What do you wish you had been taught at school?

[QuaterMiss]

Inspired by a thread on ‘pointless’ school subjects. I found myself wanting to talk about subjects I missed out on.

Typing, particularly. At my academic girls’ school (in a previous century) only the lowest set had typing lessons, so they could get jobs as secretaries. The rest of us were expected to proceed, via university, to jobs where we would employ secretaries. Guess which group had access to the best paying temp jobs post-school? And I still type with two fingers. (Online typing course recommendations very welcome.)

Greek also. I chose German. And have spent my adult life feeling slightly hobbled.

Life skills: how to manage money, jobs, relationships ... Just one day of MN in my late teens would have changed my life immeasurably for the better.

I picked German but wish I'd picked Latin. It's just something I'd like to have learned.
Wish I'd picked Geog instead of History as I think I'd have got a better grade. Agree with life skills

Financial stuff
Pensions etc.
Far more useful than algebra!

Grammar, it was assumed we would just pick it up!

First aid and proper touch typing

Politics/parliamentary processes. Practical finance stuff (keeping business accounts, budgeting)

Basic real world stuff, as my parents didn't actively teach me anything about being an adult.

How houses are made, how to take care of them, how to buy one, tenant protections.

I did learn a bit about how money/loans/ interest works but I still feel clueless on the whole.

Relationships. Like you I've had quite an education on Mumsnet.

English language, we did language and literature with the same teacher and she neglected language. I ended up with an A and a D grade and some resentment.

I also think we should have had some life skills classes. My parents passed on lots of practical advice but some financial advice would have helped.

Finances. How to do a proper budget, financial products, how to work out the best deals, student finance in particular. I went to a school where at least 95% of students went to uni and finance was never raised (maybe because it was a relatively rich area?). I was from a family worse off than most of my friends and struggled to get to grips with finances when I was on my own so to speak. School was excellent in other ways though!

My parents were perfectly lovely - but it was a matter of pride for them that their children were not required to do anything but study. Do well at school, go to university ... Paper-rounds, Saturday jobs and having boyfriends were things other people’s children did. So I arrived at university with No Clue At All about any of the things that would have enabled me to actually run my own life.

And now perhaps I’m straying outside school subjects. But we didn’t even do Work Experience - so I’d never seen a CV until I bought a copy of What Colour is Your Parachute in my mid-twenties.

Financial and social skills. So how to fill in tax forms, how to apply for a mortgage, credit ratings and how they work, how to keep track of when MOTs, insurance and bills are due. etc.
Also relationships, awareness of different groups in society and how to empathise and see things from the perspective of others.

Even in top sets, quite a lot of people need more training in social intelligence. I wish there had been PSHE when I went to school, rather than assuming everyone was just picking it up from the ether.

I agree with RogersVideo about knowing how houses work. A knowledge of ventilation would have save hours of scrubbing mould off walls.

I wish there had been PSHE when I went to school,

Yup. That’s the one ...

Basic economics and politics.

Latin.
Lots of financial things - tax system, pensions, process for buying and selling houses
History - less uk based and more world history/politics