Over the years, I’ve seen several variations on this “parallelogram season” shared across the web. In case you can’t read the meme image above, it says:
I’m glad I learned about parallelograms instead of how to do my taxes. It’s really come in handy this parallelogram season.
At the risk of ruining the joke by explaining it — which ruins most jokes, but I think it’s important we get on the same page — the observed reality is that many of us learn about various concepts in school (like parallelograms) that we never actually use in the real world. By contrast, schools don’t teach us enough about more practical skills that do apply to our everyday lives, like how to complete an income tax return. I get the joke. But, I disagree.
It’s Parallelogram Season All Year Round
True, you may not “use” parallelograms on a regular, everyday basis. You probably don’t need to measure the inside angle of a rhombus or calculate the surface area of a tetrahedron. However, learning all about geometry and wrapping your head around geometric shapes in your mind’s eye can definitely apply to careers in the trades, art, design, and other disciplines. I don’t know about you, but when I hire a carpenter, I want them to know all about lengths and angles and how all these shapes fit together.
Put another way, it’s always parallelogram season. And there’s evidence all around us that some people may have benefitted from paying a bit more attention during class.
The implied notion that learning about parallelograms was a “waste of time” because there’s no such thing as parallelogram season extends to other common arguments. People might say that they don’t need to know the quadratic equation, because it has no obvious, practical application in the real world. You don’t use it at work, at home, or at play… or do you?
For the most part, these types of subjects and topics aren’t as much about the actual equations and vocabulary, per se. Rather, and much more importantly, they’re about learning HOW to approach and solve a problem. Algebra is about logic and variables. Geometry is about understanding the relationship between shapes and angles and distances. These types of “soft skills” become “hard skills” when you apply them to your day-to-day problem solving.
Trying to figure out how to arrange furniture in an irregularly-shaped room? Thinking about the layout for a newsletter or website? Struggling to fit all of your family’s stuff in the back of your SUV for a road trip to the cabin? Guess what? That’s all parallelogram season material.
Mind on My Money, My Life
Again, I get it. And there is definitely some truth to this popular meme about parallelogram season, because a lot of people don’t have as good a grasp on personal finance and income tax as they should. This is an area that’s sorely missing from the regular curriculum at most schools.
For my part, it was helpful taking a couple years of accounting classes in high school, because it provided a basic foundation on concepts like assets, liabilities, and balance sheets. At least they introduced me to debits and credits. Herein lies a remarkably profound and difficult challenge. There are only so many school hours in the day, so many teaching days in the year. Something has got to give.
Math and English are fundamental, right? What about chemistry, geography, history, woodworking class and foreign languages? Business, biology and law? And we mustn’t forget that drama, art, poetry and creative expression are what we stay alive for. On some level, school is there to prepare us for the world. On another level, an education is an opportunity to learn about yourself and how you can learn more on your own, in your own way.
Privilege and Personal Responsibility
Just as I wrote (and re-read) the line above, I had to do a double-take. While we literally have the entirety of humanity’s complete knowledge available at our fingertips via the internet, that’s not the same as an education. And not everyone has equal access to the internet, nor access to qualified mentors to help guide that journey.
There is a certain level of personal responsibility when it comes to learning about personal finance and related matters. But, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge my privilege in this context. Parallelogram season or not, I never took out a student loan and I never had to run up a credit card debt. And maybe it’s because of that experience that I was able to teach myself about income taxes, including for business. I just had to put my problem solving skills to work.
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