Why do we go to school?

This is a question I really think we need to ask ourselves.

Secondary school maths teachers seem to be on an endless mission to convince students maths is useful. Why? Most of what we learn in school isn't going to be directly useful—why does maths have to prove itself? From the government's point of view it doesn't seem to be about applications to 'real-life'—it's about international competition. The number of times I see news about where the UK stands in maths ability; I think this is really damaging. What's worse is it often paints a more negative picture than it should. The UK is actually well above average in the PISA maths proficiency standings. Maybe we should care more at this point about school being a positive experience than trying to beat Singapore?

I started thinking about this again after seeing a headline about Farage saying we should teach kids trades and services at school: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/farage-lets-start-teaching-trades-and-services...
While I think we shouldn't persist in making people resit maths and English for eternity until they get a 'good pass', I also think this is a very dangerous road to go down. It used to be only the privileged who got an education—everyone else had to prepare themselves for the world of work. Labelling kids as not academics before their even 16 is denying them opportunities. I think it's Farage pandering to the anti-intellectuals out there rather than a ploy to widen the class divide, but it would inevitably lead to more inequality if it actually went through.