When are we going to use this? Part 1 - Why does Maths get this question more than any other?

In my early years of teaching Maths, I was regularly asked the question "When are we going to use this?" In my first year of teaching, I was eager to answer every one of these queries - I quickly discovered that most of these questions were not asked to find out the answer, but rather to try and stump me as the teacher. Despite this, there are times when students genuinely want an answer. Here are some thoughts in answering this common question. There are several possible responses depending on the type of question that I will investigate over the next few posts.

Why is this question asked of Maths more than other subjects?

I have to ask why this question is asked of Mathematics more than any other subject. Students do not regularly ask in English, History or Science when we are going to use. It is taken that this information is beneficial in and of itself. A History teacher argues that if you don't know the past then you can't learn from it as a society, but on an individual level this argument has little weight.

There is a difference between subjects studied in High School as at University. Some University/TAFE courses are vocationally based and are practical in their approach (Mechanics, Plumbing, even Law to an extent) but many others (Arts, Science, etc) are broad and do not link to a particular career.

With some of the work being more abstract, Maths does lend itself to this question being asked more than in other subjects.

Over the next few posts I will give some possible responses and approaches to give in answering this question.