I've been wondering, based on the past nine months, I could honestly say that the world school prepared you for was really two centuries ago.

They never discussed modern day job politics.

That's a subject that's even more complicated to talk about than sex. :shock:

Why is stuff like this never discussed in the classroom?

Does anyone feel that school isn't completely honest about how the real world is? Based on my own values and my own experiences, I would say yes.

I agree with you on that. How many high school students do you think are taught the concept of a superdelegate? Not too many, I'd imagine.

Hey, I found this a while back. Really shows how lenient the schools have become. This is just one of, like, five subjects you were tested on. Kinda makes you glad you were born when you were. :lol:

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS - 1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.


2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.


3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph


4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "lie,""play," and "run."


5. Define case; illustrate each case.


6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.


7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

I know lets make a list:

Things which are not discussed in school:

1. Job Politics

2. Money

3. Social Classes

4. Sex

5. American Heroes

I think that covers it. In fact the five above are the subjects which don't get much lip service, but they are things which we personally experience everyday!

I mean why is it so hard to talk about this stuff in an open environment? Or is it really our job to have that discussion? Or can we have that conversation after the fact?

School teaches stuff you are not going to need when you get older.

Honestly...who gives a damn about the Incas?

What the hell are you talking about? I'm learning all of this in U.S. History alone, and we even have an optional economics class...

Allot of those teacher don't even know what the real world is like. They do discuss this in more textbooks these day. You have to realize they didn't have all this crap in the workplace when our parents worked. Hell they even allowed smoking in the offices back then. Allot of people who had been with companies for 20 plus years have and are losing their jobs because of the corporate takeovers. Plus before you could get a job without a degree. Now most desent paying jobs want college and you have to compete with 100 other people to get it. Don't tell the kids too much we might scare them away :)

How can a school teach you about job politics when they suffer from being a very political work environment themselves?

Shool don't have the time to teach politics and waht not anymore also alot of the sutdents don't care which is a shame.

I know school can be such a waste of time sometimes, by teaching you useless stuff in the future.

I mean sure. The workplace has changed significantly...and not for the better. I'll tell ya, one of our best guys left about 6 months ago, and then I got stuck with his work after they decided not replace him. I which point I had to blow the whistle on my boss for not helping us out with the extra work.

I had every right to be pissed, and my boss lost his job over it.

Of course the schools never teach you how your supposed to deal with your bosses, and do the right thing when your own boss mismanges you.

God. Office politics suck. And they don't tell you any of this stuff until you actually are caught in the trap itself.

I hate the adult world. Make it easier on the next generation! Tell the next generation that if they ever get into a management position, your still going to be held to account, even if you are the boss. :twisted:

I don't think schools ever taught you how to deal with bosses. That is the kind of stuff I guess they want you to learn as you go. As for stuff like American Heroes, it's usually taught in a U.S. History class, or some kind of an elective course (I observed one such course 3 years ago in Cranford, NJ).

Looks like your school didn't teach spelling or grammer.

The main problem with school is that it is a government monopoly that in many areas is rife with teacher's union politics. That is one of the main causes of why the US is so far behind so many other countries. 15 years ago my school used to brag about how the spent per child. Some schools today brag that they spend $10,000 per child a year. That’s public education. A company like Sylvan can put your kid on the honor role for a third of that.
The lack of competition and profit motive creates a severe lack of quality. In many European countries public schools openly compete with private and parochial schools. Their governments, which don't have our spending budgets, give parents a certain amount to spend on school each year. They can pocket the money and send their kids to public school or spend it on private or parochial education. And that's why we get spanked in eduaction by other countries.

Great Moments in Substitute Teaching

One day in 1970, my homeroom teacher was ill and the substitute teacher that day was the coolest dude ever to walk into my school. It was like a sitcom! We could ask this man ALL the questions you're not suppose to ask in school, especially the big question:

"Why do we learn irrelevant, useless stuff that has no basis in the real world? "

As best I can remember his answer was: "Because school is not about education or preparing kids for adult life. School is all about a handful of smarty-assed, know-it-all administrator types that no one has any control over and can't do nothing about".

No joke, it was like having Bender show up to teach class for a day in 1970!