Well, Barb, to become a chef one has to learn about EVERYTHING: history, mathematics, languages, business, literature, geography, psychology, archeology, chemistry, art, and ... oh yeah, cooking. As you read through all the different boards here, you'll see how much people need to know that you wouldn't think has anything to do with cooking. But that's why it's such a great job: everything you ever learn, anywhere, turns out to be important to doing your job well. And the best chefs never stop learning.
Just a hint -- if you have other questions, look for which other board they fit best on; they might not get answered properly if you keep adding them here. 
PS: the one school subject chefs seem to get by without is spelling
. Just keep trying to spell it different ways as it sounds, or sound it out as it's spelled to figure out what it is!