To think the school system is ridiculous

[Suflan]

This post is talking about the school system in the republic of Ireland, but I know that the school system in the UK has some similiatites, so this is also relevant to people in the UK.

I went to school in Ireland a long time ago, 20 years ago.

My younger cousins are just sitting their school leaving certificate (irish equivalent to a levels) this year and they and their friends have been posting about the exams, after it happened, on social media.

I was just thinking what they learn and do exams on is such a load of shite. Like how is it relevant or necessary in todays world at all.

They posted about their maths paper, all the quadratic equations, prove that point 5,1 is on the line etc etc, extremely complicated equations, and algebra.

Like what do you need that for in life? Its so totally pointless. And maths is mandatory to do, so they need points from maths to get into University.

Like what is the point of learning these things. Surely they should be learning something useful. My cousins have said to me that they think that a lot of what they learn is totally pointless too

If you are going to quote me, quote me correctly. Use the full context.

The last quote that you posted, wasn't about algebra, it was about maths.

Someone wrote "you said maths is irrelevant"

And i wrote "no i never once said it's not relevant at all'

Because I don't think that.

I think that learnijg about tax is useful for example

Keep your passive aggressive sigh. Its clear that anything you didnt learn or didnt want to learn is not deemed not worth teaching. Your mind is very narrow. Maybe try opening it up a wee bit.

No OP, you’re getting confused. I did read the thread and you were talking about algebra at that point, not maths in general.

Well, you segued to maths in your comment, but the poster you were replying to regarding relevancy was very clearly talking about algebra specifically.

I’ve quoted your post here so you can read back to check @Suflan.

Yes, that's what I thought I wrote.

Obviously I am talking about maths in that post, not algebra.

The problem with teaching tax to teens is that it does not work. It's been tried and tried, and not surprisingly, teens just are not interested.

Algebra is relevant to anyone working in STEM. It's the first step in learning maths that isn't just arithmetic. I don't use it explicitly, but I use the abstract thinking / concepts every day (I'm not in maths or engineering.

If you want to understand English literature, you need to understand Shakespeare, and there's a limited selection of his plays that work well for school learning. I'm not sure why always King Lear, though.

I think you are right in that the education system is geared towards those who want to go to uni. The vocational streams were phased out, but that was a mistake for kids that just aren't that academic.

Might be obvious to you, but no one else is seeing it.

It’s all fun and games until technology fails and we need to rely on people to actually…know stuff.

The post doesn't say the word algebra.

It says the word "maths" several times

And yet I bet you use algebra regularly but disregard it!

Further, the only reason the tech exists is because people knew stuff in the first place!

DC2 works as a scientist and is having to do a maths course to help them do their job, even though they have already studied maths to a very high level.

They're not 'learning those things' (i.e. quadratic equations, etc).

They're learning to reason using abstract terms and complex operations.

Learning to think is what education is about.

Everything else is training, not education.

Algebra is the foundation of all higher level maths.

Sure, it's difficult for many, but that's part of why it's 'relevant'. It requires that students stretch themselves and engage with a topic they may find challenging or uninteresting, and it teaches them to reason.

What do you mean when you use the word 'relevant'?

Yes it does. But you were replying to posts referencing algebra and it’s relevancy specifically, so not sure why you started talking about maths in general?
Also you don’t mention the word maths until halfway through your reply. When you say ‘it’ a number of times at the start of your post, the natural assumption is you’re addressing the points the previous posters made about algebra.

Anyway, it doesn’t really matter, but it’s exactly what I mean about the lack of coherence in your argument.

I did The Merchant of Venice for the Inter (in the late Jurassic), and Coriolanus for the LC. It's pure coincidence that you and your relative ended up doing King Lear. We study Shakespeare because Shakespeare is an extremely important and significant dramatist. Phrases of his are used in general speech and in literature.

I recall doing Portrait of a Lady for the LC, and there was a great selection of modern novels, and cracking poetry. Also Francis Bacon's 'Of Youth and Age'.

I still have my anthologies from back in the early 80s.

I think what all of this boils down to is whether you as a student felt curious about or interested in the material you studied. I did, and even all these years later, I and dozens of my peers still do a lot of reading. I'm not just talking about those students who went on to university either.

https://www.curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/7b479fe6-245a-41f9-bf25-29b991d83875/LC-English-Prescribed-Text-List-2025.pdf

Actually, FYI, I am including this link to the LC English syllabus for 2025. (PDF).

It's not a bit as boring or restrictive as you're suggesting.

There are other playwrights besides Shakespeare, many novels, modern and older,, and a great poetry selection.

A level and degree level, I use degree level maths every day at work, I use basic algebra everyday in my personal life, as do most people.

You post a statement like that, yet you say you want to have an adult conversation?

Because your thoughts here on the topic of mathematics come from a place of ignorance. In particular the '100 years' bit wrt Algebra.

Also, what is 'the science industry'?

What careers use algebra?

Lots of sciences. Astrophysics wouldn’t exist without it! Some types of engineering. Also, one of my kids uses it routinely in their job, it’s not accountancy but sort of related in a vague way.

I think that learnijg about tax is useful for example

My kids who took high level maths at school, and then continued it in whatever form at uni and use it in their professions, never learnt about tax at school. Yet, none of them have any problems understanding tax, even though they were not explicitly taught about it! They can very quickly work things like this out because they have been given the grounding in how to understand stuff, how to work through and compute it, which is a good skill!

General education is designed to give you a solid foundation in key subjects, so you can specialise later. If anything, it’s becoming more crucial to educate children in this way because it can help them to respond flexibly to the rapidly changing job market.

Ten years ago a lot of people were insisting coding needed to be taught in schools since it was more ‘relevant’. Fast forward to now, a lot of programming jobs are being replaced with AI and some coding languages are obsolete. Knowing the basics (algebra is the basics unfortunately) and being able to work things out from first principles helps people to pivot and future proof their knowledge and skills.

Bit of an aside, I hated reading the classics in school because they were boring and I didn’t see the point. Now I’m grateful I was made to, because I can read or watch pretty much whatever I want and understand the references.