Whyyyyyy Do I Have To Take Maaaaaaath?

“I’m never going to use this in my life.”

“Nobody uses Algebra in the real world.”

“Why do I have to take math?”

Math teachers hear this kind of stuff a lot. To be completely accurate, that last sentence is often delivered with a serious whiny tone and sounds more like:

“Whyyyyyy do I have to take maaaaaaath?” 

I’m not going to try to prove that every person on Earth uses the Pythagorean theorem on a regular basis, solves systems of equations at breakfast, or uses scientific notation to balance their checkbook. 

Some people do. Some people don’t.

I can tell you that you need to know this stuff to pass the PARCC test later this month.

You need to know this stuff to graduate from high school. 

Depending on what course of study you choose in college, you might need to use these mathematical concepts, and others, to earn your degree.

I don’t know what you’re going to need beyond that. 

That’s kind of the thing. No one knows what you’re going to need. Your teachers have to give you a solid grounding in lots of stuff to prepare you to do what you want to do. We are giving you a well-rounded education so you have to option to do anything you want to do after high school and/or college.

If you become a poet, you might not ever have to deal with exponents again. If you become an engineer, you’ll probably never have to remember the difference between a epitaph and an epigram.

No one know what life will bring, so you need to know a little about everything so you’re ready for whatever direction your life takes.

And who’s to say you won’t end up as an engineer who likes to write a little poetry on the side.