# Which school subject is taught worst? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 18, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429 "2000-10-18T17:20:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/1 "2000-10-18T17:20:10Z")
Obviously, this will vary from place to place and between public and private schools, among other factors. Still, I wonder if there are any generalizations that can be made. My nomination is history. History is always in danger of being taught poorly because: 1. Every country/state/etc. is biased towards it’s own local history. For example, I’m sure there are things about the founding fathers of the US that I was purposefully never taught. 2. It’s not a “hard” subject like math or physics. It’s sometimes ambiguous, and is always being slightly revised. Any bias in the teaching of the subject can easily become magnified. 3. It’s an inherently difficult subject to teach. It’s not possible to teach the entire recorded history of the world in a semester, so history classes are generally categorized chronologically or by subject. It’s often the case that to best understand one historical event, one must understand preceeding events A, B, and C. And to understand A, B, and C requires understanding events D and E. Trying to remember each event in the proper chronological and causal order isn’t easy. So, what does everyone else think? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/2 "2000-10-18T17:56:11Z")
I completely agree. As I read the subject line and clicked on it to open the message, I was thinking, “History.” Then I read your message, and your reasons exactly coincide with mine. But I would add a fourth reason, to wit: 1. The disparity between an Average Joe with a full grasp of history, and who can thereby better understand current events, vote more intelligently, put themselves and their actions into a larger context, etc., compared to someone who lacks this grounding in history, is far more damaging from a practical viewpoint than, for example, an Average Joe who stopped at Trigonometry and didn’t proceed to Calculus. Therefore, even if all subjects are taught equally poorly, history will stand out because of how much more crippling its absence can be than other subjects. Just my two cents. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/3 "2000-10-18T18:18:07Z")
I would have to vote for elementary-school art. I have vivid horrifying memories of being yelled at for making black ornaments for my construction paper Christmas tree. I was told that black ornaments didn’t look nice. I was only 6. And I got yelled at for my crayon drawings that consisted of me blending all kinds of crayon colours together- “that’s just scribbling…you’re a big girl who can draw REAL pictures…” Or that I wanted to make a picture with blurry edges by ripping the construction paper rather than cutting it- “Please use scissors next time…” I got a C in art in 6th grade. Now I have my work in art shows on occasion. I wish that all my elementary art school teachers could see that. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/4 "2000-10-18T18:20:23Z")
Yes, I _also_ thought of history as soon as I read the subject line. For basically the same reasons listed in the first two posts. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/5 "2000-10-18T18:23:42Z")
I think mathematics was the worst taught subject for me. In the early grades, the emphasis was on speedy math, and those dreaded “how many problems can you do on this sheet in one minute?” tests. Then later it was irrelavent word problems (If word problems are supposed to teach you how to use math in “real life”, why can’t the problems resemble actual situations?) By the time I got to high school, it seems that they didn’t know how to teach it. First, you shouldn’t use calculators. Then, you should use $60 graphing calculators. They decided to go to this “Outcome Based Education” experiment where the teacher sat in the back (to answer your questions, supposedly) while we learned how to do the problems out of the book. No lecture at all! When you felt you were ready, you took a test. You needed a 70% to pass the test. (That would be a “C-” in most classes). If you passed enough chapters during the semester, you’d get an A, even if you got 70% on every test! Ridiculous. It was “speed math” all over again. I have this major mental roadblock over quadratic equations that will never be erased, I’m afraid. It’s strange how math and science seem to be linked, as if you are good at one, you’ll be good at another. I like science. Science was actually taught. Mathematics was just supposed to be “absorbed”, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/6 "2000-10-18T19:14:46Z")
English. By far. History is just a matter of choosing one interpretation over another, and all have their adherents. English, and especially English literature, teaches completely false premises about the subject. These include: 1. Writers always put symbols, foreshadowing, etc. in their work. 2. Grammar is a very difficult and arcane subject that most students can never begin to understand. 3. Reading Shakespeare is better than watching it performed. 4. Dead authors are better than live ones. 5. Reading good literature is a chore and requires decoding the hidden clues the author has put in it. I see my daughter taking it and being taught how to bullshit to answer the questions about the text. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Finnan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ea924/32.png) [@John\_Finnan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Finnan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/7 "2000-10-18T19:51:32Z")
Maths, definitely. While I never had any trouble with maths until I got to college and took a maths degree, it always amazed me when I saw how badly it was taught and how poorly most people understood it. I was lucky, in that my father taught me a lot of basic maths before I went to school. His analogies and lessons always made it seem simple. I spent some time as a teacher of maths myself, and always tried to impart the same lessons my father did, but because the kids I was teaching were in their teens, a lot of them had hardwired their brains into thinking that maths was too hard for them, that they could **never** understand it. ---
**Author:** ![vincenz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/48db29/32.png) [@vincenz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vincenz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/8 "2000-10-18T19:57:45Z")
Sentence Diagraming. Did _anybody_\* get that one? ---
**Author:** ![Total\_distraction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@Total\_distraction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Total_distraction)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/9 "2000-10-18T20:47:47Z")
In high school I will have to say it was history. Mainly because it was typically taught by some coach with no apparent interest in teaching as evidenced by the ‘laundry list’ presentation of unconnected facts. Spit 'um back on the test and you were set. This method misses all the interesting stuff, for example interrelationships between events and other more complex issues. Math is bad as well. ‘They’ teach from an abstract view, i.e. learning some math method for no obvious reason. It would go a lot easier if they taught from a basis of solving physically real problems. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/10 "2000-10-18T20:59:18Z")
At my schools it was any subject taught by someone who was referred to as “Coach.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/11 "2000-10-18T21:17:45Z")
Strange, upon reading the subject line, I immediately thought grammar. ---
**Author:** ![rockstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockstar)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/12 "2000-10-18T21:27:00Z")
My vote is for math. There are 3 categories of math teachers: The good teachers who know what they are supposed to teach and can explain it, The smart teachers who know the math and cannot explain it and often get angry if you don’t understand, and The stupid teachers who don’t know anything. At all. No, I’m not bitter. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/13 "2000-10-18T21:39:50Z")
**vin,** I hated sentence diagramming. But know what? _Nothing_ proved more helpful in learning English grammar and structure. God bless you Miss Geoli, wherever you are. My vote goes for **science.** It’s disgraceful how little science kids and _adults_ know. And there’s the rub… most adults do not understand science (and its importance), therefore they don’t fret when their kids are just as ignorant. Most parents can handle elementary math, history and English. So when little Johnny thinks that 5 x 5 = 55, or that the first president was Christopher Columbus, they’re rightly appalled. But how many parents _really_ know the difference between an element, compound and mixture? Or that “heavy” bodies fall just as fast as “light” ones? Very few, I’m afraid. Needless to say, the problem is compounded when these adults are hired as teachers. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/14 "2000-10-18T21:57:54Z")
I have to agree with English. Other subjects are taught gooder. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/15 "2000-10-18T22:55:46Z")
I went to Catholic elementary school and public high school. In Catholic schools, science is not taught very well. In public schools, English composition is poorly taught. History teaching in any situation is always difficult and prone to disagreement among teachers, parents, and administrators. I attribute that to the politics that has become associated with the teaching of history. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/16 "2000-10-18T23:14:53Z")
> [@](#): > > completely false premises about the subject. These include: > > 1. Writers always put symbols, foreshadowing, etc. in their work. > 2. Grammar is a very difficult and arcane subject that most students can never begin to understand. > 3. Reading Shakespeare is better than watching it performed. > 4. Dead authors are better than live ones. > 5. Reading good literature is a chore and requires decoding the hidden clues the author has put in it. > > I see my daughter taking it and being taught how to bullshit to answer the questions about the text. Touché, Chuck! I had a professor at El Camino College who had us read things like _A Streetcar Named Desire, Yellow Wallpaper, and Invisible Man,_ always coaxing us to look for hidden symbolism in the stories. I once read that William Peter Blatty worked for many years on _The Exorcist,_ but I don’t think he spent that time cramming it full of hidden meanings and coded terms. How long did it take James Michener to write _one_ novel? This professor said he teaches a literature course at USC, including _Huckleberry Finn_ as a novel in which the two main characters–Huck and Jim–are homosexual! I have never told him this, but I took the matter up with a retired reference librarian I know, who seems to know all there is to know about literature; she says this professor is out of his tree. I read _Tom Sawyer_ and cried when Aunt Polly thought Tom was dead; hey, I was 11 when I read it. I couldn’t possibly have thought to scan the book for hidden code-words and such, and I don’t think that’s what Mark Twain had in mind, the professor’s assertions to the contrary. ---
**Author:** ![User\_10K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@User\_10K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/User_10K)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/17 "2000-10-18T23:20:51Z")
Nobody does Geography right anymore. It’s been split into so many subjects that it’s considered an anacrhronism when taught by itself, and books are not updated often enough. Yet it is the best way to get through to younger students. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/18 "2000-10-19T00:05:15Z")
monty – the problem is that English encourages you to make up that sort of crap, and if you write some sort of self-indulgent explanation of the symbolism in anything, you can get tenure at most colleges. As long as you can “justify” your argument, it’s considered good scholarship. A couple of Flannery O’Connor’s letters show an author’s point of view about this sort of silliness. I should have mentioned sentence diagramming, though it was implied in my comment about teaching grammar. Most native speakers have a good grasp of grammar, even if they can’t name the parts of speech. You know all the rules; you just can’t say what the rules are. That’s why you see so many people apologizing for their grammar “mistakes” in their writing even though they aren’t making any. ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/19 "2000-10-19T01:57:08Z")
My first thought here was math, for the exact reasons that rockstar outlined. I always thought I was terrible at math because I was being taught by either people who knew it so well that they couldn’t explain it and refused to answer questions, or people who didn’t understand it at all, and really couldn’t present the material properly or explain it either. Now, I finally have a good math teacher, and I LOVE it. I found out that I’m actually good at math, and look forward to class. I have to admit that RealityChuck has some good points about English, though. Of course, I always knew that my English classes were meaningless gibberish, always trying to read symbolism into works of literature that weren’t meant to be there in the first place. And that, my friends, is why they pick dead authors. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429/20 "2000-10-19T04:57:42Z")
I would say English, specifically literature, for reasons that have already been mentioned here. Everything is supposed to be a symbol for something else and everything is foreshadowed. If that’s the case, why didn’t we just read the first chapter and then extrapolate the rest of the book based on what was obviously spelled out for us in code by the author? (actually, that could be an interesting assignment) There was one exception, though. Whenever we got carried away with finding symbols, my 11th-grade English teacher would always mention an incident that had happened at some unnamed college. Supposedly, Robert Frost was sitting in on a classroom discussion of one of his poems (one about a spider spinning a web). The students, wanting to make a good impression, furiously debated back and forth about all of the symbols, allusions and hidden meanings in the poem. When the dust settled, Frost said “you’re all wrong. I was watching a spider spin its web, and that was all I was thinking about when I wrote. Any other interpretations are your own creation.” After her class, I enjoyed reading immensely, but I was never able to take a college lit. professor seriously. Thank you, Ms. Norelli. –sublight. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-school-subject-is-taught-worst/37429.md?page=2)