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Why Do I Need to Know This?
The perennial question that plagues educators
During my 36 years of teaching, there was one question students asked more than any other. That question was simply this.
“Why do I have to know this stuff?”
I was never much for bullshitting students with flowery explanations and justifications about why we were studying the things we were. Instead, my response was both blunt and unexpected. I told the students that they probably don’t need to know any of it and that they could probably go on and live a perfectly normal and happy life without it.
That always caught them off guard. They were always expecting me to defend what I was teaching by saying it makes them a more well-rounded person, or that someday they will be glad they know this stuff. I never resorted to that, mainly because it’s not true.
Then I would go on to tell them that the reason I’m in school is because I get paid to be here. No teacher has probably ever said that to them before, and the surprised look on their faces meant they were playing into my hand wonderfully. I always followed up with this.
“I get paid to be here. Why are you here?”
That always left them scratching their heads and made them wonder why they were in school. Sometimes they would…
