What do you wish you were taught at school?

maclover

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What do you wish you were taught at school?
Thus, what do you think they should be teaching children at school?

Primary or Secondary or both.

For me, it could be little DIY things such as putter a mirror/picture up on the wall, what fixings I need depending on what the wall is made out of of.
Budgeting, even for when somebody goes off to university, they get their loans and have to make it last them until the next term unless they get a job.

Fire away.
:hiya:
 
How to be a better lover would have been good :) (seriously) might be a little controversial though :(
 
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What do you wish you were taught at school?

Budgeting, even for when somebody goes off to university, they get their loans and have to make it last them until the next term unless they get a job.

Fire away.
:hiya:

This is already covered in the curriculum in LLW (Learning for Life/work).
 
This is already covered in the curriculum in LLW (Learning for Life/work).
With the 20 thousand things that you are meant to be taught now it can't have much time spent on it.

OP, I'll change my post. I wish they taught less things in school nowadays like they did 20 to 30 years back.
 
Not back then, but now. I wish kids were taught manners and common sense.
No one taught me how to wire a plug, or change a fuse, or look after my finances etc etc, but I managed it. Kids these days: What App can I use to do this for me? or Well how was I supposed to know. It's not my fault. I blame everything on your generation and the crap government is to blame and they're in power because of you. blah blah blah.
You can tell it's Monday morning. :)
 
Not back then, but now. I wish kids were taught manners and common sense.
That is and should be a parenting issue, not an educational one. Manners especially – if no manners at home, what chance do teachers have of instilling them?
 
I imagine it's probably in the curriculum now but more real world application of maths would have probably increased my interest in it. Teaching people about odds, APR, ROI and depreciation would significantly improve the financial health of many people as adults.
 
This is already covered in the curriculum in LLW (Learning for Life/work).

That may be true now but certainly wasn't in the curriculum at the time of my schooling.
Though good it is in there.

I suppose any teachers on here care to give an opinion, You must get infuriated that children aren't taught specific things?
 
They should have teached how to get dressed in the morning ,some of the parents today are still in pyjamas?
 
Haven't kept up with all the changes in education as in late 30s and no kids but personally would rather that education was broader for longer even if its at a lower level.

I was always better at maths/sciences than humanities/languages etc and so dropped those subjects as quickly as possible as to me then they weren't relevant for my future career in medicine. Now I wish my German went beyond only being able say "I am 14 years old" (not as useful as it once was) or could have more of a conversation in Spanish than ordering a beer
 
That is and should be a parenting issue, not an educational one. Manners especially – if no manners at home, what chance do teachers have of instilling them?

Totally agree but simple things such as not letting the child get the outcome they require until a please or thank you is used would go along way. Although I accept its impossible for a teacher to correct manners for 30+ unruly kids.

My wife always makes me laugh when we are hosting a party for one of our kids whole classes, she'll be offering round the treats and snacks but wont let go of them until the kid uses manners. She'll just be stood there refusing to release a kit kat until the baffled child who is staring back at her realises what they need to do. They soon learn lol
 
Not sure what's changed in the curriculum these days but when i was there, school taught me next to nothing about living in the real world. About 10 years after leaving school I even came up with a possible business plan for starting up courses aimed at giving 12-18 year olds useful knowledge on everyday things. Maybe only the richer parents would pay for their kids to have this extra tuition but I was sure there had to be a market for it.

I had a little advice from parents but I had to learn most things the hard way from experience, such as buying cars, maintaining said cars, getting ripped off on my first mortgage, not having a clue about domestic electrics, plumbing, relationships, etc.

School taught me to be great at remembering chemical symbols or quoting Shakespeare and I was a dab hand at mathematical formulas. However, all of that was worth jack sh*t when I almost died at 17 trying to figure out how to change a wheel for the first time on my newly acquired ancient Ford Escort on the M4 in the rain when a coach missed me by inches at 70mph.
 
Touch typing.

Would have been beaten to a pulp if I had taken it back in the early 80's :)

We did that early 90s. Mavis Beacon I think. Surprising how keen the kids are to learn when they find out they get a bragging-rights competitive score :)
 
We did that early 90s. Mavis Beacon I think. Surprising how keen the kids are to learn when they find out they get a bragging-rights competitive score :)

Don't forget "Typing of the Dead"
 
Not sure what's changed in the curriculum these days but when i was there, school taught me next to nothing about living in the real world. About 10 years after leaving school I even came up with a possible business plan for starting up courses aimed at giving 12-18 year olds useful knowledge on everyday things. Maybe only the richer parents would pay for their kids to have this extra tuition but I was sure there had to be a market for it.

I had a little advice from parents but I had to learn most things the hard way from experience, such as buying cars, maintaining said cars, getting ripped off on my first mortgage, not having a clue about domestic electrics, plumbing, relationships, etc.

School taught me to be great at remembering chemical symbols or quoting Shakespeare and I was a dab hand at mathematical formulas. However, all of that was worth jack sh*t when I almost died at 17 trying to figure out how to change a wheel for the first time on my newly acquired ancient Ford Escort on the M4 in the rain when a coach missed me by inches at 70mph.

You and I both.
Did you end up doing these courses?
Parents do need to teach some things but when children spend most of the working week in a school I do feel the emphasis is on the schooling system doing more to set them up for life.
Changing a wheel, ha yes. Similarly with my putting a mirror up on the wall, being careful not to drill through a pipe/electrical wire.
 
We had a game called "Nibbles" on the computers we were taught to use in the mid 90s - it was an early version of Snake. The hours we wasted on that instead of learning excel and powerpoint lol

Its mad to think of being in school both before and after the internet was available. We had one PC in the whole school that could get online and nobody was ever taught how to use it.
 
With the 20 thousand things that you are meant to be taught now it can't have much time spent on it.

OP, I'll change my post. I wish they taught less things in school nowadays like they did 20 to 30 years back.

Just been asking and my son had a double period of LLW and yearly tests up to the end of 3rd yr, and then a single period (no tests) in 4th & 5th year. That's approx an hour a week for 5 yrs which seems plenty to me.
However, he did say that it was the most useless class he had. I reminded him that he's opened a bank account and applied for a summer job, both things he was taught in LLW. He tutted and walked off.
 
We had one PC in the whole school that could get online and nobody was ever taught how to use it.
We had one computer. A Research Machines 380Z. It didnt go online. It just had a game of hangman on it.
 
Learning music theory and learning to play an instrument properly, anything, maybe not double bass though, perhaps something smaller.

:)
 
We had one PC in the whole school that could get online and nobody was ever taught how to use it.

Same - the one in the library had a modem (2800 or slower) - we only used it to email Father Christmas :laugh:
 
Catholic school?
 

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