What was the subject you learnt at school that you never had to use in life?

Playing hockey - although can’t say I ever ‘mastered’ it at school. Hated it then.

Trigonometry, algebra, and how to read under the covers after Lights Out.

Algebra, and those foul, stress making logarithms. We had to go around the class working them out in our heads and I dreaded my turn!

Athletics. . I have never had to hurdle anything, jump over a gate. Throw anything pointed a long distance or run around in a circle for ages. Kept me fit, I suppose. But I can think of nicer ways.

Sewing

I think I use a lot of what I learnt except trigonometry and logarithms. I loved school and would go back now if I could.

All maths was and remains a mystery I never managed to solve. My first job was in a bank, whatever were they thinking of! I hated it from day one and left a year on none the wiser about what I was meant to be doing!

Education is for expanding the mind and enriching life. It’s not training in practical things
Grandma70s; Spot on! We were being shown how to reason, "learn" and understand, regardless of what endeavours we became involved in when we emerged from school into the big wide world. I was too dim to appreciate this at the time!

Apart from the obvious - algebra (which the teacher said at the times was useless - only maths lovers would enjoy the mental exercise) I can't think of anything which was totally useless.

As a quizzer I love general knowledge and lots of 'stuff' comes in handy.

I think I've used most things - except logarithms. Were they so that you could work with bigger numbers that you'd use a calculator for now? My dad had a slide rule but I never learnt to use that and I never learnt to use the log tables, either. I could see a bit more point to sines, cosines etc, but was never confident with them.

I was pretty useless at Latin, especially the grammar, but I have found it useful in recent years when I've been researching in old documents. I can't translate accurately, but I can get the gist of it and can sometimes produce a reasonable trnaslation of a few words. My Latin teacher would be amazed!

Trigonometry! I hated maths and struggled to get my O level which I needed to be primary school teacher.

MY DGD. Fat finger syndrome at work.

Art. I have no artistic talent whatsoever so no teacher was ever able to harness it. Three of on DGD are artistic and I can honestly say 'they don't get it from me'.

I have used most of mine, even trig when designing my garden..

I hated history though, then and now!

My dad was a maths teacher years ago and knew the log tables off by heart.

Yes Blinko, just this 'For me it was Geometry, including sines, cosines, logarithms, blah, blah, blah. What was that about?? Pointless unless you end up as a civil engineer, I'd have thought.'

I tried to ask the physics teacher to explain what it was for ... and the reply was 'don't ask questions, just do it- when you become a civil engineer you will know what it is for' - and as I had no intention whatsoever in becoming one - that was it.

For the Baccalauréat at 18, we had to continue all the subjects to the end (unlike the UK where most finish with just 3 very narrow subjects) - so my scientific clever big brother taught me just enough to pass the maths, physics and chemistry exams by the skin of my teeth. And did very well in the rest.

Forgot all about it the minute I got the results - what a waste of energy and time, when I could have learnt another couple of languages instead, that are REALLY useful.

Lots of stuff, especially the more quirky maths (sine, cosine, logs - what rubbish is this?!) which would not help me to e.g. order enough paint/material for a given job.

Everything just everything to do with PE which I hated.

Latin, French and German have all come in handy.

What a waste of childhood (precious and a one-off) to be learning all this stuff under pain of rapped knuckles!

For me it was Geometry, including sines, cosines, logarithms, blah, blah, blah. What was that about?? Pointless unless you end up as a civil engineer, I'd have thought.

OTOH I enjoyed algebra although I've never had to use it irl.

Arithmetic and the times tables, which I knew by heart before I was eight, have been invaluable.

Languages too can be so useful later.

Seems that apart from basic maths skills there aren’t many mathematicians amongst us.
I think it would have been clear to all my teachers that we were wasting our time!

Just maths. The basic maths we learned in Juniors have served me well, including learning the times table by heart. I didn't need to learn all the more advanced mathematics.

This is actually a good question because it shows how much we learn in school stays with us. I only did a year of latin and I was hopeless. However, I'm surprised at how much I remember, and even that little bit has proved useful.

I wish the swimming lessons had worked, our school had its own outside pool and tried for 10 years to teach me to swim, I still cannot manage one stroke.

Useless at mental arithmetic, but once calculators came in I had no problem managing large budgets at work.

Botany, Zoology, Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene all useful as I became a nurse. English literature I never took to, can't remember much of any of the books on the list, though love reading now. Still a stickler for English grammar! Physics was a problem because of the maths, enjoyed chemistry, but only useful in quiz programmes.

I am not a natural at languages, can just about get by in French. Latin comes in handy for working out the meaning of words I haven't come across before.

Are some university courses of any more use? What do you do with Madonna studies? Or the ubiquitous Media Studies?

I have never used logarithm, done or cosine (my DH is the only one I know who did use them at work)
Not have I ever had a need to climb a rope or hang upside down from wall bars !

Quadratic equations - never could see why I needed to know how to do them and I have never, ever used them since!

Definitely logarithms - still don't know what they are. Everything else has probably been useful in one way or another, Latin especially.

I think the Art classes were the least useful. They consisted of painting self portraits and still lifes etc. As I am completely unable to draw anything that resembles anything they were a torture and only taught me to never attempt anything artistic ever again. It would have been so much better if the Art classes had actually taught us about art appreciation etc.

Sport - especially cross country running. Also country dancing hasn't been too useful

I could manipulate a log table but never knew why. Seems I wasn't alone. I suppose they were trying to see if I had the potential to be a mathematician. Sadly I didn't. Give me a good book any day.