Want lessons do you think SHOULD be taught in schools ?

[lawstudentmum]

I was talking with my daughter and we were discussing if she felt that lessons are relevant for todays children...have they moved enough with the times?

For example French, German etc have always been taught - but are they still the languages that children should be learning?

RE ?

So I put the question out there - what lessons would you like to see your children learn ?

Oh yes of course there is summerhill. I'm not sure most parents would be a fan of that though. I like the idea but my dh is dead against it. I'm sure many more people would agree with my dh on this issue than with me.

Much more practical subjects that can be applied to the whole of their adult lives, not just their careers.

Financial - children need an understanding of how money works - credit cards, interest rates, mortgages, loans, savings, vat, stocks and shares, pensions, different types of accounts etc.

Health - this includes everything from nutrition, exercise (no more sadistic pe lessons), the effects of 'vices', keeping yourself healthy, sexual health, lifestyles etc.

Parenting - Not as detailed as an antenatal course (although that might help reduce teen pregnancies) but general information for the future about pregnancy, birth, childcare etc., without age implications or moral judgement.

Transport - basic car maintenence, what to look for when buying a car (to avoid dangerous lemons), driving and cycle proficiency lessons (at extra cost), map reading, understanding signposts, train timetables, tube maps etc.

Household maintenence - how to use standard tools, replacing washers, bleeding radiators, putting up shelves, cleaning gutters, wallpapering, painting etc. Household safety - avoiding fire risks etc.

Most of the traditional subjects can stay, especially maths (but more emphasis on applied rather than pure), IT, Science, English, History, Languages etc., but more modular and flexible.

My interest is 'disinterested' as my DD is one of those lucky children for whom the current system works fairly well (academically able kid in a grammar school with 'specialism' in the subjects she likes, and parents with time and ability to fill in some of the gaps). I'm sometimes a bit worried when people talk about radical changes to the educational system that the baby may get thrown out with the bathwater.

Ditch phse/citizenship etc and teach proper courses on how our political system works and those in the rest of the World work (drives me mad that my post cold war DDs just don't understand anything about communism).
Decent finance and budgeting course.
Sex education, drugs, bullying etc done by specialist outside groups because these are the only lessons on this sort of thing the pupils remember. Ordinary phse is just an excuse to piss about often taught by teachers out side their comfort zone. (DD1 had her phse teacher for her main subject as well. She said the difference in behaviour and lesson standard was very marked)

English
Maths
Science
RE (including Atheism)
History
Geography

French or Spanish

PHSE/Citizenship (including financial education, and rights and responsibility)
PE

Life Skills including basic cooking techniques, budgeting, sewing (buttons and mending)

Sex Education - compulsory and comprehensive, not just basic biology and 'this is a condom', but with lots of information about contraception, being able to say no if you want, and talking to kids about the myths that just don't seem to go away (oh, I didn't think you could get pregnant on your period or if you were standing up or if you did it on a Tuesday). STIs and the effects - preferably with pictures to really drum it home that condoms are important. In fact, get Anna Richardson and The Sex Education Show to deliver Sex Ed to every school.

I think arithmetic too. I came across a young adult a couple of weeks ago who couldn't work out the change from £5 for £3.60. I think that's not very unusual either these days.

I think schools in deprived areas need better careers lessons where people can come in and talk about a variety of different jobs to maybe give the kids some inspiration or aspirations.

Spanish rather than French, German (those could still be options, but Spanish should take priority). So much easier to learn and more useful (and links up well with Latin).

DD (y5) will be taking Latin soon, but Spanish not offered locally even at high school .

I want every y10 to have a term or 2 of volunteer/charity work, compulsory. Off-site and on-site versions. Everybody to do some picking up litter!!

Math, English, economics, RE, history, geography, IT, and maybe in y9, a year of "practical skills", ranging from simple cooking to putting up shelves on a partition wall and basic car maintenance.

English lit and lang
Practical maths (further if child is interested from say, 14)
Practical science (more depth if child is interested, as above)
World literature, inc English
A proper chronological history of the world, inc differing viewpoints of course
Geography inc environment etc
Anthropology and sociology
Philosophy and ethics
A foreign language (for as long as is practicable)
World religions
Politics and govt, how they work.

IT
Cooking
Life skills (how to open a bank acct etc etc)
Parenting
Art
Music
Drama
At least two afternoons of physical exercise per week.

Wow, I am surprised that very few people put science! Where would we be without science? (Maths, English, Science and a Modern Foreign Language should be a must. I think History is important too but the syllabus needs to be broader.)

I am not a fan of the idea of completely free choice (ala Summerhill??), because I know my teenage DCs would choose to sit under a tree doing ICT (Facebook and Twitter) all day long.

I was taking Science as a given, along with maths and English.

Not sure what hully means by 'practical' maths and science .. leaving 'further depth' till 14 would be far too late for children who are bored rigid by arithmetic but fascinated by more abstract maths (which in many cases turn out to be essential as you progress in science) or who want to properly understand the physical world

Ah, as a non-maths person Grimma, I had to wing it a bit. Younger, then?

Hully - younger, for those for whom its applicable. Maths is one of those subjects which really does need to be differentiated ( ).

Looking at other peoples input I've realised that I was thinking only in terms of primary school!

I think that this thread does go to show that all kids are different, and there is no system that would work for all children. Perhaps then greater subject choice could be a suggestion for secondary schools?

Yes, that's what I meant Grimma, just no idea about what they teach or what age...despite having very mathy dc.

I think they should teach more life skills, cooking, how to handdle finances, social skills and DIY as well as the obvious Maths, English and science, i think languages (french ect..) should be optional after year 9.

Ditch phse/citizenship etc and teach proper courses on how our political system works and those in the rest of the World work (drives me mad that my post cold war DDs just don't understand anything about communism).

PSHCE does teach how our political system works - that's a key part of it.

I think PSHCE gets a really hard time from people who don't really know what it is, to be honest.

PSHE/Citizenship seems to be a bit of a ragbag though, usually taught by the form tutor. I doubt they can all properly explain political systems - not sure who would though, maybe it would be better done by the history staff?

Grimma I think it can be, yes - and it varies hugely between schools as to who teaches it. Can be form teacher, can be a different one, depending on how they organise it in the timetable.

BUT, I know for years 7-9 who do it in form time, you DO cover how a court works, individual rights and responsibilities, how does voting work and what's the difference between the US electoral system and the UK's, and so on - and 10s and 11s do have sessions on budgetting, finance, what sort of salary you realistically need to earn to fund what lifestyle (a real eye-opener for many).

But I do think there's a misconception that it's all about 'why it's not nice to be a bully' and so on, and it's really not!

I think children should be taught where the countries of the world are and their capitals, flags etc. My children don't know this and nor did I when I left school.
If you don't travel about you can be completely oblivious for ages as to where everything is, until you are either lucky enough to be able to travel about or something dramatic happens in a country.

I'm actually quite happy with most of what I've seen of DDs yr7 citizenship - but I'm still dubious whether it would be the most appropriate context for understanding political systems - the practicalities of ours, yes, but not the pros and cons of communism and capitalism.

As a HK dweller, I think the importance of Mandarin is probably overestimated

Here's why.

1. It's super difficult/time intensive to learn to write. Chinese kids spend the first 3 years of primary education rote learning and copying just the basic characters. Learning it as a second language needs a lot more than a couple of classes a week. I know a couple of people who are married to locals and aren't fluent after 5 years of living with a native speaker and speaking mandarin at home. (to be fair, I also know one guy who is but he really focussed on it). You can get a lot further in the time with a language written in the same alphabet. If you then find you've a talent for it, maybe try mandarin then

1. Most educated younger Mainland Chinese people speak fluent English and it's getting more that way. Knowing Mandarin as a westerner isn't really a bonus for business purposes unless you're completely fluent. Otherwise they'll just speak English to you. (There's also a face issue which means they'll always be more comfortable speaking English to you than having you speak Mandarin to them). They appreciate people knowing basics (Good morning/thankyou etc) but understanding Chinese etiquette/ business practice is far more important than knowing the language

However, if you're thinking of learning either Mandarin/ Cantonese, then learn Mandarin. Cantonese is only spoken in HK and some parts of Southern China. In HK, fluent English is fine.

yeah, that's a slightly different question! You're probably right, best addressed in a history lesson. My point is just that I think a fair few of the people are saying 'ditch PSHCE and teach something worthwhile!' don't necessarily know everything that's taught in PSHCE.

I used to teach PSHCE and the lessons were dictated by the school, so it was 'not nice to bully', food choices etc. I taught the voting system in RE, and how the tax system works and the differences between the UK political parties as well.

Citizenship, I taught rights AND responsibilities, but the kids don't want to know about the latter, just the former.

I still think living in mainland Europe that French is better than Spanish, as certainly that is one of the three/four languages requested here.

You're right Pang, I should have listed science, too.