To think schools should have a class to teach basic life skills

[beesandstrawberries]

We all learned so much in school that we haven’t used in day to day life - I mean when have we ever touched a Bunsen burner since school? But none of us was learned the basics of life and how to navigate it - things like:

• Showing how to do basic meals, cooking pasta safety, use of kitchen appliances correctly
• paying bills
• what a mortgage is, how to deal with contracts and paperwork
• how to meter readings
• change a lightbulb, basic tool use in the home
• how to check fire alarms
• credit card education
• managing money, spreadsheets to manage them
• insurances like life insurance and what ones you need
• education on abusive relationship signs
• things like peer pressure
• how to write formal letters/emails

I think we learn so many things that mean nothing when we leave school. If you teach kids basic life skills from a young age, it would make kids a lot more well rounded and less anxious in the ‘real world’ when it comes to managing money and not getting in debt. Even learning things like the warning signs of abusive relationships to young and impressionable teens as I think if I heard the signs then, I would have know what to look out for to prevent myself from getting in one as an adult.

I remember being in the real world and not knowing how to have good money management and I’m 28 and have no idea how to change a lightbulb. Even education for kids to learn about their bodies, that their outie bellybutton is normal and so are their stretch marks - so they don’t go into adulthood thinking their bodies are imperfect.

Children deserve more than Shakespeare or how to play football in pe. They deserve a kick start to life

From your list I have seen most of them taught in school regularly over the past 16 years.

• Showing how to do basic meals, cooking pasta safety, use of kitchen appliances correctly - taught in food tech

• paying bills - taught in PSHE

• what a mortgage is, how to deal with contracts and paperwork - mortgages I discuss in my maths lessons in Year 8, 10 and 12

• how to meter readings - discussed in PSHE, maths as part of exam questions

• change a lightbulb, basic tool use in the home - I have done as part of a Guide meeting but not at school

• how to check fire alarms

• credit card education PSHE / Core Maths lessons

• managing money, spreadsheets to manage them - PSHE / IT lessons

• insurances like life insurance and what ones you need - Core Maths niche subject but it is in the curriculum

• education on abusive relationship signs - PSHE in Year 12 at my school

• things like peer pressure - PSHE every year from 7-13

• how to write formal letters/emails - my daughter has just done this in Year 5.

Part of the issue is having had to teach multiple PSHE lessons - students don't listen and don't care. It's taught when it is irrelevant to them.

I always recall spending a day teaching my Year 7 form about politics and governments and it was hard work, 6 months later we had the 2010 election and I spent a maths lesson discussing hung parliaments, voting etc to the same group of students who could see the relevance.

Lots of the above I was taught by family but I do get lots don't have that support network.

• Showing how to do basic meals, cooking pasta safety, use of kitchen appliances correctly - Parents
• paying bills - parents
• what a mortgage is, how to deal with contracts and paperwork parents
• how to meter readingsparents
• change a lightbulb, basic tool use in the home parents
• how to check fire alarms parents
• credit card education parents
• managing money, spreadsheets to manage them parents
• insurances like life insurance and what ones you need parents
• education on abusive relationship signs parents backed up by school
• things like peer pressure parents - backed up by school
• how to write formal letters/emails school

Bloody hell. This is what parents are for.

Parents don’t have science degrees and can’t generally teach science, but they can teach kids to b cool, do meter readings, and a million other life skills.

Stop expecting teachers to parent for you 🙄

I know this is bitchy but I was thinking exactly the same thing - OP you presumably had at least 11 years of education in English grammar as well as 28 years of hearing, reading, writing and speaking the language and you still came out thinking this sentence was correct - but you think if you'd had one PSE lesson age 14 on mortgages or relationships you'd have understood and retained that information for life?

Most people don't buy their first houses until their mid 30s these days - you really think you'll remember everything you were taught about mortgages 20 years later (and that's assuming nothing has changed - LISAs/Help to buy/stamp duty etc have all changed over the last 20 years?) How much French or science or history do you remember? If not much, why would practical 'life' skills stick in your mind any more? How many people live in the same country they grew up in for their entire lives - they could be taught how taxes work in England and then move to Scotland/France/USA/Ireland....

If someone can't work out how to change a lightbulb or cook pasta safely they probably shouldn't be living alone tbh...

You don't have to be taught the details of mortgages, because yes, what is available can change. But you can be taught there are various forms of debt and that they earn interest so you end up paying back more than the initial loan. Some people don't understand that, even intelligent people, and get into big trouble with debt. It's possible mentioning it in school would have made no difference but it might with some, who knows?

I genuinely think getting into debt is very much down to parenting. If your parents were the type who didn't have much money, didn't waste money and who were always about only buying stuff if you had the money ie credit is evil and paying interest is stupid. You also learn this, it's almost like part of your values. Never in my life have I ever had any debt apart from a mortgage because it was instilled in me that if you can't afford something, you can't have it. I knew paying anything on interest was stupid because I would be paying more for it than I I saved up and got it myself. I was also fascinated to watch something on TV where they asked people if they would rather pay 120 for something and have it now or wait for 2 weeks and get it for 100. I was shocked and disturbed at how many would rather pay more. That's when I thought some people must just be thick.

Most of the things I learned in life that have been useful long term, I learned in Girl Guides.
Sure, my parents taught me loads growing up in the 80s, but Guides taught me map reading, basic survival skills, how to light a fire etc.
My kids are growing up on a tiny island in the Caribbean, they’ve no idea how to get on a bus, get a train or navigate a subway system, so when we’re back in UK over summer, this is what I’ll be teaching them - and like a Boy Scout badge, if they can get us to our destination a few times, they’ll get $10.
As parents we should be looking out for the things they need to understand, and looking to give them opportunities to learn.

Schools have more than enough to do. Fortunately most kids have families to teach these things, and failing that, Google.

I get your point OP and imo YANBU. Of course in an ideal world, parents would be able to teach these things but it’s not an ideal world is it? Particularly for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, classes in more practical things such as money management (as well as some of the others you listed) would be such a huge benefit.

Of course not every child will need to learn these things in school (because their parent will have taught them or even because they have the initiative, intellect or maturity needed to research it themselves), but I agree many, many would.

The trouble is finding space on the timetable, because it would also be unfair on the more academically inclined kids if you reduced the time teaching things like Shakespeare, Algebra etc, even if they seem less practical use as an adult. Doing it instead of RE might be a good idea (because afaik kids can still study RE at University if they want to, even if they haven’t taken it for GCSE or A Level as long as they have other Humanities subjects) but do most state schools even teach much RE anymore? Something else in the timetable would have to give.

I would imagine most religious schools do RE at GCSE as part of their commitment. When I taught in the UK it was seen as a very easy GCSE to bump up the stats.

Part of the issue is having had to teach multiple PSHE lessons - students don't listen and don't care. It's taught when it is irrelevant to them.

The problem with PSHE is that its always been seen as a doss lesson, you don't have exams, you don't get grades for it, there's zero pressure to remember anything from the lessons. Make it an actual graded subject like Health in my country and they're going to have to at least remember some things they were taught for exams.

PSHE covers lots on relationships & how to spot abuse. It also covers money management.

Food Tech covers how to make basic meals.

Parents need to teach them some basics like changing a lightbulb.

I'm surprised you think this isn't taught in schools at age appropriate times.
It's difficult to teach across a wide range of abilities but pick up a maths workbook in any WH Smith (or similar) and read the questions. Most are based on real life.

The teenagers I know are not interested in mortgages or pensions, they are busy saving for iphones and trainers and living their lives as they are now.

It's not a waste of time. Whether a child is religious or not, RE teaches some very good ideas about values and being a world citizen. It also helps improve spirituality and through this, increases connection to the world and others.

I think phones and many other social factors are making people more insular and selfish these days, and I feel anything that challenges that is good for children to be exposed to.

Anyway, I agree that a lot of this IS covered by schools. As for the rest, schools will teach you skills that can be applied to the situation, anyway, without having to be explicit. It's mostly common sense and you deal with it when you have to.

Many private schools run a life skills course after final year exams. From memory, first aid, financial management, sexual health and wellbeing formed part of the out of core hours offering for my youngest. It was well received and didn’t infringe on the academic curriculum.

It's not just parenting though. My brother and I had the same parents. He went crazy with credit cards, loans, etc and has been in debt for all his adult life, with very little to show for it. He'd get a store card to buy, say, a portable stereo from Tandy, see they'd given him a £100 credit limit and he'd go and spend it on something else, that he didn't even need, then he'd only pay off the minimum balance of a fiver or so, so would end up paying hundreds for a stereo costing £50! I've never had debt other than a mortgage, which I burst a gut to pay off after only 11 years instead of 25! Well I tell a lie, there was one year, my first year of working when I was only paid £32 per week, that I couldn't pay off the credit card in full as I'd had to buy a couple of text books for my studying. I managed to pay half off, and paid the other half (plus a couple of pounds interest) the month after - that was the only time I've ever paid interest other than on the mortgage. Parents didn't teach me not to get into debt, just as they didn't teach my brother to get into debt. Somehow, I just "knew" for myself that paying interest was just a waste of money.

Did your parents teach you about that though? You say your parents didn't teach you to not get into debt or teach him to get into it? I feel my parents were quite active in telling me credit cards are dumb as you're just wasting money on interest etc. Very much drummed into me. Same as getting an education as it was important in life. It makes me think so many parents don't respect teachers or education, so if it's not reinforced at home it's probably irrelevant if 'life skills' are taught in school anyway. I also think IQ and natural common sense also play a factor, I bet you're naturally smarter than your brother.

Is this what parents do? Or the scouts in some cases. But mainly parents. My mum taught me many of those things through example.

I come from a fairly privileged, very educated, middle class family and I wasn't taught any of those things at home. Parents didn't have a mortgage, didn't have private pensions and no one teaches their kids about wills and power of attorney. I lived in 3 countries and managed to learn about how these things work locally because I had to. There's no way school or parents can teach you everything you'll possibly need to know in life and that's OK.

I think a Home Economics class would have a useful place on the National Curriculum.

Those skills are important. Isn't it the parents job though? How could youbdeliver it effectively in schools? Who would the teachers be? Where would the time inthe timetable come from...what would you do less of. I totally get that many basic life skills are not possessed by many children and adults, but there's only so much you can squeeze out of what schools can deliver effectively.

I would add basic first aid to that list

My parents taught me about wills and POA, albeit when I was 18+ and apropos of what was going on with their parents - I can't be the only one. I admit it probably would have been in one ear and out the other if I'd been any younger.

My parents never mentioned credit cards because it wasn't a "thing" back in the 70s. My parents didn't have credit cards. I just kind of worked it out myself that you pay more for something if you get it on credit and pay interest - isn't that common sense? I didn't need a teacher nor parent to tell me. He got far better school exam qualifications than I did (I actually left school with nothing after failing all GCSE's/CSE's even Maths was a "U"!) - but I suffered a crap comp whereas brother went to a "naice" school.

The only tangible difference is that his first job was with the Post Office Telecoms (later BT) and was quite well paid from day one (for a school leaver that is). My first job was as a dogsbody tea girl in a tiny firm where the owners begrudged paying me anything at all, so money for me was probably "worth" more not to waste as I had none, whereas with brother it may well have been "easy come, easy go" as his starting wage was probably 3 or 4 times that of mine! He was paid "well enough" not to be incentivised to go for promotions/training etc to improve his lot, whereas I was so badly paid, I was incentivised to take additional exams by evening classes (for six years!) to get a professional qualification that would open doors to a much higher paid profession and self employment opportunities which I finally achieved by sheer hard work and graft - not easy taking 20 exams by evening classes when you're working full time (and paying for the courses etc yourself out of crap wages!).

I just think I learned the value of money out of adversity and that made me more aware of being careful with it, checking things out, not making expensive mistakes, etc.

I wouldn't say I was "smarter" than him as he's pretty bright and quick with things, but he has completely different attitudes to me, not just with money, but other things too. I think in our case, it's more down to what we both did when we left school, so not really down to teachers nor parents, but our early work experiences instead.

Personally, I think schools could do more "real life" skills within the existing lesson framework, more real life examples in Maths, more real life "mechanics" and "electrics" examples in Physics, etc. Some relatively modest "tweaks" could make a massive difference.

Say, compound interest. I saw how it was "taught" in my son's GCSE Maths lessons - completely "academic", i.e. deriving and using the complex compound interest calculation. Very little reference and examples of "real world" examples such as representative credit card debts. Yes, a motivated/interested pupil could probably work out for themselves the practical costs of not paying off a credit card every month in full - but lots of pupils would regard it just another equation and not "twig" the real life reality of what the equation can be used for - it's just an abstract concept to them. That's what I mean by minor tweaks!