Realised this year how much my 19 year old just doesn't know

[davidssdt]

Bit of a random one. My eldest is 19 and it's only this year I've properly clocked how much genuinely useful "adult life" stuff just never gets covered in school - not because teachers don't try, but probably more that there's never actually time carved out for it.
I had to sit down and explain what a mortgage actually is and why an unpaid phone bill can damage your credit file for years, because none of that had ever come up in school. Also had the apprenticeship vs uni conversation recently and realised there's no real structured way for them to weigh that up - it's basically left to them and whoever they last spoke to.
So for full disclosure, I'm actually building something around this (a curriculum site for 16-25s) but not naming it here as I don't want this to read as a plug. I'm genuinely just curious what other parents experience has been around this. What's the thing your teenager had absolutely no clue about until they had to learn the hard way?

Pensions

I’m not sure why you think this is stuff that should have been covered by schools rather than parents.

I would have thought parents are the ones who should be teaching about mortgages and credit ratings, not teachers.

Bank accounts, Pensions, living with others, energy bills, investments (ISAs etc), buying a property .. food shopping … budgeting … subscriptions

Soft skills with communication and how to make phone calls etc

Oh come on David. You know you are here for a shameless plug (or some other shameless reason, who knows) Otherwise you’ve just made your first post here to admit you have failed as a parent. My 17 year old has known what a mortgage is since she was in primary school, you really never discussed it with your son?

Save yourself the bother of writing anything, Martin Lewis has already done it and gives it to schools for free.

Yes, this is parent territory, not something that needs to be taught at school.

Setting up as a sole trader or company

DS actually said 'it would have been so helpful if we had covered this at school. Instead we did Surds"

And the apprenticeship vs university thing is for your 19 year old to figure out! I mean, adult life involves getting information from appropriate sources and making a choice.

I don't understand why you expect them to learn these things in school, rather than teach them as a parent.

I'm also not sure if there's a need for another website, there's plenty of good quality information already available, including that aimed at young people. For example Moneysaving Expert including the free downloadable textbook, that covers the sorts of things you're talking about. As well as Meaningful Money, which now has the bankofdad spin off on Instagram, which he runs with his young adult DD.

If you're not aware of these, and you haven't taught your 19 YO, are you really the right person to be 'educating' others?

That’s on you! The curriculum is on the school website and doesn’t cover pensions and mortgages 😂
My primary school age kids learn little age appropriate bits about these from us- their parents.

Although some of the parents of teens at the school I work at have never had mortgages, or pensions or jobs.

Actually preparation for adulthood is already recognised as part of education and should be considered by schools from year 6, really considered in year 9 as part of reviews, and equal importance to academics in sixth form.

Magnets.

As a 19 year old I'd never been given any credible explanation for those. Still haven't decades on.

This.

I'm fairly sure a quick Google will answer most of those questions. You have taught your imaginary son to use Google?

I'd say this thread is a plug. I don't think there's anything genuine about.

I think you have to pay to use MN for research or advertising.

In an ideal world, yes. However, many parents won't know this information either. How many parents rent these days with no hope of getting on the housing ladder?

It's all very well saying that parents should be doing this but it is a very middle class assumption that they can. How are young people going to escape the poverty trap if they come from an ill educated family with low aspirations?

I agree with you @EatenTooMuchChocolateAgain
So many mumsnetters are afraid to use the phone.

University vs Apprenticeships (vs other) should definitely be covered at school under careers advice which barely or doesn't exist at all.
The rest should be down to parents.

How much more do you expect teachers to do? It's your child, you make sure they are prepared for the world.

Were you asleep during secondary school physics?

Do you realise the amount of ‘life skills’ that now have to be covered by school in a tiny amount of time as parents are seemingly unable to undertake basic parenting / conversations? It’s ridiculous. Schools cannot raise kids. The simple fact is young people have never had more information at their finger tips with the internet / phones yet the constant ‘they should be taught this in schools’ still gains traction.

I have secondary school age children who find all this a total waste of time as they could find out about mortgages or budgeting etc at the relevant time so easily. They tell me that PSHE (or whatever it’s called these days) is a mess about lesson that no one takes seriously anyway.

Parents need to take responsibility for education as much as schools. This is something that seems to have fallen out of favour and you can tell which kids do have this and which don't.

One our friends has a son who studied politics. Now he's the one who shocks me because of the enormous gaps in his general knowledge. Even current stuff he is really lacking in understanding. He's a great bloke. Now 23. I have all the time in the world for him. It's his favourite subject. But he knows so little and I know I have much more general knowledge at this age from just watching the news every day.

Terrestrial TV where everyone just watched whatever was on, was such a useful tool and helped so many people understand the world as a whole. I think our generation almost takes this for granted and doesn't understand how much we benefitted from it. It filled in a lot of gaps our parents didn't give us too.

It's about encouraging your kids to educate themselves outside education and more than that valuing self education - rather than expected it to be packed up by school in a convenient way.

Education does not stop when you leave education.

None of this is school stuff. School is for education and academics. Basic life skills are supposed to be taught by parents.

If your child doesn't know what a mortgage is at 19 then it's someone's fault, but it's not the teachers'...

Parents are responsible for their children's overall education, not the schools.
I agree to an extent - financial literacy should feature more in the curriculum but ultimately it is our job as parents to educate and ensure our children our ready to be responsible, well adjusted adults. Teachers cannot be expected to fit everything into the school week.

But just about all those parents have phones at least which means they can freely access information in a very accessible way.

It doesn't take much thought to differentiate the total shite from good quality information but if people choose to only take notice of the former then that's on them.

My dad was a barely literate manual worker who left school at 15 but he was interested in educating himself, took us to museums, read widely and was interested in personal finance and responsible management of money, so if he could do it and educate his DC, anyone can.