Fed up with my kids going to school and not learning life lessons.

[Ncoopa]

Does anyone else think we need a serious rethink of our education system?

Pythagoras, algebra, complex verbs, chemical make up of plutonium, these are just a few things my kids have learnt about this week.

They will come out of the education system not knowing how to insure a car or road tax. How to boil an egg. How to create a budget and stick to it.

Is it time we say it’s time to stop? And reevaluate? And stop wasting 5 hours a week on science when hardly any then go on to use it?

I really think it probably is.

Knitting a felt puppet? You can’t knit felt. I think you might be talking nonsense. Schools can’t fit the curriculum in as it is and now you want them to teach all the stuff you should be teaching them as well? Every other generation has managed - why can’t you?

How to set up utility bills, why not to get credit cards and max them out, just stuff like that.

Doesn’t your teenager’s school do Sillks For Life or PHSE or whatever they call it now? All that stuffs on the curriculum to a greater or lesser extent.

But if you think a class of typical teens are keener to learn how to set up a utility bill than they are to discuss reproduction in biology or the basic laws of physics you might want a reality check.

You’re just on a wind up.

The other knowledge that you are so dismissive of opens the doors to the many different possibilities they might want to explore in the future.

This! Sounds like you're not aiming very high for yourself or your kids OP.

Are you serious? Have you seen the stick teachers get if they even mention politics?

Maybe make an appointment with the headteacher and discuss your proposals for the curriculum.
Then come back and let us know how it went.

Don’t be a parent if you don’t think it’s your responsibility to teach them about life. School is for academic education. Stop trying to palm off parenting onto schools because you can’t be bothered.

How to set up utility bills, how to renew licenses/insurance? Any adult who can read should be able to do these things, they are pretty fucking basic. My parents never had to teach me - I followed simple instructions on letters/websites... If the school teaches them how to think and problem solve, they will be fine.

And what are you doing as a parent to teach YOUR child these things?

You can have no idea which parts of the curriculum your child might go on to need in their future as you have no idea what they will end up wishing to do with their lives. I agree some of it is too detailed and I'd rather they were hugely inspired and taught 'how' to learn then they can drill into the detail of subjects later. A love of learning should be the key to education. Teachers are being pressured into taking this aspect away though sadly.

This is what responsible parents do, why aren’t you doing it ?

There’s certain facts and points that need reinforcing in a school environment that are very difficult to reinforce at home. And also it helps if we can try and teach these kids about some of this stuff unilaterally so that the government can’t downplay their involvement. Things must change to encompass more of this before they get exactly what it is they’re after.

Sorry OP, but that's your job.

. . . and I agree with everyone else. Teach you child how to budget and manage life yourself - you're the parent!

You can't budget if you can't do Maths. If you can't do percentages how do you work out how much each partner puts in the joint account?

You are just passing the buck @Ncoopa

You can skim basic curriculum. It is there also for children to discover things and often even the pythagoras hits right and they will continue with it further.
The fact that someone doesn't use something doesn't mean someone else doesn't too.

Parent the children you made.

There was a thread on here today where the OP was insisting that, if you’re caught in the snow, you should stay still because exercise causes hypothermia. That kind of ridiculous scientific illiteracy costs lives. If that OP had paid more attention in science, she might not be giving dangerous advice. It’s far more interesting that how to pay car tax (which a. changes every five minutes so wouldn’t be relevant by the time they’re even driving, b. takes three seconds on google to find out and c. doesn’t actually matter).

Thank God your DC are being taught things at school because they’re clearly not learning anything useful from you.

Thats your job.

How can you teach utility bills? They just call and set it up and the bill comes, probably with a direct debit. The call handler and computer form tell them what to do, which may be different for each company. Terrible idea.

I think the learning doesn't stop at school does it. Basic life lessons you should be teaching your child. Teachers are underpaid and over worked as it is without having to teach your child life skills that you should be doing yourself.

Maybe the OP could lobby the relevant government department with her ideas for radical curriculum change.

My parents taught me how to insure and tax my car, how to boil an egg. They also did practical things to help me learn to budget and so much more. That’s the job of a parent. I’m nearly 50 and I still ask them things like how they would cook something I’ve never cooked before.

Do you need to be taught at school how to insure a car and get road tax? It's easy enough as an adult to google how to do it. My teenagers have already used the Internet to teach themselves skills like calligraphy and origami. Both of which are more complex than googling How to buy a car.

“Parenting is too hard, I shouldn’t have to do it”.