What’s the Point of School?
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@KKMaverick
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Listen, school is a waste. School should be about general knowledge. Not about algebra and other weird things.
Different people are good at different things. Some people are just not good at school. But can be brilliant at other things. But what school says is you have to get a metric. So that brilliant person. Will spend his whole life tryna get a metric, thinking he is stupid. And once he gets a metric. He wont get a good job because he didnt succeed in any subjects. And that thing his probably good at. Might need a collage degree or something.
Why? If someone is good at something. Focus on that.
@thatweirdgirlchristina6980
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Schools need to teach how to cook, fold laundry, do dishes, survive outdoors, etc.
@irishfootballerhd1520
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
In schools in ireland you waste time about 2.5 hours a week with c.s.p.e and s.p.h.e and religion
@IshtarNike
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I kind of disagree about being taught critical thinking in school. School does develop many important thinking skills but I think they do it extremely inefficiently, almost as a byproduct.
@IshtarNike
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
School subjects should be focused around practical application as much as humanly possible, I totally agree. It should always be linked back to how it can help you or society to flourish.
@justthecoolestdudeyo9446
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
100% agreed on how pretty much every academic subject becomes fascinating once you really dig into it and the ideas that animate it
Our classrooms really need to focus on developing the abstract logical and critical thinking skills because they're a) the skills that machines will find it hardest to replicate and b) because they are far more wide-ranging and applicable even without the specter of automation. My experience in getting just my Bachelor's in Physics was that memorizing equations wasn't a skill that was relevant in the real world at all, even in an academic setting, but understanding the logical thought processes to build mathematical relations based on some pretty deep and basic concepts was basically everything you do past the first year or so. My high school experiences definitely did not build the skills that would be needed beyond, as you said, passing the test, at least in the science/math area. And I understand that this idea about "how to think" is important well beyond academic research, but in how you evaluate problems with many other things in your life, whether it's large scale things like politics or small scale things like making the best managerial/business decision
@christinesmal3303
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I still dont get the point. If I want to know something I will just use google. School should basicly just teach you how to use google correctly to find what you want to know. And if n dont have google or internet at all well good news… Books Exist and Bookstores Exist! So school can basicly crawl down a hole and die because NOBODY NEEDS IT. Its a massively huge waste of time and money. Amen
@thatbitch9983
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
i love learning but i hate being forced by law to learn.
@justvlogit496
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
school
@justvlogit496
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
i fucking hate sckool thers no fuckin point learn to count money and get a job
@krikette
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
frequently, my conversations with my friend center around things white people say or do that offend her. I think at least some of tree time it is due to ignorance. . do you have a video or could you make a video to inform us of the yours if things that we should be sensitive about when interacting with other cultures? I think it centers around just being yourself and not trying to act or comment on differences that really shouldn't matter in the first place, but are there times when that's just not enough?
@julad362
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Your previous video is hidden…
@HedonLionist
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Are you smarter than a 5th grader?
@TheConnoisseur02
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Wash*
@TheConnoisseur02
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
How do you was your dreads ?
@FruitOfPoisonousTree
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I hated school. A little ironic because I love to learn, but I've found that I put far more effort into learning what I want as opposed to being taught something I didn't ask to be taught. For example, わたくしはにほんごをしっています。 I know Japanese. I didn't learn it in school, I took 3 years of German in high school, but I'm not fluent in German like I am in Japanese after a mere 8ish months of study, anywhere from 3 to 10 hours a day. I did that because I wanted to and I learned at my own pace. That's why I hate school. I feel like students should have far more say in what they learn than they do. Now a particular language not being taught may be unavoidable if no teacher is available, but I excelled in social studies and English over maths and science, and would have preferred to focus more on the formers, but at least 1 of each was required for every goddamn year. I'm pretty sure that most people know what they would rather learn when they're fairly young. The last 2 years of high school at least should be free for the student to change their curriculum as they please, within reason.
@RainaRamsay
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I happen to be one of those people that enjoys school and the current academic system really works for me, but I think there a lot of improvements that could be made.
I love your point that Google can't answer every question. This is so true, and crucially important.
But, that said, education still focuses too much on stuff you could Google, and that leaves no time for stuff you can't. History class, for example, still expects you to memorize dates (easily Googleable) and therefore barely touches on the places that this historical event is still affecting things today (not really Googleable).
Algebra class spends 100% of its time on how to graph equations like v(p-u) – o > 0 (Wolfram Alpha will solve this for you), and essentially 0% of its time on how to know that v(p-u) -o > 0 will tell you the minimum number of Patreon patrons you need to make your YouTube channel viable.
@sgcandrewkard
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Hey I watch like a lot of your videos probably every one. And while I may not always agree with you, your points are always well thought out, objective or at least come from a strong personal belief backed up by experience or observations (which you always make sure to preface as such) And i just got to say you need to write a book. Maybe not now but at some point. I feel like you got the kind of intellectual capability to write social commentary books and even go on like speaking tours. You remind me a lot of someone like Christopher hitchens. Where im sure when he was your age he was well thought had a good grasp of the world and over the years was able to become a very well spoken and elegant.
Guess what im trying to say is a few years from now I won't be surprised when you release your anti mother taresa expose haha
@misszombiesue
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I found this to be a really valuable video. I am working toward a degree in education, and one of my part time jobs is to tutor for the HiSET program (which is what the GED is now called in my state. Others call it the HSED or something else.) I can tutor anything, but most people need help with math. Nothing makes me happier than when students find things interesting or useful–like, for example, how to determine your likelihood to win some game of chance. A lot of students enjoy that. Personally, I used algebra the other day to determine how long it would take me to finish a knitting project and if it was reasonable to expect I'd be done with it by my friend's birthday.
Since I'm here, if you're currently a high school student, and are considering dropping out, I'd like to take a minute to urge you not to. As someone who tutors for HiSET, I can assure you that it is not easier, but employers will give you less credit for it. Stay in school! 🙂
@Emelineeeeeee
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
The problems begin with the whole concept of school. Having eight, or even just four classes that take up the entire day is not congruent to a healthy learning experience IMO. Two classes a day would be ideal I think. There's just not enough time in the day to thoroughly explore eight or four different subjects. With this number of classes, the subject has to be boiled down to meaningless, mostly worthless knowledge that must be memorized for the tests. At least that was my experience in school. With two classes, there would be time to not only present the information, but to give it meaning, have time for students to ask questions and have discussions. Then students could go home feeling prepared to practice the subject in their homework, and the wouldn't have to spend their free time teaching themselves the information instead of applying it.
@keeks1380
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I just showed this video to my 13 year old who is constantly asking why she needs to know about pythagoras' theorem…
@UnderCandlelightDuo
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Math is a giant riddle. Solving it is a lot of fun 😉
@RilianSharp
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
2:14 English class isn't about learning how to read and write english properly, it's about being forced to read arbitrary boring books and "analyze" them by pretending they contain meaning and symbolism that they don't.
@Leslie48
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Have you considered having a look at the urban/rural divide in the US? So many things in this country seem to be highly polarized by politics which actually break down fairly consistently along urban/rural lines and how the different perspectives and outlooks from living in such radically different conditoins affect how people look at the issues.
@MyNameIsMaxYo
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
hey the1janitor, whats your experience with marijuana? have you made a video on it in the past? and maybe make a video on your stance on the legalization on recreational usage? just wondering. keep up the good work.
@littlecorrell
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I understand that there are multiple types of learning, and that often test taking is not the most effective way of gauging what a student has learned. Sometimes, papers, projects, presentations (etc.) are better. At the same time, I'm also not against tests.
I hear people often talking about how test taking is this horrible thing for students, but I disagree with that. Sometimes tests force critical thinking in a way that is hard to do otherwise, and sometimes useful information really does just need to be memorized. Personally, though I disliked taking tests, I often learned from my wrong answers. It gave me a way to see the areas I either was weaker in, or did not learn properly so that I could go back and fix my knowledge gaps.
In a way, though they are unpleasant, test taking prepared me for the real world a little. I've never encountered a job or certification that gauged the way I learn best and presented me with various options to display my knowledge. I've always had to take some sort of test (almost always written) to either move up in a job, or obtain a new license. Having taken them my whole life, I was prepared to … well, take them my whole life.
I know you were not arguing against them in this video. I just sometimes feel that test taking sometimes gets a worse reputation than it should.
@ben10mama
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
One thing I wish school did better is prepare people for some of the more useful things or basic info people need to know like how to write a check, how taxes work (Or atleast how to do them). How to cook, How to use a dictionary (You would lose faith in humanity how many people i've met that never touched a dictionary in there life) And a few other very useful and applicable things to daily life. Oh also how to sew cause I really wish I learned that skill when I had the chance. Now we have youtube and you can probebly find all that stuff on her but its something that I think I shouldn't have to hunt for myself to find since these are pretty bare bones stuff, Oh also they should teach cursive too since its pretty good to know. thats my thoughts though.
@postapocalypse0763
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I think a point is to help you learn how to deal with others?
@Stars-Mine
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I cant like this hard enough, I am so sick of people complaining about how the only thing they learn in school was the Mitochadira is the power house of the cell, and they didnt learn how to do things like taxes. Yes.. yes you did. And Biology taught you more then that.
Or they talk about hoe they didnt learn to change a tire… why would that need to be a taught skill? If you took any shop class ever you should have the skill set to problem solve your way out of that situation.
@Notethos
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I agree very much with you (granted I'm finding my passion is in academics and education). I just finished reading a book by John Dewey so this video interests me more. Point is I agree at least American education is not so much learning the material but recognizing how to work the system, Dewey stated this to go back to his own experience of education (so early to mid 20th century). The primary purpose of schooling according to Dewey however is to give students experiences necessary for further education/ experiences (experience being necessary for education). The failure of education in my own experience was not so much that it didn't give me and my peers experiences, but rather, it didn't instill in my peers a curiosity to continue seeking educational experiences.
@MariRei
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Completely agree.
I really didn't see the point of school until I reached college and now I genuinely enjoy learning.
@vengeanceu
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
i wish i could just go to school and learn stuff without doing oral interaction or some shit
@lettuceadventure2234
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I start teaching high school next year. I'm definitely going to show this in my class!
@Monique2405
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I understand where you're going when you say that school teaches you how to learn but I honestly never really learnt self-teaching skills until I ended high school and had a sabbatical year in which I focused on developing the skills I was interested in improving. Being on your own kinda teaches you how to use your time wisely and how to learn about the stuff you are interested in, maybe if the school system was like that in the US (or in Mexico in my case) where they plant the interest in your head and give you the freedom to learn about it at your own pace, things would be different.
@baconmacon5553
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I think next video should be about stupid rules in school
@baconmacon5553
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I think next video should be about hair
@baconmacon5553
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I think*
@baconmacon5553
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
next video should be about weed aka 420
@spacesandshark2418
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Man, that point about the internet is fucking spot on. I wish I knew before my last year in school that literally everything you're ever going to learn in class is available on the web, except more well explained and organized. I used to think that the silly ways my teachers taught me to memorize things were something they invented, but no, you can find the same exact thing there, only better.
Like, did you know that many math, physics and chemistry teachers take some of the questions on their tests from the internet? So if you study and do exercises on the internet, even if just a single day before the test, it makes a huuuuge fucking difference. And even if they don't try to copy it, there are only so many different types of questions you can make about these subjects, so it's still worth it. EVERYONE should know about this.
@LynxChan
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
This video went is a completely different direction from where I expected it to. So often I see videos or posts from people who were failed by their educational systems railing against such systems, particularly in the teaching of "useless" subjects. I am sympathetic to that, I do think school should teach way more life skills (especially basic cooking and personal finance), but I think people often too quickly dismiss the value of school while missing what you pointed out about preparing you to be a good learner. Still, there's no doubt that many educational institutions could do a better job. I think a greater focus on process vs facts has to happen. It's less important that a student knows the differences between chloroplast and mitochondria than it is that they understand how science works, what does and does not constitute evidence etc. It's more important that they understand the underlying themes of resource competition and power structures than they memorize the names and dates of a bunch of battles. It may make it harder to measure student progress, but it makes for better learners in the end.
@brandchan
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
Am I the only one where the sound and video were off from each other?
I hated school until college. I'm pretty sure I have an undiagnosed learning disability related to math. Which was a subject I desperately struggled in but no one seemed to pick up on. Also, we were very limited in class choices in my school and so I didn't get to take a lot of classes that interested me. We were also not able to pick teachers (which I get, my school was huge, it would have been a nightmare to let us pick) but I certainly did better with some teachers over others. Getting to pick teachers in college made a big difference for me.
I went to college and I was actually studying something I was interested it. I liked the longer classes (4 hours with a break). Most of the classes were project driven, which I liked a lot. I could pick my teachers for the most part (sometimes that class I needed only had one teacher). Also, I could take afternoon and night classes, which was huge for me. I'm not a super night owl but I am most certainly not a morning person, and this made things so much easier for me.
I was a sub-par high school student but I graduated from college with honors.
@Jesses001
October 12, 2025 at 11:47 pm
I had a much better experience in school, but it is my understanding is that my generation was the last to use that system. You were right after me, so you and I apparently went though different systems.
It is good to hear that you understand the main thing to learn in school is HOW to learn. That is the most important part. Knowing how to gain knowledge allows for an unlimited potential.
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