School Days

[Grommit]

My school days lasted from the early 1950’s to the early 1960’s. During that time I learned how to read and write, add and subtract, multiply and divide, all of which turned out to be very useful during my life ever since I left school.

However, I am now left pondering whether some of the other stuff I learned was either a) worth learning in terms of usefulness during life and b) retaining in my memory in case it should become useful.

Let me explain a little further. Some of the simple things that I learned outside school, using common sense, were taught in school in such a way as to completely cloud the issues involved.

Take for instance the following scene. A waiter in a hotel appears from the kitchen with two bowls of soup on a tray. When he gets to the table he places the tray on the table so half of the tray is over the edge of the table. One bowl of soup on the tray is not supported, the other is.

Anybody can see that the tray is “balanced” so why do the learned ones amongst us have to declare that “the moment of centrifugal force has been obtained?” How often are we going to use that phrase in our everyday lives?

I can’t remember the last time I used an equilateral or isosceles triangle and what would I have used it for anyway.

We all know that parallel lines never meet but I have gone through life so far without laying railway lines so it has not done me much good.

I can distinctly remember an examination question about how long it would take a man to fill a bath while the plug was out. Who, in their right mind, would want to do that? The price of water these days precludes an attempt to even try it.

Before Jean became ill we had many holidays on the Norfolk Broads, chugging up and down the rivers, watching the wildlife and exploring the villages and small towns. I can honestly say that, despite watching carefully from the driver’s seat, I have never seen an ‘ox bow’ lake even though I know how they are formed and why.

Has it done me any good knowing what an escarpment or a scree slope looks like? Can’t say it has
.
I have lost count of the number of times I have used the formula for circumferences of circles mainly because I can’t remember ever using outside school.

The process of the internal combustion engine was taught to us by a science teacher as induction, compression, explosion and exhaustion. The mobile mechanic who came to look at my car described it as “suck, squeeze, bang, blow” but that was not why the darn thing wouldn’t start – try putting petrol in it.

Ok, so I know the Earth revolves around the Sun thus creating the seasons but if I had not known that information, would it stop me from freezing certain parts of my anatomy off in the middle of winter?

I wonder how much more knowledge I have retained which I am unlikely to ever use.

[annie]

do877 do877 do877

[Misspears]

do877 do877 do877

[wendy]

I suppose we learnt to read and write and add up.
For which I am grateful for today.

[maureenho]

Gave us food for thought do877

[Rosalind]

do877 do877