Why do so many care about useless trivia?

You never know when some of this 'useless' trivia will come in handy OR even someday save your life. You are constantly throughout life in a learning mode and even if you never use the knowledge it is there. School is trying to give students the basics so they can succeed in life. And you do not know what the future will bring, where you may visit or live, or what circumstances you will face. You may not like trivia but chances are you know a lot more in your subconscious mind then you actually think you do. You overhear conversations all the time and the mind will remember even if you try consciously not to listen.

Example - I have had times when something I heard (or read) years before actually helped and I did not remember where or when I actually learned it. I had a car engine that was overheating and I remembered a small bit of 'trivia' that helped me to drive a short distance home and keep the engine from overheating. I discovered that I had read somewhere years before what to do and got home safely. So - this actually saved me time (and money). Waste of time? I think not.

Okay, since you seem to have such disdain for precision - history needs to be as precise as humanly possible or its meanings can erode quickly to the point no valuable lessons can be learned - lets carry that over to math and science. Why bother to be precise there? Don't complain that your paycheck was for only $32.50 instead of the $325.00 you were expecting. After all, what's the big deal about a decimal point only one place off and a dropped zero? Who is even going to notice? No big deal if the pharmacist gives you 500 milligrams of something in your pill instead of 50. Why complain? You might not be able to anyway, you might be dead.

Facts and precision in recording them are important, and knowing them is just as important to someone, somewhere. Sad that you can't see the bigger picture.

How do you know the kids will never visit these countries? Do any of us know where we shall end up? History and Geography are fascinating subjects that offer a way of looking at all the exciting stuff that went into making our lives and our planet what they are, maths is used everywhere, sciences make us curious about our bodies and the machines developed by people in history to overcome problems in geography. the languages are taught to us to communicate. There is nothing trivial that does not fit together unless your teachers have no imagination!

23 years a teacher