To think schools should have a class to teach basic life skills

100% abusive relationships. Parents won't necessarily have the understanding. I wish I'd been taught about this instead of learning the hard way. My life would have been very different for me :-(

You are conflating two entirely different things. You can't assume one case of affairs on the basis of the other.

Teaching reading and maths is proper to schools, though there's nothing to stop parents from having a go.

Basic life skill is ultimately up to the parents.

It’s a nice idea but in reality most kids would find personal finance and mortgage lessons really tedious and would not be interested.

Also, things change so quickly. Lots of posters on here learnt how to write cheques in school but nobody does that anymore. Nowadays learning how not to get scammed online would be more useful!

Maths skills are useful because it’s so fundamental and does not change. Once you understand percentages, it helps you to understand interest rates etc.

However I am totally amazed how many parents I come across who have not opened a bank account for their child! It’s one of the most basic things you can do. Teaches them what bank accounts are, how to use them, what a bank statement is, how to save…. And school can’t do that for them (for once).

god I had a very middle class normal upbringing and have two degrees to my name but honestly all the bills and shit I went from my parents home to living with my husband and I still haven’t ever done that stuff. I’m sure if I had to do it I would figure it out but I’ve genuinely just never had to do it so don’t really know how!
however kid wise I’m well aware that i need to do a better job here!

If schools have to take things like this on what do they drop, or do the government seriously up the resourcing they give to schools? You suggest.

You're 28 and you've never changed a lightbulb? I suspect that means (a) you're still living with your parents, in which case most of those other lessons do not apply, (b) you're married to someone who does everything, in which case most of those other lessons do not apply, or (c) you live in a cave, in which case most of those other lessons do not apply.

For changing lightbulbs the trick is wait until they are cool, and go gently unless you are sure whether they are a bayonet fitting (push up and twist 90 degrees) or screw fitting (just twist, several times). Lesson done.

Next lesson: changing a plug.........

What exactly is it that you think parents are supposed to teach their children?

I have seen idiots saying teachers should teach toileting, toothbrushing, dressing/undressing, healthy eating, manners, discipline and so many other things.

Other than a bedtime routine, I think lazy parents seem to believe teachers should do all the jobs and just leave parents with the odd pick up from outside a club.

I get that they teach a load of rubbish in schools.
My opinion of schools and teachers is so low I electively home educated both my children as I wanted them to thrive. (they did/do)

But really, parent your own child or don't have children.

It's not a teachers job to parent your child.
They probably do teach some of that stuff but you don't even pay attention to what children learn, you just assume everything is fine as long as you don't have to make any effort whatsoever.
Bet you'll pull a surprised Pikachu face if your kids don't do well in their GCSEs too.

If you don't know how to change a lightbulb, look it up on YouTube, practise it a few times then TEACH YOUR CHILD this very basic skill.

Stop leaving your children ignorant while you are waiting for other people to do your job.

Children deserve parents who can be bothered to put down their mobile phone long enough to teach them how to cook pasta, or use kitchen appliances, change a lightbulb, manage finances or whatever it is they need to do for life skills.

Children deserve parents who will learn those skills if they don't have them just so they can pass them on to their child.

It is YOUR FAULT if your child doesn't have those skills.
What is the point of you if you aren't bringing them up to cope in a normal everyday situation like reading a meter or setting up a direct debit?

This attitude of offloading all your responsibilities onto everyone else makes me really angry.
I pity the children of parents who think like you OP.

I get what you’re saying, but unfortunately a lot of parents don’t have the knowledge or desire to teach these things. If they can be assumed to have that, then they can presumably also teach basic reading and maths skills, but many rely on schools to help with that.

No it’s just common sense to remove the old lightbulb first, and take it to the shop with you so that you make sure you buy the correct bulb…..

When DH and I got our first flat together we also got a basic DIY manual and a basic tool kit. What’s so difficult about that? It’s even easier nowadays there are YouTube videos for everything.

Schools can’t teach everything but they teach you to read, write, do maths, how to research and use critical thinking - so that you can find out the information you need yourself in the future.

Parents should teach these things but many won’t. Since when can we rely on parents to do things like that? It’s not the fault of the children if they don’t have family who can help them.

My school taught me how to write cheques, how every system in a house works (as in installing heating, electric etc), how to wire plugs, how to create a diet for a diabetic, how to sew by hand and on a machine, how to recognise depression, how to order food, board and transport in three languages, how to use a Bunsen burner, how to make a lasagne, how to splint a broken arm, how to budget for a household and much more. This was a convent school in the 90s. My mum and Dad taught me to ready meters, change tyres, open bank accounts, use a drill and an industrial floor polisher, iron and lots of other things too. I was lucky

• Showing how to do basic meals, cooking pasta safety, use of kitchen appliances correctly - already on the curriculum funded by teachers not the school or gov.
• paying bills - already on the curriculum
• what a mortgage is, how to deal with contracts and paperwork - *
• how to meter readings
• change a lightbulb, basic tool use in the home - Basic tool use already on the curriculum
• how to check fire alarms
• credit card education - already on the curriculum
• managing money, spreadsheets to manage them - already on the curriculum
• insurances like life insurance and what ones you need
• education on abusive relationship signs - already on the curriculum
• things like peer pressure - Already on the curriculum
• how to write formal letters/emails - Already on the curriculum

I think parents should know what is being taught already to their children before making assumptions that they are not then roll up their sleeves and also do their bit as it is a team effort.

‘Basic life skills’ need to be taught by parents to their own children. Schools are there to teach things which parents can’t all be assumed to have excellent knowledge of eg sciences, literature, languages. Teachers aren’t there to provide lessons in taking meter readings. Anyone can show their child this if they can be bothered. However, some of your list is taught (how to write letters, how to do basic cooking etc).

But people loved the Bunsen burner lessons. They might not all go on to be chemists but it might have given them a lifelong interest in science. This is one of the other values of school and it's frustrating that people seem so dismissive of inspiration and learning if you don't use that exact lesson in a paid job.

Most of your list you can do yourself or parents should. PSHE should cover abusive relationships, peer pressure and money management though.

Another vote for it being the parents job.

also who needs teaching how to push a button on a fire alarm?

I did actually do ‘Life Skills’ - it was compulsory in my school in the 80s. Included quite a lot of the stuff you mentioned, as long with how to wire a plug, basic nutrition and cooking (making eggs on toast etc), money management etc. I passed that one…

My parents taught me these things, I’ve taught my dc. I was teaching her how to fill in her tax return earlier today via video call

Personal finance is taught, no one is ready to listen at 13.

I actually don't disagree, especially because many adult women don't know anything about these things and end up leaving it all to their partners which vastly disadvantages women as we see time again on these forums.

Personally I am very financially literate but I think way more should be taught around personal finance in particular in schools. This will help women be on more even footing and less vulnerable to abuse in relationships.

I mean….I’m 33 and got taught a lot of this in school.
We did cooking & woodwork, as well as being taught electrical repair (basic re-wiring); abusive relationships and peer pressure were covered in LFL along with safe sex and STI’s and all the things that make teenagers laugh, as well as formal writing CV’s etc.
I think the other stuff is a as-and-when……would have been pointless teaching me about mortgages considering I can’t afford one

This was out of order - an uncalled for aggressive reaction to a stating the facts response.
why you so prickly?

(And you also clearly aren't aware of the RSE curriculum which covers healthy and unhealthy relationships in depth.)

This is always said by people who clearly didn't pay attention in school, as most of the things you mention were taught, or at least the skills needed to learn to do them.

Money management is just maths. If you paid attention in maths, you'd be able to work out an interest rate on a mortgage or loan. Writing a formal letter is specifically taught from Primary School in English.

Things like peer pressure are covered extensively in PSCHE

The other things may or may not be covered at school, depending on what school you go to, but more importantly, should be covered by parents.

Schools are there to provide an academic education and the primary purpose is to create employable adults, not to teach basic life skills that should come from home.

If people are stupid, there's not much you can do to help.

I know quite a few people who came in this country for various reasons, barely speaking the language. They figured it out. They figured out the mortgages, the lease system, how to pay bills, how to get an NIN number even. Their parents wouldn't know how to teach them, they are in foreign countries with different languages and different systems. They are not left behind!

Even if your parents don't teach you "basic skills", even by example - they eat surely?, young people can get when they need, they don't need schools to waste their time with basics.

Most of that is taught in schools.

And as to the Bunsen burner comment - I get so tired of the ‘when will I ever use that bit of knowledge’ argument. Do we really want the curriculum to narrow to only the things that will be practically useful? How would that even work?

Is there no value in having a breadth of knowledge? In learning for learning’s sake?