life need for algebra or calculus. I don't really remember what else I took in high school, which is sad since I graduated in 2008

[annettefayeroach]

I would have to say algebra.

[Timberlan127]

I enjoyed math but couldn't see any reason anyone would study calculus. I see no uses for it and never understood it. So it would be calculus for me. It stopped me from taking math as my minor when I went to college.

[Cuppycake]

There was a class on how to care for babies. I had been a babysitter for a long time and already knew more then they were teaching about how to care for babies . I was also a certified junior lifeguard. That was pretty useless for me but they made us all take it.

[masked_brown_guy]

some of you do not realize it but you use math like algebra in your rational thinking.

[bleyd]

I can't think of any subjects in high school that I felt was useless (Hmm...math, english, history, sciences, japanese...can't think of anything else at the moment). If anything it'll probably Trigonometry...but even then there are times when it can be applied...just rarely.

[kewl4reals]

i have never had a need to use algebra nor has history really been usefull nether has biology

i never needed geometry in high school i hate that subject

[lvstephanie]

None. I think whether or not I can state an absolute use for a particular subject, high school subjects are still useful to have. I think sometimes we say a subject is useless if you can't think of an application to that knowledge. But sometimes it's helpful to have that knowledge when just interacting with others. So you may not have to recite the date for the Battle at Gettysburg at your job, but knowing about the battle (or even the Civil War in general) may enter into a conversation and having such knowledge will allow you to make more rational discussion. Also there may be times when you don't realize you are using knowledge from a particular subject. Like you may be studying how gas prices are fluctuating so that you can try to time which day the price will be the cheapest. And this studying of the rate of change of gas prices is actually using calculus. Finally there may be secondary skills and knowledge that you learn during the course of learning a particular subject. Although the literary knowledge gained when writing a term paper on Shakespeare may not actually be useful in your current job, things like knowing how to search for things in a library, formulating and writing rational arguments, and citing references correctly may all be secondary skills learned from that term paper which may be useful when trying to formulate a presentation at your job as to why a particular course of action may not be the best for the company.

[Flackle]

Sociology.

I consider the most useful subjects to be mathematics, and history. Depending on what you do for a living, English and science are also very useful (but not absolutely necessary.) The reason mathematics is important is that it helps develop rational thinking and reasoning (something that most people are in desperate need of). Whether you realize it or not, you use everything you learn in algebra every day. I actually think we don't go far enough, and should include calculus (a subject that use to be mostly college level, but a lot of high schools have it available) as a required class as well. A logic course would also be really cool to have, but it's still considered a college level only course. History is important for obvious reasons.

English is important if you plan on doing a lot of writing (being that basic English from pre-school to middle school is enough to effectively communicate with others). Science (such as biology and chemistry) are important if you plan on doing anything from psychology to engineering.

The most useless courses I would consider would be sociology, foreign language, and skill-based classes (like shop). The reason I consider foreign language to be useless for most people is that they will probably not use them. In my high school, we had 4 levels of foreign language (the first two where required, the next two where not and where college-level). If you didn't plan on taking all 4, I don't see the point in taking the first two. Anything you learn from learning a foreign language indirectly can be learned from other courses much more effectively (like math). I would learn foreign language only to learn the language itself (either because you want too, or because you think it will be useful). I figure anyone can learn what they need as far as a different language if they absolutely had too without having to take a class. Skill-based classes are only useful if that's what you plan on doing for a living (or even just as a hobby). Sociology was probably the most useless course I took, only because I found it to be based little off science and was full of assumptions not based on reality. I disagreed with many of the conclusion made.

[Flackle]

I enjoyed math but couldn't see any reason anyone would study calculus. I see no uses for it and never understood it. So it would be calculus for me. It stopped me from taking math as my minor when I went to college.

Calculus takes the most complicated aspects of algebra and simplifies it. A problem that would have taken pages of paper to solve with algebra can be solve in only a few lines with calculus. Although it requires a higher understanding of mathematics, the effort it saves is more than worth it.

It also brings your level of reasoning and rationality to a new level, and gives you a better preservative of the world. I understand it is a lot more complex to comprehend, and required classes for it should be taken a lot slower than the college level classes we have, but it is well worth learning.

[nannycoe1]

Algebra And Chemistry! YUCK  I don't think I have ever used them or need them.

[Flackle]

Algebra And Chemistry! YUCK  I don't think I have ever used them or need them.

Ever cook? That's chemistry.