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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

224 replies

Ncoopa · 09/03/2023 22:46

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.

OP posts:
JassyRadlett · 09/03/2023 23:15

Ncoopa · 09/03/2023 23:11

And you’re all happy for points you make at home and confirmed theories to then be undermined by those in schools?

TBH I'm more likely to disagree with school on the best method for boiling an egg than I am to disagree over Pythagoras.

alibongo5 · 09/03/2023 23:15

Ncoopa · 09/03/2023 23:11

And you’re all happy for points you make at home and confirmed theories to then be undermined by those in schools?

So you're saying that schools should teach everything but at the same time shouldn't teach things because they undermine things you're teaching at home. Which you don't have time to do because you work? OK. That makes complete sense.

SunshineGeorgie · 09/03/2023 23:15

I can't believe people who think like this actually exist!!

This must be a wind up!

Who is the teacher of 'setting up direct debits' going to be?

justgettingthroughtheday · 09/03/2023 23:15

Oh ffs!! The vast majority of posters on here are being ridiculous and deliberately misunderstanding the OP!!! Grow up!!!

I agree with you OP. More life lessons should be being taught. Budgeting definitely should be part of the maths curriculum. Not all kids have parents who are able to teach them these skills or understand themselves how finances work. I also think every child is school should be taught first aid and basic skills for taking responsibility for their own health.

Yes lots of this should or could be considered the responsibility of parents but as I said above lots of kids don't have parents with the ability or knowledge themselves. It's not about parents abdicating there responsibilities it's about setting kids up to succeed in life!

mumarooni · 09/03/2023 23:16

I completely agree with the op.
Schools should teach relationship skills to a high level, conflict Resolution, debate, moral philosophy. Also practical maths, as in, a proper understanding of personal, local, and national economics. To inform personal practice and public vote. Also basic law, including how law works, what a court is, what your rights are if you are arrested. And basic medicine. Not cell structure as a priority, but how to navigate the health care system, first aid, what good end of life care and good maternity care is, how to provide and receive that when needed. Etc. And politics- local, national, international. Some history to help with that. All with a focus on creating people who know how to help one another and be safe in the world. At the moment the main aim of education is to test students and sort them into hierarchy of worth. So they teach harder and harder stuff to make sure everybody is pushed to reach their potential an then judged on how good they are. But this creates half of the young people feeling like failures for being below average at random skills and loads of them under educated in how to be a decent and comfortable person.

Narwhalsh · 09/03/2023 23:16

Deliah taught me how to boil an egg!

But my science teachers taught me about the boiling point of water and the phase changes between solids liquids and gases… which meant I could understand the process behind boiling an egg… and why sometimes the pan boils dry when I forgot about it!

OP I do think some aspects of the curriculum are pointless but then you never know who is going to be inspired to become a nuclear physicist from early exposure to radioactive decay law (pun intended!). But practical life skills should be picked up at home.

AcrossthePond55 · 09/03/2023 23:16

DH and I both worked full-time and we still managed to teach our sons 'life lessons'. Most of it is taught by them watching you live your life with little conversations along the way. They watched their dad put oil in the car and fix the washing machine, they watched me do our taxes and balance the cheque book. They watched us both cook and clean and pay bills. And they 'helped' us do those things. They asked questions and we answered them. They managed to become fully fledged adults who manage just fine, despite not sitting in a classroom having lessons on 'adulting'.

Oakorn · 09/03/2023 23:16

justgettingthroughtheday · 09/03/2023 23:15

Oh ffs!! The vast majority of posters on here are being ridiculous and deliberately misunderstanding the OP!!! Grow up!!!

I agree with you OP. More life lessons should be being taught. Budgeting definitely should be part of the maths curriculum. Not all kids have parents who are able to teach them these skills or understand themselves how finances work. I also think every child is school should be taught first aid and basic skills for taking responsibility for their own health.

Yes lots of this should or could be considered the responsibility of parents but as I said above lots of kids don't have parents with the ability or knowledge themselves. It's not about parents abdicating there responsibilities it's about setting kids up to succeed in life!

Are you the OP or are there actually two people this ignorant?

greatvisuals · 09/03/2023 23:16

. . . and Plutonium is actually an incredibly amazing and complex metal of huge historic, global and economic importance.

Look it up OP, you might learn something

toomuchlaundry · 09/03/2023 23:16

If a parent is illiterate or struggles with numeracy, they are quite likely to struggle with budgeting, get sucked into finance deals with horrendous interest rates. So they are not going to be able to teach their DC

getalifesonny · 09/03/2023 23:16

and what exactly is your role in all this? These are the life skills you should be teaching your child not the school.

ilovesooty · 09/03/2023 23:16

I'm interested in this undermining the schools are allegedly doing.

0hnoyoudidnt · 09/03/2023 23:16

To be fair this is all stuff I've taught my kids. Both kids have had bank accounts since a young age, pocket money paid in and learning to budget from young if they wanted something specific. It's taught them brilliantly. My DS 18 has quite a sum of money in the bank through saving/working, has had a better start to his adult life than me and his Dad ever did. DD is heading the same way. They can cook, by choice they wanted to learn. DS has a car and sorts it all out himself. All learned at home from us, not school.

StrawHatOnTheParcelShelf · 09/03/2023 23:17

Ncoopa · 09/03/2023 23:11

And you’re all happy for points you make at home and confirmed theories to then be undermined by those in schools?

So on the one hand you want schools to teach your children 'the way of the world', and on the other you think this?

I can't decide if you're a) a troll, b) just hate the education no matter what, c) need to go back to school yourself to learn some critical thinking. Maybe all of them.

ladyvimes · 09/03/2023 23:17

Biscuit not biting!

Blendiful · 09/03/2023 23:17

I agree, school has gone too far the other way now and there is very little relating things to life. Maths could teach a bundle of skills useful in day to day life and also likely make them way more interested in it!

StrawHatOnTheParcelShelf · 09/03/2023 23:17

*education system

Eyerollcentral · 09/03/2023 23:17

Ncoopa · 09/03/2023 23:11

And you’re all happy for points you make at home and confirmed theories to then be undermined by those in schools?

Wtf…what theories? I thought you wanted school to do more??? Children aren’t automatons they take info from a variety of sources.

JassyRadlett · 09/03/2023 23:18

toomuchlaundry · 09/03/2023 23:16

If a parent is illiterate or struggles with numeracy, they are quite likely to struggle with budgeting, get sucked into finance deals with horrendous interest rates. So they are not going to be able to teach their DC

That feels like a great reason to make sure their kids are properly numerate, tbh.

(I'm not against things like budgeting, avoiding scams etc being part of the PHSE curriculum or practical, life-oriented maths including statistics, probability and compound interest being taught in detail - but then I'm one of those pariahs who thinks all kids should do some form of maths until they're 18.)

JackieDaws · 09/03/2023 23:18

Poor you. Fancy having a couple of handbag children and being surprised that you have to teqch them things instead of getting others to do it for you.

However, you could always buy in help, like a nanny or a mother's help to do it all for you whilst you go and do your job.

justgettingthroughtheday · 09/03/2023 23:18

@Oakorn I am in no way ignorant thanks! You sound like you very much are however!

Survey99 · 09/03/2023 23:19

Kids are not pets you get to play with and school does all the boring bits. School is there to provide an education, to develop their brains and to find out what they are capable of academically. The rest is down to the parents and if you are lucky extended family /friends will support too.

You are the parent, what did you think raising a child meant? If you dont have time, it is important, make time.

daysleepers · 09/03/2023 23:19

Hmm I disagree on the most part. I teach my kids these life things. My son of primary school age can tell you about income tax, pensions, democracy and mortgages. He gets the idea of these imperative adulting things and other life skills. We have chats about them usually on a car journey as the radio mentions things...

On the other hand I think secondary school is in desperate need to teach POLITICS as a mandatory subject.

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 09/03/2023 23:19

Maybe the OP has a point.

If the OP had learnt some basic parenting skills at school, she might have actually had some idea of what her job is as a parent. Sadly, it seems that both her school and her own parents utterly failed her.

BlackCatFever · 09/03/2023 23:19

I always find it utterly ridiculous when someone says something like "what use is algebra?". I use the principles pretty much every day at work and I'm not in a STEM field.

Also, car insurance? How long is a lesson on using Compare The Meerkat?