How bad is Shotokan? I took it for 3 years and it was complete bs. I learned nothing.?

Jim R and Kokoro said what I was thinking. Sounds like you had a bad instructor. Never blame a style because of a bad instructor. I have been practicing martial arts for close to 49 years. Sure, I've met a few bad Shotokan instructors, but that is true of all styles I've seen. There are some truly excellent instructors out there in all styles. Go find a good instructor and study what ever style he teaches. Even better if you find a good Shotokan instructor since it will at least be similar to your training.

Note: Jim R, Kokoro, and I have between us more than more than 118 years of martial arts background. And, it is in various different styles. Yet, we all know the value of Kata, as long as you also know realistic applications for the moves in Kata. Things like the video, Kokoro posted, clearly show good technique from Kata. Yet, we have people here that refuse to see the light and tells everyone that Kata is a scam, and to avoid any place the teaches it. Can it be that he thinks we are idiots, or that we are just misleading the public. All anyone has to do to see the value in properly taught Kata is see the video Kokoro posted.

I agree with Jim you had a bad instructor

Did you learn the kata tekki shodan which is similar to naihanchin, well then here is an example of your ground fighting, Which can be found in almost all kata as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY09uy6jTy8

You obviously had a poor teacher.
I have done Shotokan for over 40 years, and it is potent as any martial art.
As a professional in security, it helped me maintain safety for myself, and those I protected.
If you think kata is useless, you simply do not understand kata. It teaches you things you can't learn any other way.
You just had a poor dojo, don't discount a whole legitimate system over one bad experience with incompetent instruction.

So you had a crappy teacher. Like many people, you think that all martial arts instructors are of equal caliber and that one represents all and everyone in that style. In all the years you been in school and with all the teachers you had from kindergarten onward, were they all equally good?

I've never heard of any legitimate martial art instructor who are of such ignorance if not hypocrisy that they would tell their students you can never beat anyone bigger. That is just pure bs - what is the purpose then of any martial art if it can never be successfully used against someone bigger?

You went to a McDojo. And while you can blame your school, you are not experienced nor educated enough to badmouth the entire style of Shotokan because of one school.

Sorry you spent 3 years for nothing. You put 3 years in so don't let what little you learned go to,waste. Go out and interview places you think look ok and be honest in what you want out of it. So luckily now you know if they teach kata don't even step foot in the place. It is simply "taught" for the purpose of making money with no effort. It is useless and those who defend its "teaching" are either embarrassed by the fact they were talked into learning it or are people who are making money off of it. All this talk of hidden or secret applications is fantasy and is just a drones way of telling parents that after 3, 5 or 10 years of learning line dancing it will suddenly all come together in a deadly mix of hidden and secret things only the teacher knows. But really they just get paid month after month for much longer. It's fake just like the fake experts on this site.