School Bullshit

Twice last week I saw this picture posted on Facebook. I'm actually surprised it wasn't more times but all I can guess is that enough people realised right away that it's stupid so it faded away. I'm sure I'll see it again though.

This is a stupid picture. There are no two ways about it. It's fucking stupid. Anyone who shares this picture trolling for Likes is clearly an imbecile. Either that or they just never went to class. Either way, all that shit was covered in school. With the exception of voting everything up there was covered in high school math. I honestly don't remember much about politics being covered until college and I understand not everyone goes to college or university but still. "How to vote?" That's not exactly rocket science, is it?

As far as the Pythagorean theorem goes, I used to use it all the time back when I was framing houses in my late teens so I, for one, am glad I know it. Every carpenter probably knows it and I really doubt that carpentry is the only trade that needs it.

Basically, anybody who would wear that T-shirt is a moron.

Here's another one I've seen posted and I've seen this one a lot. So I guess it implies that school isn't fair because everybody's different and will have different strengths and skills. Well, life isn't fair! OK, so the monkey and the bird are going to ace this exam and everybody else is going to flunk. Too fucking bad. There are certain things everybody needs to learn and be capable of because that's just how society works. Fit in or fade out. You don't have to like it. People who can't read or problem solve are going to have bigger problems in their adult life than they ever did with not enjoying basic subjects in school. The implication set forth in this picture is a gross exaggeration anyway, lets face it.

Now, I hated school just as much as anybody else so I'm not trying to say that I was some fantastic student or anything. I definitely wasn't. I used to get suspended all the time and the biggest lessons I remember from my experience in school are that 

1. Might makes right and 

2. Ugliness is a crime.

To a lesser extent I learned that popularity is the most important thing you can strive for, you can never let anyone know how poor you really are and virginity is for losers.

Yeah, real important stuff, I know. But the fact remains, it's a process everyone in the civilized western world goes through. So whatever you didn't learn, it was probably your fault.