ACK!!

So I am sure most of us have been in a class and thought "why the heck do I have to know this??" I know I have been, but dealt with it and moved on. You realize, especially in high school, that you learn things that do not feel applicable to you and your life. Especially in life. And you want to know what? Some of those things really are NOT applicable to you and your life. Can anyone tell me when you are really going to use the quadratic formula? Anyone? I mean really. Sure I can still sing it to myself... -b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus 4ac over 2a. Whatever. Have I used it since then? Nope. Okay but what about surface area? Volume? Area? Heck yeah you use them. If I want to figure out how much paint to buy to paint a room, I need to know how to figure out surface area. If I want to fill something up and find out how much I can fit in there, that is volume. So yes, you use those things, correct? Unless you are my high school students are would rather waste the money that they do not have and will not make by just buying a bunch of paint, or run to Home Depot a billion times for paint.

You try to teach these kids and realize that you have to do things in a way that they can relate to. There are many teachers out there who use rap to teach different math terms to their kids. There is part of me who loves this idea, "Hey I can get them to learn it using something they like!" Then there is another part of me that says, "What the heck, why do I have to subject myself to something I hate in order for them to learn it? If they want to learn it, they need to apply themselves more." However, there is the problem. They do NOT want to learn it. They do not CARE if they learn it. Why should they? What is in it for them? What is the point? What good is it going to do them?

How do you inspire a bunch of kids to want MORE out of their life than they see around them? I cannot imagine being happy working at Burger King for the rest of my life, or living off of minimum wage. No I am not a snob, but hey you know what? I LIKE driving my truck. I like going out to dinner every now and then. I LIKE not living paycheck to paycheck. I plan on being able to retire at a decent age and having retirement set aside. It frustrates/irritates/saddens me that these kids are totally cool not having goals or aspirations. They feel that they are entitled to certain things, but do not take advantage or responsibility of the things that are rights. How can you have a free education shoved in your face and ignore it? It isn't like I loved high school, but I went and did my best. Am I ever going to use the calculus I learned? Probably not, but you know what, I like having that knowledge in my brain. I like knowing why when I jump on a trampoline the airplane over my head sounds different. (Thank you Mr. Flaherty senior year Physics!) Here I am 23 years old and putting myself thousands of dollars in debt to get an education. Yes, I complain about homework and how I will be in school FOREVER (and I will be), but at the same time I LOVE learning new things. There are days where I want to throw certain textbooks in the fireplace and yell "BURN BABY BURN!!" while I enjoy the bonfire that results..., yet I love gaining new knowledge. Am I the most intelligent person on Earth? No, just sitting around some of my cousins is dang good proof of that!! :) I will admit that I probably do not always reach my full potential, but I at least have some desire to improve myself and to get an education.

I have a billion more things running through my head right now, but I also have a billion more things that I need to get done today.