a-new-method
Explanation
The Joke
The comic is captioned "The first math class" and depicts a prehistoric scene where a caveman teacher is trying to explain the concept of counting to a young student. The teacher says: "We have method for knowing how many rocks you have. Called 'counting.' Put up fingers, then say--" Before he can finish, the student interrupts with the timeless complaint: "We ever use this in real life?"
The joke is that even at the very dawn of mathematics -- when counting was literally brand new and had obvious, immediate practical applications (knowing how many rocks, animals, or food items you have) -- students were already asking the perennial question that every math teacher dreads: "When am I ever going to use this in real life?"
The Humor
The comedy works because the student's complaint is so perfectly anachronistic in context. Counting is arguably the most practically useful mathematical concept ever invented, and yet even in a setting where its real-world applications are blindingly obvious (you are a caveperson who needs to know how many rocks you have), the student instinctively resists learning it. The joke suggests that the impulse to question the practical value of math education is not a product of modern abstraction or complex curricula -- it is a fundamental, hardwired human response to being taught anything mathematical, no matter how clearly useful it is.