Why do we include jQuery in the header?

Question

I was told not to mess with the core files. Also, I don't want jQuery to load on every single page.

Answer 1

Get rid of the plugin/theme that's causing jQuery to load :) jQuery is shipped with WordPress doesn't mean that it's loaded every time by default, it's being loaded by a theme or plugin that you're using. Look for a call to wp_enqueue_script :)

Good luck!

Answer 2

Most themes will, by default, include Jquery.

If you REALLY don't want it to load, put this in your Functions.php file (in the theme)

function my_scripts_method() {
    wp_deregister_script( 'jquery' );
}    

add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_scripts_method');

Or find and put in comments (add // in front) these lines.

wp_register_script( 'jquery', 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6/jquery.min.js');
wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery' );