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?

30 years ago I went to a car maintenance evening class for women. We learnt how to change tyres, though I remember the guy saying that if the tyre had been put on tight women might struggle to get it off.

Anyway, in all those years I've never had to change a tyre. Once I got a flat, and a construction worker appeared out of nowwhere and did it for me. Another time, got a flat with DH and he did it (seeing a pattern here!) Now I have a car without a full spare wheel and I admit I don't really know how they work...

Sadly a lot of things have changed in cars in those 30 years and there are fewer things that the average person can fix themselves.

YABU and even more so for even thinking maths isn't as important

Pretty useful for passing your literature exam though. Which is, after all, what secondary education is about.
We have enough in the curricula we have to teach without the things parents should be teaching foisted on us too.

No, schools should not teach.

I've taught my ex's and my kids to all do basics - bulbs, wipers, change a puncture, feel/hear/notice when a car isn't right. I'm assuming they may well pass it on again.

@MrsHamlet that's the problem with GCSE's. It's all about learning something only for the sake of passing an exam.
Not because it's interesting, not because it's enjoyable... just to get a GCSE grade.
I seriously dislike the current GCSE system.
(Oh....but I do like poetry)

I could make a snippy comment about the teaching of reading comprehension skills, but I won't.

Nowhere did I say schools don't teach the things you've listed (though I am surprised wiring a plug is still in there for those that take GCSE physics, which clearly isn't everyone, and I would also say that what is taught in 'food technology' isn't really the best curriculum for 'how to feed yourself well, particularly when on a tight budget'). I very clearly stated what was taught to my brother, 40 years ago, and how useful it was to the pupils who had gone through that school, on that era, and who hadn't done cooking, sewing, DIY, etc in the 70s when he was at school.

My dad taught me how to change a wheel, check oil and screenwash levels and check tyre pressures when I got my first car.
My DS's car doesn't have a spare wheel (in common with some other cars)so showing hom how to change one wouldn't be much use if he got a flat tyre.
I think there are much more useful things that schools could teach but car maintenance isn't one of them.

It’s actually really hard to get wheel nuts off when they’ve been professionally put on. I pay for rac membership. They’ve come out on and put the spare on once every couple of years. The rac chap reckoned he been to an awful lot of call outs where an attempt has been made and someone’s trousers are covered in foam or they couldn’t get all the wheel nuts off.

id rather the bf professionals did it.

By the time they own a car, they have forgotten anything they learned anyway.

I know how to change a wheel, but now that the wheel nuts are tightened with air pressure, there's not a cat in hell's chance of me getting them off. And believe me I've tried. That's why we have breakdown insurance.

If you want someone to teach the very basics of maintaining a car, then the obvious person is a driving instructor, not a school teacher.

Wiring a plug is part of the GCSE physics specification.

@Chickenly Why is it still there?

Everything comes with fitted plugs nowadays for safety reasons.

The most you need is your Maths to work out what fuse you should put in when the existing one blows, and your Physics to understand why you don't put in a bigger amp fuse than you need.

So because you couldn't be arsed to learn something that there was a very strong chance you would need at some point teachers should teach it???

The more traditional academic and non-vocational subjects provide a skills base that more vocational skills can spring board off. The finer points of poetry analysis might not be used for poetry analysis by many people after the end of the class (though may add to a life long ability to gain pleasure from poetry), but the understanding of how to use language that it requires will be of much wider use and you probably have employed those skills quite a lot. The skill I got out of a maths that I most commonly used at work was little to do with the number theory I loved. It was the ability to recognise what was being assumed in project plans. I didn’t even realise it until I was mentoring new hires.

When taught in schools, more vocational skills like car maintenance and how to apply for a mortgage rarely include a real understanding of things like mechanics or compound interest to the extent they could be transferred to wider uses.

I don't think schools should, because people probably won't remember it years later.

I do think it should be part of driving lessons though.

No, I just think it's a useful skill to teach teens and it's not because I couldn't be arsed, some people need to learn hands on. A YouTube video doesn't cut it.

Think I'll just stick to calling the RSA in future, interesting debate though.

What about home plumbing, washing machine maintenance, radiator bleeding, fitting new taps etc etc. There's LOADS of free room on school curriculums. Wanna learn car maintenance, go to evening classes.

No. not these days. Cars are too modern to self maintain. Youtube can teach basic oil checks etc.

Parents will be demanding schools teach kids to load the dishwasher next. Let's have some parental responsibility yes?

Yes, let's add to the mountain of non-academic crap that schools have to teach, so that people can pollute the planet more conveniently. That's the kind of creative thinking we need!

Maybe there is a gap in the market for classes for drivers relating to basic maintenance?

Growing up neither of my parents had a car so when I learned to drive everything was new. If something happened to the car I ended up paying for it to be sorted, outside checking the oil level and putting water in the wiper tank I knew nothing.
My first flat tyre, I panicked but made it to placement ( was a student ) and luckily someone there's husband wasn't far and came to change the tyre. I had no idea that the spare wasn't a proper tyre, and had no clue what a space saver was! I tried using Google/YouTube to educate myself but it wasn't the same as having someone talk you through it.
My DH is great with cars so I just call him now.

I bet people would pay for a short class on changing tyres, wiper blades, oil etc I likely would have done.

I did a course. I'm sure you could. But to be honest nowadays I can't get wheels off now they put them on with hydraulic screwdrivers

Just take it to a tyre shop and do it. It takes them minutes!
You have you're spare on it will be fine

YAB ridiculously U

Pretty sure most local colleges run adult learning classes on basic car maintenance, DIY etc. As an adult who runs a car, 100% your responsiblity to seek out a way to learn something that you decide you want to know. Just like women are not born with the innate knowledge of baby changing, so men do not, by some magical osmosis, know how to change a tyre, wire a plug, put a shelf up.

It would be good if driving instructors did a lesson on basic car maintenance and a few questions on it could be included in the theory test.

YABVU. You having no idea how to change a tyre is down to you, not school.
I didn't learn to drive until I was in my 30s. There is no way I would have remembered how to change a tyre from being taught over 15 years before then.
Some people never go on to drive or own a car. And even if they could, they might not be physically able to change a tyre. This stuff is literally what your breakdown cover is for.