Practical Uses

So today I began pondering the question that "that kid" always asks: "when are we ever going to use this in real life? (annoying whining tone)." The teacher will usually answer with "you will never use it" or "because 'the man' told me to teach it to you" or (my favorite) "if a psycho puts a gun to your head and asks you how to do this, you will survive." But really, the things we learn in school are applicable in everyday life if we just look for ways to use them. For instance, when trying to convince your parents to let you go on a road trip with your friends you must simply approach the situation as if it were an AP English prompt. Write a well developed essay in which you analyze the reasons why you should be allowed to go on a road trip with your friends. Be sure to cite specific examples. When taking this approach you not only quadruple your chances of going on the road trip, but also get some good practice for the AP test. Other subjects can be equally useful in your everday life. Just the other day I used a modified Gettysburg Address speech and the war tactics of Atilla the Hun to destroy a bunch of third graders at laser tag. They didn't even know what hit them! But perhaps the most useful class is math. Yesterday I was just so curious as to the height of a nearby mountain. I simply measured the distance from myself to the mountain, measured the angle from my eyesight to the top of the mountain, plugged in some numbers to my calculator (which of course I always have with me), added my height, and shazam, I knew the height of that mountain. The list just goes on and on. So "that kid" you really just need to take a good look at the world around you and apply all that knowledge that you learn in school into life. So when life gives you lemons, you'll make battery cells to power your cell phone.