Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Math Class

I am a math tutor and I am attending school to be a math teacher. I hear more frequently than I would like, "When am I ever going to use this?"  My answer for most of them, NEVER!  Of course you won't need to know that x to the zero power is one.  Do you really think that as anything but a math, science, technology, or engineering major you will be evaluating equations using logarithms?  No!  So why are you tortured from beginning to end in Algebra II or Intermediate Algebra.  Algebra I is useful, you might use equations to find answers in any number of jobs, but beyond that, if you aren't pursuing a degree in finance and want to take business calculus, you won't need anything beyond Algebra in your everyday life.

Why are you tortured, well really I have no idea.  What I can tell you is you can get something out of it.  Here is why trucking through those math courses is useful:

Perseverance!  You want to quit, "do I really have to solve one more equation with the quadratic formula?!"  The answer is, no you don't, but if you want to succeed, pass and do well, you will.  Math teaches you to keep going, even when you want to give up.

Instant Gratification is a joke.  Math takes practice, math takes time, you have to work at it.  Life is like that.  We live in a world of instant gratification, we hardly have to take the time to do anything. Within your math class you learn that skill is not instantly attainable and you have to work hard to attain it and apply it.

Accountability.   Your answer isn't right, well why isn't it right, the book didn't get it wrong (sometimes it does, but rarely).  You made the mistake, you have to find out why and fix it.  This is how we should deal with life.  Fix our mistakes, don't expect others to do it for us. One small error can make everything wrong, math and life is about the details.

Those are just three things you can learn in math class; beyond that is the value of hard work, time management, problem solving, etc.  Math is a great teacher, the numbers and letters are just the beginning, look deep and you will find the real lessons you are being taught, whether you learn them is up to you.