mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

Mandelbrot · 2015-11-30 12:30:56

it's sort of sad that this phrase is now a symbol for the uselessness of public school education because I'm sure mitochondria (THIS IS A PLURAL THE SINGULAR IS MITOCHONDRION) are perfectly fascinating in their own right

Klinotaxis · 2015-11-30 16:21:43

they are. is this a symbol of that? I've never heard it in such a context

Tachyon · 2015-11-30 16:39:12

it's a tumblr meme, i believe

things i learned at school
1. something snarky/cynical
2. something else snarky/cynical
3. mitochondria is the power house of the cell

which is just an arbitrarily chosen thing-you-learn-at-school, it could equally have been Hastings 14 Oct 1066 or the quadratic formula or MRS GREN or anything about Shakespeare, kinda weird how people latched onto the mitochondria phrase

Sredni Vashtar · 2015-11-30 17:15:07

Mitochondria are fascinating because they appear to be separate organisms (specifically very small bacteria) that somehow evolved to become part of the basic cellular structure of many eukaryotic organisms.

Also they're hard to forget if you've read A Wind in the Door but that's more a surrealistic fantasy than anything remotely scientific.

Klinotaxis · 2015-11-30 17:19:50

yeah i was pretty disappointed when my biology classes didn't mention farandolae.

Mandelbrot · 2015-11-30 18:14:45

The "powerhouse of the cell" simplification shows up literally everywhere, it's kind of silly

Sredni Vashtar · 2015-11-30 18:17:12

They supply the better part of the chemical energy that the cell requires, so it's not completely inaccurate, but they're weird and interesting enough to bear further examination even if biology is not generally one's forte.

Also, vacuoles are odd.

Tachyon · 2015-11-30 18:19:35

i actually don't remember being taught the 'powerhouse of the cell' phrase

what stuck with me about them was the whole 'they're not actually a part of you, but they live inside you and you need them' thing

Klinotaxis · 2015-11-30 18:20:22

it's true but not terribly interesting. it's like saying coal plants are the powerhouse of american civilization. it's not wrong but now what do you know? what to bomb? weak

Bee · 2015-11-30 18:21:24

The usual subjects everyone hates like math or history actually have relevant use or political implications, but most of high school biology really is utterly useless to anyone not going into a directly related career path.

To be fair, it is a pretty good case of badly organized general education. Keep it for an AP class, sure, but a gen-ed biology class should be more focused on broader concepts of biomes, climate, sustainability, etc. Superseniors aren't going to give a damn about NADPH.

And for fuck's sake if you make your kids watch Biodome you have some serious structuring problems.

Fossilmaiden · 2015-11-30 18:21:40

Klinotaxis said:
it's true but not terribly interesting. it's like saying coal plants are the powerhouse of american civilization. it's not wrong but now what do you know? what to bomb? weak

Well, it's still a more interesting phrase than "Respiration Is Good", at least.

Tre · 2015-11-30 18:22:18

I remember learning it verbatim despite having trouble with my biology class in my freshman year of high school, so the meme fits perfectly in my case.

Obā-san · 2015-11-30 18:26:21

Most useful high school classes I took:

* Algebra II

* Intro to Graphic Design

* whatever honors English course I took in 11th grade

Salix Babylonika · 2015-11-30 18:27:34

every high school class I took I either learned nothing from (thanks two years of German) or was entirely stuff I already knew.

Bee · 2015-11-30 18:34:45

I took enough AP and higher-level classes that I did learn stuff, but pretty much everything that wasn't some kind of accelerated class, band, or theater was a complete waste of oxygen.

College was even worse about it though, since most of the core classes they forced everyone through were also on a middle school level, but now you had to pay a couple thousand dollars plus materials for the privilege.

Odradek · 2015-11-30 18:35:01

Did you know the Night Light is the birdhouse of the soul?

Salix Babylonika · 2015-11-30 18:38:55

Bee said:
I took enough AP and higher-level classes that I did learn stuff, but pretty much everything that wasn't some kind of accelerated class, band, or theater was a complete waste of oxygen.

College was even worse about it though, since most of the core classes they forced everyone through were also on a middle school level, but now you had to pay a couple thousand dollars plus materials for the privilege.

I wasn't allowed to take any AP classes because my math grades were too low.

Tachyon · 2015-11-30 18:39:35

Bee said:
The usual subjects everyone hates like math or history actually have relevant use or political implications, but most of high school biology really is utterly useless to anyone not going into a directly related career path.

To be fair, it is a pretty good case of badly organized general education. Keep it for an AP class, sure, but a gen-ed biology class should be more focused on broader concepts of biomes, climate, sustainability, etc. Superseniors aren't going to give a damn about NADPH.

And for fuck's sake if you make your kids watch Biodome you have some serious structuring problems.

tbf a number of the things you learn in math or history are also unlikely to be useful to the majority of students

like, when are you going to need to know when the Magna Carta was agreed upon and who was king at the time? unless it comes up on a quiz, i mean

(having said which, i don't really think the purpose of education should be entirely practical. learning is enriching, i think)

Salix Babylonika · 2015-11-30 18:41:29

History was one of the few classes I really enjoyed which made me all the more bitter about it when I had to take Economics for my last two years of high school.

Odradek · 2015-11-30 18:42:07

Tachyon · 2015-11-30 18:42:40

that song is great

Sredni Vashtar · 2015-11-30 18:49:13

Baldanders said:
Did you know the Night Light is the birdhouse of the soul?

I thought that was a secret. An electrical secret.

Jane said:
History was one of the few classes I really enjoyed which made me all the more bitter about it when I had to take Economics for my last two years of high school.

I literally walked out of my economics final before it started because I was getting a massive headache and walked to a friend's house to play music because he was homeschooled and was already done his finals.

Calica · 2015-11-30 18:51:19

Bee said:
The usual subjects everyone hates like math or history actually have relevant use or political implications, but most of high school biology really is utterly useless to anyone not going into a directly related career path.

To be fair, it is a pretty good case of badly organized general education. Keep it for an AP class, sure, but a gen-ed biology class should be more focused on broader concepts of biomes, climate, sustainability, etc. Superseniors aren't going to give a damn about NADPH.

And for fuck's sake if you make your kids watch Biodome you have some serious structuring problems.

at least it wasn't The Core

Obā-san · 2015-11-30 18:53:29

man i loved economics

i should have included that on my list of useful classes

even if the only use so far has been "recognizing dumb things on the internet"

Sredni Vashtar · 2015-11-30 18:55:15

My issue was that our economics teacher had negative charisma points, our class was unruly and disruptive, and the curriculum mixed micro and macro in the least interesting way possible.

Klinotaxis · 2015-11-30 18:55:53

wow you all took economics in high school huh

Odradek · 2015-11-30 18:56:50

The Core would have been a way better movie if they hadn't had a geologist on staff.

They were going to have dinosaurs, and that motherfucker talked them out of it.

Bee · 2015-11-30 18:58:39

that movie never happened

NEVER HAPPENED

Tachyon said:

tbf a number of the things you learn in math or history are also unlikely to be useful to the majority of students

like, when are you going to need to know when the Magna Carta was agreed upon and who was king at the time? unless it comes up on a quiz, i mean

(having said which, i don't really think the purpose of education should be entirely practical. learning is enriching, i think)

I'd agree as far as electives go, but our general education is kinda fucked.

I'd also say that your example of history is an example of a bad history class that makes you memorize dates for no reason. A good history class would cover the Magna Carta in relation to how it helped form the basis of modern governments you participate in today.

eriophora zia · 2015-11-30 18:58:56

Bee said:
The usual subjects everyone hates like math or history actually have relevant use or political implications, but most of high school biology really is utterly useless to anyone not going into a directly related career path.

To be fair, it is a pretty good case of badly organized general education. Keep it for an AP class, sure, but a gen-ed biology class should be more focused on broader concepts of biomes, climate, sustainability, etc. Superseniors aren't going to give a damn about NADPH.

And for fuck's sake if you make your kids watch Biodome you have some serious structuring problems.

I think it's useful in some senses to have high schoolers take a few mandatory niche classes. Many people never would have known they were interested in a subject were they not initially forced into learning a little about it.

Part of high school is giving you a wide range of knowledge so you have more options in the future, even if a good portion of it will never be directly applicable within your life.

Also... while there is an argument for making them elective, there's a good chance that making them elective could cause many smaller/poorer schools to drop them from their curricula entirely since they might not have large enough class sizes. I mean, this isn't a perfect argument for keeping them, per se, but smaller schools already get the short end of the stick where academic opportunities are concerned, generally.

I didn't even know what AP was at my first high school. We just didn't have that at all.

Odradek · 2015-11-30 19:00:14

I got to take no good classes, because I am, and remain, stupid.

Obā-san · 2015-11-30 19:00:28

Bee said:
I'd also say that your example of history is an example of a bad history class that makes you memorize dates for no reason. A good history class would cover the Magna Carta in relation to how it helped form the basis of modern governments you participate in today.

to piggyback off this: i have never before seen this archetypal bad history class full of memorizing pointless information.

Klinotaxis · 2015-11-30 19:01:04

being so stupid that it retroactively affects curricula is impressive

Bee · 2015-11-30 19:01:08

Personally, I'd say pare down general ed, and require X electives of choice. This is already in place in a lot of places -- but it's usually in place alongside bloated general ed.

Tachyon · 2015-11-30 19:03:05

The focus of the module was on King John. The constitutional significance of the Magna Carta was part of the point. i don't mean to imply that the entire class was meaningless.

Even so i'd contend that most people probably don't *need* to know the constitutional significance of the Magna Carta in day-to-day life

Sredni Vashtar · 2015-11-30 19:04:04

eriophora zia said:

Bee said:
The usual subjects everyone hates like math or history actually have relevant use or political implications, but most of high school biology really is utterly useless to anyone not going into a directly related career path.

To be fair, it is a pretty good case of badly organized general education. Keep it for an AP class, sure, but a gen-ed biology class should be more focused on broader concepts of biomes, climate, sustainability, etc. Superseniors aren't going to give a damn about NADPH.

And for fuck's sake if you make your kids watch Biodome you have some serious structuring problems.
I think it's useful in some senses to have high schoolers take a few mandatory niche classes. Many people never would have known they were interested in a subject were they not initially forced into learning a little about it.

Part of high school is giving you a wide range of knowledge so you have more options in the future, even if a good portion of it will never be directly applicable within your life.

Also... while there is an argument for making them elective, there's a good chance that making them elective could cause many smaller/poorer schools to drop them from their curricula entirely since they might not have large enough class sizes. I mean, this isn't a perfect argument for keeping them, per se, but smaller schools already get the short end of the stick where academic opportunities are concerned, generally.

I didn't even know what AP was at my first high school. We just didn't have that at all.

This.

I personally think that some form of art and/or music education should be mandatory, and not simply for this reason. There are plenty of studies that say learning about art and doing creative work strengthens students' performance in technical areas. It also puts students in a position where students must make choices about their work based as much on subjective personal criteria as technical standards, which is a surprisingly useful life skill.

Klinotaxis · 2015-11-30 19:04:30

incidentally, going to a poor school is why I didn't get to take ap bio. we had three students asking for it, not enough

I don't think college would have accepted the credit anyway, so I'm not too disappointed personally

Obā-san · 2015-11-30 19:05:22

eriophora zia said:

Bee said:
The usual subjects everyone hates like math or history actually have relevant use or political implications, but most of high school biology really is utterly useless to anyone not going into a directly related career path.

To be fair, it is a pretty good case of badly organized general education. Keep it for an AP class, sure, but a gen-ed biology class should be more focused on broader concepts of biomes, climate, sustainability, etc. Superseniors aren't going to give a damn about NADPH.

And for fuck's sake if you make your kids watch Biodome you have some serious structuring problems.
I think it's useful in some senses to have high schoolers take a few mandatory niche classes. Many people never would have known they were interested in a subject were they not initially forced into learning a little about it.

Part of high school is giving you a wide range of knowledge so you have more options in the future, even if a good portion of it will never be directly applicable within your life.

Also... while there is an argument for making them elective, there's a good chance that making them elective could cause many smaller/poorer schools to drop them from their curricula entirely since they might not have large enough class sizes. I mean, this isn't a perfect argument for keeping them, per se, but smaller schools already get the short end of the stick where academic opportunities are concerned, generally.

I didn't even know what AP was at my first high school. We just didn't have that at all.

a good post

Tachyon · 2015-11-30 19:08:54

i'm in agreement w/ Sredni.

Bee · 2015-11-30 19:11:12

Today is Tomorrow said:

Bee said:
I'd also say that your example of history is an example of a bad history class that makes you memorize dates for no reason. A good history class would cover the Magna Carta in relation to how it helped form the basis of modern governments you participate in today.
to piggyback off this: i have never before seen this archetypal bad history class full of memorizing pointless information.

I had it. Through all of elementary school and early middle school, and even my high school US history class had a lot of it.

Klinotaxis said:
being so stupid that it retroactively affects curricula is impressive

That pretty much defines some of my gen-ed classes in high school. They were set up specifically to push superseniors and jocks through without the burden of actually teaching anything.

Obā-san · 2015-11-30 19:12:30

thats

something

Obā-san · 2015-11-30 19:16:16

i guess im lucky that i always went to good schools

Klinotaxis · 2015-11-30 19:19:26

now this is a history exam

(can't find one used in a class from cursory searching, but like)

Sredni Vashtar · 2015-11-30 19:21:59

^^ Same.

We actually had an AP class (on electricity and magnetism, interestingly) that started with three people and wound up with two, the other having shifted to taking mostly college courses rather than attend normally—a program which I helped start, being one of two people to sign up for an experimental college course in middle school. The other was, naturally, one of the two remaining people in AP Electricity and Magnetism.

The other guy in that AP class became a fireman. Would have been an insufferable overachiever were he not unbearably nice in a very genuine way.

Klinotaxis · 2015-11-30 19:22:53

yeah, i had like that too. physics (which i didn't take) had like three people, and calculus started with maybe a dozen and ended with maybe five, at least one of whom didn't bother to take the exam

i mean, that was them dropping the class, not going to college, though.

Bee · 2015-11-30 19:24:29

My E&M class was two people. It wasn't enough to warrant scheduling a period, so they just let me and the other guy work independently while sitting in on the basic non-AP physics class in case we needed to ask the teacher questions. The regular physics class was itself an elective, FWIW.

AP Calc was like...twelve people? Maybe sixteen? Small enough that my mother crashed the class with a birthday cake and everyone else was in on it somehow. We had two fucking kickass math teachers though, so almost everyone above Algebra II qualified for their respective brackets in math competitions every year.

Sredni Vashtar · 2015-11-30 19:25:28

Oh, our regular physics courses were packed, AP or no. That class was just so niche and high-level that it only drew in the minimum requirement for the course not to be dropped from the roster entirely. I think there were supposed to be five people, but two dropped it before it even started.

Salix Babylonika · 2015-11-30 19:25:38

Klinotaxis said:
wow you all took economics in high school huh

I had to, our school's curriculum required you to have two each of History and Economics to graduate.

Klinotaxis · 2015-11-30 19:29:22

i don't think my HS even had economics. i took my first and only class on it in college

Salix Babylonika · 2015-11-30 19:30:17

actually my economics class spawned the Z-Block thread

probably the only good thing to come out of that class honestly

Sredni Vashtar · 2015-11-30 19:31:55

We had AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics and apparently they were both infinitely more interesting than the default course but I had a scheduling conflict so.

Aliroz · 2015-11-30 19:36:51

I'm just happy to learn things.

But, then again, I like random trivia and am very good at memorization.

mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

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