notlostonanadventure:

A lot of students (you guys) ask the question: Why do I have to do this? Why does this matter? How does this apply in the real world? 

Well, here’s your answer. Brace yourselves. 

Why do I have to learn-?

Math: Mainly for logic and decision making, but also because as long as you live in a currency based society, math will be important. Your income and how you spend it will impact how you live, where you live, what you can afford to get by in life, etc. You cannot just say “I’m not a math person.” Bullshit, you don’t like word problems. Get over it. Be a math person and not a broke person.

English: For obvious reasons, it’s the fucking language you speak if you live in the western world. Coherency is a huge part of communicating and being understood. I don’t care if you don’t like grammar- how you write and speak impacts how people perceive you. A well spoken conversation or a well written essay (read as: resume and job application) can change your life. 

Literature/The Arts: Books, theatre, artists, and more give us insight. To elaborate, they give us insight into situations and circumstances that impact you and people you know. You have to read The Great Gatsby because it’s the most accessible way to teach you that the American Dream is bullshit and you should strive for more than being famous or wealthy. You’ll have to watch plays like Fences so you, as someone who is presumably not African-American or working class, can understand the struggle and see what life is like outside your bubble. The arts open doorways of comprehension you would have never found before. You need the arts to be a well rounded human being. 

Biology/Chemistry/Physics/Sciences: It’s appalling that most people, especially those in the power, don’t understand how the world works. They don’t get climate change, female anatomy, reproductive processes, or fundamental facts of the goddamn universe. That person could be you, and you could be responsible for not only dictating how people live, but how our planet survives. Even if you aren’t, you need to be an informed member of the population who can help make decisions for the better.

History: History repeats. Patterns always emerge and replay themselves over time. I think a huge reason the Gay Civil Rights movement has seen so much progress in the past ten years is because we have a generation of adults who witnessed/studied the Black Civil Rights movement. They understand the similarities in the struggle. The same applies to politicians and methods of discourse used in elections. I won’t name names, but history repeats- unless you do something about it. 

PE: For the love of your self, you need to exercise. Our culture is sedentary enough as is, all you need is 30 minutes a day to not gain weight, an hour to lose weight. Develop the habits now while your metabolism is malleable and use the class to find something you like. 

Computers: You know the answer already. Technology is only getting more essential. Keep up or get left behind. 

But I don’t like that/any of those subjects!. 

1. Tough titties because you don’t always get to do the things you like to do. Learn to suck it up now and be a better adult for it.
2. It’s not just you in that school. Your peers will take wildly different paths from you. They may need to learn calculus because they’re going to be dealing with abstract figures in their careers. Maybe someone wants to be a college-level professor who can dissect Hamlet with ease. Maybe someone wants to study the human body so they can be a physical therapist and heal their loved ones someday. We all require different things in our lives. 

But even if you don’t like any of those, bear this in mind:

Having an overwhelming amount of knowledge in one subject and next to no insight for anything else makes you so goddamn insufferable as a human being. This goes back to an earlier point in that everyone is different and not everybody likes what you do. If you gain a well rounded knowledge with some understanding of many things, you will find so many people to connect to and you will grow as a person. You will even enjoy it, trust me. However, should you choose to live a myopic life where your only interaction is with others who act as a sounding board for your thoughts, then you will live a stunted life unaware that you could have understood anything more than what you already perfected. 

School isn’t just about grades and college mills. You are literally being trained to be a functioning adult in our society. Now get to work. 

Also, an important note:
Turning in Assignments: Jesus Christ, just do it. Most of your grades in High School are based on your homework. Not even doing it well, just doing it. Seriously, this impacts you later in life because nobody gives a crap about who you are unless you have something to show for it. Just. FUCKING. DO IT.