Why learn math when you have a calculator?
One idea that has taken hold in the education community recently is the idea that we don't really need to teach people how to do mathematical calculations, since they can be done so easily on a calculator, and are rarely done in "real life" anyway; instead, we should teach "concepts". Why is this idea limited to mathematics? The grammar checker in MS Word gets better with each new release, the spell checker is already quite good, and any laptop can carry millions of books. With voice software at the point where real time dictation is possible learning to read or write is a waste of time; even listening to books is a waste of time, since you can just carry them around with you, and access any book on demand, right when you need it. Why fill your head with knowledge that you'll never use? How often do you find yourself referring back to a history, sociology, or anthropology text in "real life"? Think of all the time you're wasting by reading, instead of learning the concepts. The most egregious waste of time though, is teaching the arts. We could make school so much more fun, if we just taught children the concepts of art and music. Why spend thousands of hours practicing when any kid with a five dollar CD player can produce better music than all but a few people? Some would say that it's impossible to compose great music without learning the basics, but as long as we teach children the concepts, they'll have everything they need to know. Moreover, genetic algorithms can already produce better art and music than any child, and they're still improving.
But why stop at concepts? Concepts can be looked up in books; books can be put on PDAs the size of calculators. Every day I see students wasting their time in graduate level math classes learning concepts. Don't they know they can look up all the theorems that they're taking weeks to prove? Fools, all.