AIBU to think they NEED to teach car maintenance at school?

[MeMyCatsAndMyBooks]

Today my car tyre popped on a piece of metal left in the middle of the road, and I had no idea what to do.
I've been driving since I was 17 and I'm in my 30s and never had an accident touch wood or anything wrong with my tyres.
I instantly panicked as it happened in the middle of a giant hill and knew I couldn't do it there, thankfully a really kind man ran out and helped it be pushed to the side & changed my tyre for me.

I had no idea how to do it, or what a space saver tyre really was! Luckily I got it home driving very slowly & onto my drive and have my breakdown cover coming out next week to change the tyre.
But I just had no idea about any of it. Im aware I sound like a helpless woman, but im usually quite independent but this knocked me for six!

AIBU to think they need to teach car maintenance in school rather than pushing maths (which lets face it isn't anywhere as important) onto students till they turn 18?

Car maintenance has never been taught in school to anyone’s parents

Teaching a load of kids something that SOME of them MAY use at some indeterminable point in the future is not a good use of the school timetable. If people have the time, money and know-how to pay for driving lessons, pass their test, buy a car, sort out the insurance, tax and MOT, then they can look up how to do basic car maintenance online or sort out a Green Flag membership.

Er, no! That’s a life lesson. My mum taught me.

For many technical jobs things vary depending on the precise model so YouTube and downloading manual from internet likely to be more helpful. Schools teaching exercise and nutrition for strength to undo nuts and bolts might be useful.

Many families/young people can't afford driving lessons and extra cars and I think the instructors and exams haven't recovered from backlog from COVID yet.

Well, that's still not the fault of schools is it? Which was really my point. It has never been schools' job to teach car maintenance or DIY. If you wanted to learn and your parents had never done it you went to evening classes. Now it's so easy to learn stuff from the internet.

My driving instructor made sure I knew basic car maintenance. Took 20 minutes at the end of a lesson.
This shouldn't be taught in schools though, most school children can't drive and many won't ever drive so it would be a waste. Many schools offer mechanics courses at GCSE already.

No need, there would be a you tube tutorial, surely?

Tell us where you live. Presumably somewhere with good public transport!

I too will say: what is the duty of a school to teach vs what is parent and society's responsibility to teach?
Why is everything the responsibility of schools and teachers? Are you prepared for all teachers to go on a full day 'how to change a car tyre' training course with a three-yearly update to check they still teach it correctly? Are you prepared to pay for all schools to have a space and resources to have cars, tyres, tools, PPE etc needed to actually teach a class at a time?

Now let us apply the same theory to DIY, what about getting public transport training, how about 'know your housing rights' lessons, or what about 'all you need to know about HR' lessons etc?

I’ll buy it, OP. Now what do you think should be removed from the current curriculum to make room for car maintenance? I assume you want it in with art/DT/food tech etc? In which case, how are you going to up-skill existing teachers? Oblige them to take courses in their spare time? Take them off timetable - and pay for supply - whilst they up-skill? Provide funding for a workshop, toolls, cars to work on, for each and every school?

When I was 17, it was possible to do basic car maintenance at night school but that’s a long gone option, sadly.

We could add

toothbrushing
toilet training
nit checking
sun cream application
first aid
Makaton
BSL
learning a language to a high level
learning to play an instrument to a high level

to the curriculum as well. That’s just a sprinkling of some of the suggestions I’ve seen wanting ‘schools to just’ add into their day!

@BlackForestCake clearly does not live in a rural area, where your 17th birthday present is driving lessons and the cheapest roadworthy vehicle your family (collectively) can afford!

And to appreciate hair shirts!

In a rural area@BlackForestCake where buses stop at 6.30 pm, and the last train is at 21.00 if you have a service at all, a car is not negotiable. It's essential.

@BlackForestCake you must live somewhere with excellent/cheap public transport, probably not the UK? It's cheaper to use a car than public transport here, not to mention the public transport isn't convenient, reliable or 24/7.
Without a car I would be unable to get to and from work. It would cost more than I earn to get taxis back and forth, and it's not possible to do with public transport. I can't afford to live within walking distance of my work, even if I wanted to.

YABU. Take a car maintenance course as an adult if you want to be responsible for a car and do not currently understand how to do this

No! That’s what YouTube is for. You can keep learning a lot as an adult in all ways. School has enough to teach

The almost definite likelihood is even if you'd been taught how to change a tyre in school, you wouldn't have remembered how to do it last week, in your 30s anyway.