Things you wish they’d taught you in school

[IrishJP]

Inspired by a couple of threads, and recent things that have happened in my life,
What kinds of things do you wish school had taught you that they didn’t?
I feel I learnt a lot of things I’ve never needed, like algebra (although I appreciate that’s relevant in some careers)
But I feel there should’ve been more ‘life’ lessons, that would have been far more useful.

i finished school mid 2000s and don’t have DC so appreciate that schooling may have changed and perhaps some of these things are being taught now.

Heres what I think they should’ve taught.

1. Budgeting and money management
2. information on benefits, tax, NI Contributions, employment rights etc
3. Useful cookery (I learnt to make random fancy dishes but didn’t know how to scramble eggs)
4. Basic DIY (I did some woodwork/metalwork but again made random things like a jigsaw and metal jetting) but couldn’t have put s shelf up or wallpapered a room
5. Everyday sewing (again I did some textiles where we learnt how to tiedye but I couldn’t sew a button on)

The academic side of schooling is absolutely vital but I just feel like there’s some stuff that isn’t needed until you go in to more specialised subjects at a later age, and some very ‘basic’ life skills would be a lot more useful.

Have I missed anything? Or for anyone who does have school aged DC are they teaching these things now?

A lot of this stuff is not worth the amount of money you’d have to pay teachers to deliver it.

Basic sewing, home maintenance, woodwork, gardening etc can all be learnt in minutes on YouTube for free or any charity shop/car boot sale has countless how-to books for a couple of quid. There are cookery programmes on TV every day and the same goes for the books and YouTube.

There are many websites out there that teach financial literacy and the current state of affairs (not sure how learning about mortgages and benefits in the 1990s would be of use to me now, for example).

Teachers are paid because they’re trained subject specialists! You can’t easily get feedback on your essay writing, discussion skills, ability to meet deadlines etc from YouTube. That needs a real teacher. Save the teacher’s time for those things that need them to be in a classroom, don’t get them parroting stuff they’ve probably learnt online in the last couple of days anyway.

@dubyalass

Completely agree and it's one of those leveling up things really that would start to turn around some pockets of society.
It's done to some. Exent but what I've seen is rubbish.

@PaigeMatthews
I did say in my op things may have changed in the 20 years since I left school. It may also have varied between school, as do most things.

My school taught Sikhism for GCSE RE, so we may well have learnt about marriage but as I am not sikh this information wasn’t relevant to me, or about 90% of my class.

We had one ‘talk’ about periods in year 7, and were sent home with a booklet about menstruation. Nothing about tracking cycles etc. it was all very much a taboo subject and we were advised not to discuss with the boys what our talk was about.

Of course I don’t remember everything I have ever learnt, and some of these things may not have been interesting to me at the time, nor were half of the topics I do remember covering.

At no point have I suggested that schools are responsible for teaching us EVERYTHING by the time we are 16, I simply asked for others views on what they felt might have been more relevant to every day live.

And as for your last question, if I want to know something now, I find it out.

But that wasn’t the point of the thread.
Not everyone has the lifeskills to know how to find things out, how to access help etc. Not everyone knows there are alternative ways to live or do things than the way they were brought up, not all parents had a good education themselves, nor the skills and knowledge to pass on to their children
Not all parents, or schools are created equally, not all children, young people or indeed adults are afforded the same opportunities in life. Not everyone has access to information

Sure, things are easier now because we can Google everything
but we couldn’t as children, our parents couldn’t as young adults
And not everything you read online is accurate anyway.

First aid.
Relationship dynamics, how to recognise emotional abuse, coercion & see that this leads to violence and this will not change.
How to save & manage a budget.
The basics of life's financial stuff, how to save, work out how much you have weekly.
How to be in nature and enjoy simple pleasures.
How to start and carry on conversations to make friends.
Wire a plug, fix a zip, use a drill, put a shelf up.

Some of this is taught by telling students but it would be better to show them, get them to do it and build the skills.

I was taught 1,3 and 4 at school, but tbh I can't remember much of the lessons, they didn't make that great an impact on me! For those e especially now, there's so many resources online people can look at.

Great idea.
Online open, free accredited courses would be very popular and could be a life changer for people who hate formal education settings & single parents. There are brilliant free courses on Future Learn but not sure if they are accredited or recognised nationally.

I am surprised at the number of people who think that if you are taught something at school that you will remember it and use it later in life.
If I was taught CPR at 13, it's highly unlikely I'd be able to act on it 20 years later with no further training.
It's also impossible to know now what people are going to need in 10/20 years.
The best thing would be if it was possible to teach people to access information for themselves, learn where good sources of information can be found and where to get help if they need it.
My kids did cubs and scouts and they are taught a lot of life skills there.
And I think my kids have been taught in all the things mentioned in the OP, except maybe how to put up a shelf.

Those people who do not have the life skills as adults to find these things out, are the same people who as children even of they were shown every single thing would not be able to retain that info and use it.

and EVERYONE has access to information. Absolutely everyone.

This is the best comment on this thread.

My school taught Sikhism for GCSE RE, so we may well have learnt about marriage but as I am not sikh this information wasn’t relevant to me, or about 90% of my class.

theres also absolutely on way that you did, in the UK, a gcse only on sikhism in RE. That didnt happen. this again shows the point of education at this level is to teach you how to study and how to find things out for yourself. Because you forget the majority of what you did learn.

I’m also concerned by your statement that learning about other faiths and cultures who exist in the society you live in isnt relevant to you.

You have honestly made my day. 😊

The problem is that people often don't become interested in this sort of thing until it's relevant to them. For example teens aren't going to listen to a lesson on pensions or buying a house (never mind retaining the info) because it's such an abstract concept at the time.

We live in an age where the info is easy to get hold of- for example I saw a thread on here that had YouTube links to how to redo the silicone around the bath.

The other problem with practical skills education is that many parents would rather push an academic qualification over a practical one. I've seen people actually say that practical qualifications are for children who aren't academic so why would you encourage your child to do that ? If you think that your child should get more real world education then you should push the non-traditional subjects. My son did a BTEC in business and one of the modules (personal finance) was on the lines of what is the difference between a direct debit and standing order.

Compound interest always comes up on threads like this but it's always been on the maths curriculum. The questions are usually about depreciation on a car or how much savings left in a bank account would be worth after X years which may not have been retained as its abstract to a teen.

Budgeting and money management
Sex Ed that went beyond “how a baby is made”
Household repairs and maintenance

We did cooking and sewing at school in my day, and we also learned how to wire a plug. I knew these things from home but not everyone’s family taught them that. My family conversely never talked about managing money, sex or relationships and I do think they did me a disservice there.

Later I went into schools as a guest speaker during PSE to talk about money and credit, and compound interest was a bit of an eye opener for the kids! You just have to make it relevant and interesting for them.

Have you seen the tv ads with Santander ? When my dd was at primary they had some representatives from Santander come in and do a lesson one afternoon. Luckily no Ant and Dec being cringy there. My other son who went to a different school had Barclays come in to do a session.

I think they could have taught more useful cookery. Our food tech lessons were absolutely useless.

Yes for sure 🙌🙌🙌

That as an adult I should learn things independently, rather than moan I wasn’t taughr x at school.

A lot of this is covered in some form but the young audience don't take it it on remember it as it's not seen as relevant to them at that time. You only remember things that interest you really.

It all comes down to staffing, cost and time but I've often thought it could be set up as:
1 period a week is elective - each block runs for 6 or 8 weeks, or whatever. Then each year group gets a choice of relatively fun electives. By the time you finish school you've had a chance to do most/all of them.
So, all the things people are suggesting and I'd add yoga, orienteering, basic coding, maybe touch typing, photography, holiday languages, road safety.
All this stuff the child can access outside of school but may not have the chance to - or be put off as they wouldn't know anyone/ "it's full of boys" etc

How to ride a motorbike.

Ive always quite fancied learning to ride a motorbike, but never really fancied learning to ride a motorbike, because if I had, I would have done so. But if school had taught me how, then I could have scratched that itch years ago at minimal cost to me in both money and time.

I don’t actually want to ride a motorbike, mind. Can’t stand them, or generally the people who ride them. But I would like to be able to.

You did ask.

Money management and first aid definitely

Healthy relationships and what constitutes abuse.

I'd like to see more about critical thinking skills - particularly as it relates to online content. There's a lot of misinformation on the internet and it would be good if young people were taught to question information they are given more.

I think the problem is that the current curriculum doesn't give schools enough time to focus on PHSE. I would question whether it's necessary for students to study 9 GCSE subjects in order to prove they are sufficiently academic for A levels. I would rather the number was pulled down and more focus given on some of this life skill stuff. It's all very well saying 'it's a parent's role. But when some parents are working second jobs just to afford food, rent and heating - it's hardly surprising that kids are not learning this stuff at home.

For many of these things, the most useful thing we can teach our kids is how to access good quality information so that they can easily learn what they need to learn when they need to learn it. The information is out there, but accessing it is a challenge for some, I think. Our society is moving too fast for given skillsets to be guaranteed a high level of relevance throughout a person’s life. It is better to train kids to be adaptable and capable of easily taking on new knowledge bases or skillsets as they become relevant.

@PeekAtYou

I don't think the banks are the people to deliver anything of note In terms of budgeting.

One of my aunts is a teacher, she's always in debt, can't budget etc and said as a filler she had been teaching basic budgets. No one wanted to hurt her feelings, being in debt or struggling then getting out of with stragety is one thing but she's notoriety dreadful with money...

It's a big subject and each specific area must be either taught or information given to teach by the experts in those areas.

"But not everyone is born into a situation where they're taught these things, they're born at a disadvantage.
Surely society would be better off for all if these were taught to everyone."

Yes, but there's no time at school to teach EVERY single life skill. There has to be a selection.

I wish I was taught

Working out percentages in Maths
Budgeting
WW1 and WW2 history
Microsoft Excel

Instead I was taught

• not to put a shower up my vagina after sex (it was an actual hour long lesson on how sperm doesn't wash away)
• how to duck a history teacher throwing chairs
• we watched a lot of films at Secondary for ages 15+ while we were in Yr 7, 8 and 9
• and learnt the most important life skill of all. NETBALL. because every woman in the UK needs to know netball skills. The boys had football, cricket, climbing, swimming and running to choose from. Girls only had netball.

Class of 2001 👏