[vaksel]

they just need to stop teaching useless shit.

Take math for example, why are we teaching kids how to do calculus using a piece of paper, when in the real world they'll be using an Excel spreadsheet?

Math, Chemistry, Physics, Finance, pretty much any course that requires calculations wastes 90% of the course, teaching the kids how to do the calculations by hand, in most cases without even a calculator.

Excel is being widely used in the real world, yet you never see it taught in the classroom. Why? Excel is what the kids will be using in their jobs, shouldn't you be teaching them the skills they'll actually need? Instead of teaching them outdated concepts? Why don't you teach them how to do calculus using an abacus?

[elptacek]

An abacus is a better idea than you think. Most people struggle with mathematics because it's not presented in a way that people who are not mathematicians will understand. Read the biography for any $FAMOUS_SCIENTIST and you shouldn't be surprised to find "read Euclid's elements at age [5-12]"

[kingkawn]

Knowing intimately the underlying principles of a field is important to creating sophisticated manipulations of existing theorems and ideas. Yes, we could teach them how to change what we know sooner, but they wouldn't understand exactly what they're doing.

Also, the mental processes engaged by writing by hand are different than those used when computing. I think there's room for both when teaching people things.

[s3graham]

That's a horrible idea, and it sounds a lot more like training than education. 90% of Math, Chemistry and Physics are calculations? You're doing it wrong anyway.

The material content of the calculus class is nigh useless, the goal is to get to get people to be able to think and solve problems.