I don't really think about it much, but there are a lot of rules and practices that were an unquestioned and integral part of my schooldays that don't apply at all in the real world. In fact, they seem really bizarre in the real world and I don't really even know why they were so important in school. Nobody ever questioned them and most people have probably forgotten them completely by now (unless they're teachers themselves), but when I think about them they just strike me as having no practical relevance.
One of them is being required to answer questions 'in a complete sentence' on assignments and tests. I don't know whether this is universal or not, but it was something I had to do from the time I was old enough to be answering questions that required more than a yes or no. Basically it means that you had to answer by restating the question--so if the question read, 'What a three reasons for the collapse of the Roman Empire?', the answer would have to be, 'Three reasons for the collapse of the Roman Empire are...' And if you didn't do this, it was marked incorrect even if the answer was right. Which is really dumb, because it doesn't gauge whether or not you've learned the material--getting the question right depended on your ability to consistently comply with an arbitrary 'rule'. This just... doesn't happen in the real world. When someone asks, 'What time is the new Harry Potter playing at the movie theatre?', you don't reply with, 'The movie theatre is showing the new Harry Potter at...' All you do is give them a time.
It's not something most people are inclined to give a lot of thought to, but it's still completely bizarre.
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