What useful practical things did you learn at school?

[Yourinmyspot]

I remember in cooking or home economics as it was called then, things like always using the back rings on the cooker and leaving pan handles turned inwards. I still do this and only use the front rings if more than two pans.

Also always remember being taught things like storing cooked meat above raw in the fridge and coming up with my own rhyme to remember ‘cooked above raw, or your bum will be sore’.

We were also taught how to wire a plug and I remember how pleased I was when I did my own plug at home, my Dad was impressed.

What are yours?

Boat handling
Shooting
Marine Navigation
Physics

Practical things? Zero

but also learned little in the way of practical things at home. I’m shocked I’ve made it to adulthood

How to order a glass of wine in French GCSE

I learnt a lot and came out with decent grades and my mastermind subject would be early 20th century European history but wouldn't say it was that useful in day to day life

Percentages and compound interest.

Geometry which I regularly use in making quilts and other craft projects.

How to write a polite letter of complaint.

Cooking and how to understand sewing patterns.

Touch typing.

Playing the piano and guitar.

How to project my voice in acting and poetry recitation, which I never used for reciting poetry but was useful when giving presentations to large groups of people and talking over the pest of a colleague who always tried to talk over me.

How to organize my thoughts to make a coherent argument with back up evidence from having to write character studies for English literature O level.

I did Latin which was helpful in working out what quite a few English words mean and guessing at meanings in Spanish and French.

Rigorous scientific method. We had excellent physics and chemistry teachers in particular. When I started a science degree, I was one of a small group who knew how to set up, carry out, and properly document our work.
Most of them never learned it at school.

Nothing really. I would say French as I was very good at it. However, as I have so rarely used it since leaving school (nearly 30 years ago), I’ve forgotten most of it. I did look at learning it again a few years ago and it seems that much of the formal stuff we were taught is not really any use now and conversation is much more causal and informal.

Actually one thing that was useful although not taught as a school lesson per se was a talk the girls all had from Diana Lamplug, the mother of Susie about staying safe whilst out and about. She taught us how to properly use a rape alarm and that if you feel unsafe or that you are being followed scream and make a nuisance of yourself "because even if you are wrong then it's better to be embarrassed and alive than correct and dead".

She was an incredible lady and I think she and her husband used to devote a lot of their time to do many school tours to try and help keep the next generation of girls safe. It was a terrible shame that she died a few years ago with Susie never having been found.

Sewing.

Touch-typing.

Everyone wondered why I took it, and I actually failed the exam. Ironically, it’s the only thing I learned at high school that’s been any use to me whatsoever.

How to thread and use a sewing machine
How to sew a garment
How to wire a plug
Basic cooking skills
How to plan a balanced meal
How to wash up "properly"
How to grow veg (gardening club)
How to write programs in basic
Various types of contraception (but they waited until we were all 16 or very nearly before they did this)
Mathematics skills to calculate interest work out amounts of paint, carpet wallpaper, size recipes up or down etc
How to debate
How voting worked

Girls grammar school 1970s/80s

How to calculate the area of a room for a carpet.

The area of a circle, I have used it once to calculate the fabric needed to replace the backing on a round rug.

Cooking skills from Home Economics, like making a bechamel sauce or a sponge cake, but I have never again gutted and filleted a round or a flat fish, both of which we had to do.

I cut down an old blanket to make dog rugs, and hemmed them by hand using actual blanket stitch, thank you to Mrs Isted for basic embroidery. She also taught us knitting and crochet, and I have crocheted baby blankets, and a king sized bedspread using the one stitch I could remember how to do.

How to change a plug.

How to tell if an egg has gone off.

How to grow a summer veg patch, this was a project in Primary School.

I learned how to french kiss, but that wasn't on the official curriculum.

Really most useful things came from post A level projects, including how the same story is reported very differently in different newspapers.

Another point by example. Lot of emphasis on high church religion, and we had the same teacher for classics as for religious education. Lovely teacher would explain how the art, literature and civilisation in Greece and Rome reflected the society of the time, including the role of women

Same teacher in RE lessons would teach that the same influences in Christianity and learned from the bible was the absolute word of god, not to be questioned. I did a level in high and wish so much I had asked her about it say after a levels. Im pretty sure she made sure we understood the absurdity forced on her by the School but wish o cooks have reassured her how she had opened my eyes.

I hated home economics and am still useless at it. My grandmother tried teaching me to sew and use the sewing machine but i had no interest. I would prefer the chance to do DT and learnt DIY.

I liked academic learning and still do though, wasn't cut out for survival clearly.

We were the first comprehensive year. I agree.

When I was 7 or 8 the headteacher had to unexpectedly cover my class, and he spent the afternoon teaching us the NATO alphabet. I have never forgotten it.

Touch typing and arithmetic.

A speaker from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust did a safey talk at my school, it was very informative and one of the few times the whole year group seemed to engage

How to measure the height of a tree using practical maths.
How to roll a kilt up until it was almost indecent.

Same here.
I think you and I are the only ones who never learned how to calculate the area of a room for a carpet!

Literacy.
The ultimate useful tool.

This, definitely. Also Latin: I use it every day.

I agree - honestly Latin has been one of the most useful things I've learnt.

Biggest all girls comp in London at the time. Amazing head teacher, taught us that women could do and be anything. We had Social studies and learnt about empirical evidence, how to debate without anger.
we did philosophy, discussing single parents, abortion, contraception.
we discussed how councils worked, Compulsory purchase orders for new builds, environment etc.
In home economics we were taught budgeting, how to calculate the cost of fuel used for cooking, nutritional values.
We also had the chance to do rugby, rowing (on the Thames!) Woodwork, Sewing.
We were partnered with the local boys school for some activities and were allowed to use their planetarium. Anyone who knew the area in the early seventies now knows where I went to school!

How to reduce long sentences to a few words. At the time, I thought it was an utterly pointless and tedious exercise, but it's useful for summing things up.

Similarly, at secondary, how to précis a chapter in a textbook. Useful for revision.

Class assemblies (to which parents were invited) were a great introduction to public speaking.

That writing is vital when solving a complicated multi-stage maths problem, because by writing something, your brain can "let go" of it.

Probably more fun than useful, but how to test somebody's directional hearing, by blindfolding them, and instructing them to point at where they think a sound is coming from. Lots of good experimental practice was taught to us here: repeating the experiment, and doing the positions in a different order each time.

Yes we were exactly the same. We went into it treating it as a bit of a joke and just glad to be avoiding maths or whatever but that changed very quickly.