“Is doing your taxes Bitual Torah?”
How can fulfilling a mitzvah be bitul torah? It is a mitzvah to pay the taxes you owe; all halachic authorities agree that it is an aspect of dina malchutcha dina!
“we were put on this world to become close to Hashem by doing his mitzvos.”
True. And many of those mitzvot require secular education. The Sanhedrin had to know seventy languages, and also astronomy and veterinary science.
“werent many of our greatest personalities doctors and scientists, and quite well versed in secular knowledge?”
Indeed. Many of the gedolim had university educations, including Rambam, Sforno, Rav Hirsch, Rav Hildesheimer, Rav Herzog, Rav Soloveitchik, the Lubavicher Rebbe….I could go on and on.
“chemistry. there is no reason the boys should have to learn this murder subject “
Rav Herzog would disagree; he earned a PhD in Chemistry at the University of London and used his knowledge to research techelit!
” its not like high school boys (or girls by the way) are being asked to learn philosophy and evolution. “
Philosophy — at least that of our greatest sages — should be taught in Limdei Chodesh! We need to teach our young people what our greatest thinkers like Rambam, Rav Hirsch, Rav Kook, and Rav Soloveitchik wrote.
“trigonometry will NEVER help you in life! “
It has been essential to my career. The Lubavicher Rebbe had to master it in order to complete his electrical engineering program.
“it pays to just learn it in college if your going for one of those majors. “
Nowadays if you want to enter one of those fields you start out way behind if you haven’t taken CALCULUS in high school, not just trigonometry. And you won’t get accepted into any engineering school without at least completing trigonometry with a good grade.