Silly Subjects

How many of us struggled in vain to do well in a high school subject we abhorred but "had" to take? I know there is a heavy movement for kids to adore Mathematics and I completely agree that it can be enjoyable if taught well. And it is a subject that can be fun. Up to a point. Algebra is problem solving and achieving a solution can be a satisfying experience. For many. Not all. I was an educator for many years in a high school as a librarian and teacher of English. I listened to a large number of students who draped themselves across the library desk and poured out their laments to me on having to learn certain subjects, mostly Math, specifically Trigonometry,  that they disliked intensely and were doing poorly at. Some had to attend summer schools or tutors to get them through. I empathized entirely since Trigonometry, that I "had" to take and did poorly on, was the one subject that almost prevented me from getting into a university. I loathed it because, to me, and it wasn't the marvellous teacher's fault, it made no sense in my future life plans at all. Oh yes, it was a discipline but one that I would rather have done in an Iron Maiden than sitting in a class agonizing over something that was a mystery to me. The reason I found it so impossible was that my direction lay in Literature and the English Language, in Art and Social History. Every single Trigonometry class I was forced to attend was an embarrassment and  torturous experience. It was like the time, my parents insisted I take swimming lessons in the ocean. The water was so cold and I so tense, that I sank to the bottom and learned nothing but shivering 101. After only one single session in a heated pool,  I was hooked and even learning the useless Australian Crawl, while it made no sense at all unless I wanted to race in a regatta, I found it tolerable. For a great many students Trigonometry is "cold ocean water". It occurred to me that a good many high school subjects, since the new approach is to taylor the subject to the student and its abilities, could be further  divided into more useful, pleasurable aspects that a student could develop a passion for. Had someone come along to me, that high school student I was, and proposed learning a field of Math that made more sense, I would have flown there from Trig class.  I would find  Home Budgeting, the Art of Finance including mortgages and accounting such as the difference between a debit and a credit, would have been a class I would almost run to because it would help me in life. I found Chemistry fun and Biology delightful. Chemistry uses algebra extensively and perhaps that route would have been more palatable. But sitting in a class with a large tome of logarithms, poring over reams of numbers that would never be useful to me, seemed a ridiculous burden. History should be of importance to one's everyday life by showing the connection to our past and how it pertains to the present. It would have been refreshing and fascinating to learn about my West Coast life but memorizing dates about Roman wars and British royal lineage was a waste of my time. After the history classes at school, I still didn't know anything about the West Coast and it's exciting past, about the aborigines and their history and importance. I had to learn these after high school. Hopefully, things have changed and students are able to impart their personal educational needs to the system and what is meaningful to them. More importantly, what makes them passionate about learning during their few short years in high school. "It's a discipline is not the right answer."