What is the point of Chemistry?

It's like physics. Lots of people think they are utterly useless until they need to move a tree stump😂

You are advocating for people being generally ignorant of how their world works, and that sort of ignorance leaves people vulnerable. To be educated is to be freer and have more opportunities.

I was about to say this!!

I agree. I hate it when my MIL tells me not to use a particular product for DC because of 'chemicals'. Or when people only want 'natural' remedies. I try to point out that manufactured medicines have extracted the active ingredient from the plant, i.e. the chemical, and made it into a more efficacious product. By all means use herbal medicine, it's great. But don't pitch it as 'natural' versus 'chemical'!

I did biology at university and while chemistry wasn't my favourite I wouldn't have understood biology without it.
Anyone in any HCP needs it - even if you are a carer who's giving medication you will need to know why you take some meds with food, some not.
Anyone in the trades - how do you clean your brushes? What should you wear a mask while doing? What's flammable?

You don't, just like you dont need algebra.

I personally think it's a waste of time learning science and maths above a certain point unless you want to study it.

The education system is old and outdated.

Saying chemical reactions happen with limescale cleaners and chemotherapy is true but unless it interests you or you need it for your career why does it matter?

Spaceships fly and heart valves beat, and the stock exchange loses millions and gains millions every day. So? We don't seem to need to know all about that, that but we need to know the periodic table and the chemical reaction of XYZ. And (3x x 4y over 2x + -5y) It's utterly pointless.

If you are a driving instructor, a dog walker, a retail manager, a therapist, a midwife, a social worker, a council planner, a paramedic, a marketing manager, primary school teacher, pilot, soldier etc etc. You don't need to know it!

I wouldn't expect it to be explicitly taught.

But understanding that mixing random chemicals together may cause noxious fumes or explosions should be one outcome of 5 years of secondary level chemistry teaching.

Understanding the basics of chemistry, physics and biology gives you the bare minimum you need to understand our planet. Not studying any one of these three (e.g. chemistry) would leave you ignorant of important scientific principles that would mean you wouldn't fully understand the two you did study (e.g. physics and biology).

They are complementary subjects, not entirely separate.

To be good at business, I think you need to understand the world, and understanding chemistry is key to understanding the world.

Yes, I know all that, but none of my knowledge of the "real World" of chemistry came via chemistry lessons at school. It's all stuff I've picked up in the decades since leaving school.

It was years after I left that it finally dawned on me that metals were rocks and that "iron" in the blood was exactly the same as "iron" in the ground. I was never taught that kind of "real World" chemistry, which is probably why I never really "got it" at school. I genuinely thought that iron in the blood was a completely different "type" of iron than that found in the ground or that was used to make machinery - two completely different things that just shared a name!

Learning things by rote does improve memory function.

Chemistry is essential. Have a look on some of these threads with people talking nonsense about "harmful chemicals", or unable to understand basic energy functions.
Plus; school isn't about just giving you the knowledge that you need for what you think you might do. It's about the cognitive process and development of processing skills.

My retired friend has a chemistry degree and taught chemistry to A-Level. Hugely helpful when discussing strategies for drain and septic tank issues.

I did Chemistry to age 16 and was never told not to put a mix of chemicals down the toilet. In fact, I can't really remember much of what we were taught as it was taught in a way that simply didn't relate to the real World at all. But that was decades ago, so maybe it has changed to be more relevant to adult life and not just for careers??? My enduring memory is learning the periodic table parrot fashion for months on end - spending entire lessons being tested on it, and that spilling sulphuric acid (or hydrochloric acid?) on the bench causes a lot of smoke and a little crater!

Most biology is also ultimately based on chemical reactions and processes - without chemistry nothing exists! Everything is made of chemicals.
Really it would be better if everyone understood a bit more chemistry. Some great examples already given about how it impacts our lives - health/ medicines, food & cooking, transport/ energy, even cleaning as mentioned, all based on chemistry or chemical reactions. I say this as someone that struggled with pure chemistry modules at uni!

I love chemistry. It helps me know that chemical free is a selling slogan, that natural isn't always better and if I want to poison someone I can.

Learning is about how to learn, it's not always about the specific topic. In this case, I'd say knowing basic chemistry is actually quite useful

You need it everywhere, you just don't realise it.

Limescale requires acids to clean.
Your fire needs fuel and oxygen.
Heartburn is treated with bases.
Rust is caused by water, oxygen...
Your plants will grow quicker with more light, carbon dioxide, nitrates, phosphates and potassium.
Baking requires yeast, which requires sugar at 37 degrees
Bleach is an oxidation reaction.

It's a problem solving tool. It's so easy to get into the 'I use this for that' mentality, but if 'this' doesn't work, understanding how it works is critical.

Did you shower and brush your teeth this morning? Wash any dishes? Taken any medication recently?

🙂

School isn't just about learning facts. Its learning how to learn, think and analyse.

So yes, he may never use the stuff he learns in Chemistry again... ut he will have learnt something from having to learn it.

The point being made is that, like most school subjects, the vast majority of pupils won't ever use it and don't actually need to learn it to GCSE level. No one is suggesting that it shouldn't be offered as a subject for those who are interested or think they'll need it in their chosen profession. No problem in having lessons in a broad range of subjects at earlier ages so kids can experience them, but we really shouldn't be forcing pupils to take in subjects in which they have no interest and are likely to get relatively low grades (because they're not interested!)

Understanding the pros and cons of fracking?

Absolutely this. Without chemistry we'd all be chewing willow bark to relieve pain, and we'd be limited to growing food using manure as fertiliser and losing a lot of crops to pests and diseases.

And then you have adults who genuinely believe that ‘no chemicals’ is possible and that ‘only natural chemicals’ is necessarily a good thing (anyone for some tree frog toxin in their face cream?).

If they hadn’t done chemistry GCSE then at the age of about 13 you’d have been blocking off hundreds of careers…medicine and allied ones being the most obvious (yes, you can do medicine without A-Level chemistry but you need that knowledge so without GCSE I’d suggest it’s not a starter).

If making plaster of paris figures it is useful to know what an exothermic reaction is.