[Closed] What skills should schools teach

I think politician should keep adding to the list of things that pupils should do for "at least 2 hrs a week" until they have to go to school two hour before the went to bed.

Thinking

I assume you mean outside of the traditional academic scope of learning?

If so;

Risk - Through outdoor activities etc
Teamwork - Sport etc
Self-confidence - Both of the above
Social interaction - See above!

bike cleaning skills

Spelling! Handwriting! Apparently they don't teach that anymore when you get to High School, rely on spell checks on the PC. A teacher told me that. Oh, and timestables at primary school.

Can you teach humour?

Shouldn't parents take care of this sort of thing?

any reason why the parents cant be expected to cover that lot at home?

Speed typing

I think project has got his posts wrong way round!

parents don't give a monkeys; the only ones who turn up to parents' evenings are the ones who bother.

just remembered: Project, arent you one of those socialists who thinks there's nothing the State shouldnt have its interferring hand in?

🙂

Needlework & cookery for the girls
Metalwork & woodwork for the boys

Sitting down, shutting up and doing what one is told.

Once they have leaned to do that (and the awful consequences of not doing it), teaching of other things may commence.

Fossil hunting.

Tree climbing.

Proper wheelies.

Flint knapping.

Den building.

1, 2, 3, 6 + 7 were taught at my school. 1 - 3 explicitly, 6 + 7 thanks to some fantastic friends and teachers.

they should bin off pretty much everything that isnt reading, writing, riffmatic, and a bit of science, and replace it with USEFUL stuff.

how money works (the tax system for instance, i still dont get it at all)
how to wire a plug and other basic home skillz

OH CRAP basic personal maintence has to be top of the list!

you have a sniffle, you DO NOT need to go and clog up A&E and add an hour wait for us REAL people who need limbs sewing back on.

FFS some woman was in the hospital with the complaint of "my toddler isnt crying, hes been teething and hes been crying, and now hes stopped crying,therefore he must be ill"

WTF!!!

comrade, all those should be learnt through one's own trial and error, not by direction. but learnt all the same, I agree

Students are candles to be lit, not vessels to be filled

Plutarch

[i]all those should be learnt through one's own trial and error[/i]

Like many others at my school, I'd have been happy for Miss C_______ to teach me [i]everything[/i]. 😳

mechanics

Stoner i may have socialist ideals,but do not class myself as a socialist,as for state intervention,NO, its what us the people want for the kids.

the power of spin and properganda.

and how to fold a crisp packet into a really small thing.

Respect, patience and perseverance.

honesty

responsability

Manners

you get out of life what you put in lessions

how to write as opposed to text speak

and how to get off your arse and get a life

oh and how to count

Anything other than RE.

But noteeth...I was Miss S________, not Miss C________!! 8)

Compound Interest

[i]I was Miss S________, not Miss C________!![/i]

I still owe you some maths homework, iirc. I'm just waiting for the right moment... 😉

They already teach the power of spin and properganda in history, or at least they did for me.

I'd like to see critical thinking and the basics of the philosophy of science so that people don't go around believing everything they are told.

Proper wheelies

+1

I'm 40 next year and would count my-self pretty competent on a push-bike after riding one for most of those years, I live in the sticks too so although mountain biking wasn't "invented" (according to Gary Fisher et al) 'til I had been riding bikes round the woods for quite a few years it's the one thing I still haven't properly mastered.
Would have been alot more useful than most of the stuff they taught me at school.

i guess so jonb now that you mention it.

The ability to hold a conversation and get up in the morning would be useful. These skills seem to have escaped a fair few of the lads i teach in FE. Not to spit in the street and to use bins voluntarily might be an idea too.

Being serious:

Le savoir être. The ability to produce actions and reactions that allow harmonious social interaction.

[b]ironing[/b] ? I can't see the point of that at all! My body isn't flat...

Sitting down, shutting up and doing what one is told.

those would be last on my list, with "thinking for yourself" at the top 🙂 I rarely do what I'm told and am happier for it.

I think the basics need addressing before hitting the options list. Never thought counting was an issue until I turned up on site missing half the kit off a loading list. There were all the different items, just not the right number of them.

A culture of learning and develpment (Japan?, China?) is needed for people to push themselves and seek out the opportunities. Some days I was better off talking to the hammer than some of the staff we had.

The biggest and bestest thing that we could teach is a decent, human, sensible level of [b]sex education[/b].

Maybe to convince girls that just because he says he loves you doesn't mean he can have sex without a condom.
Maybe to convince girls that getting pregnant at 14-15-16 is not a good career move.

...and maybe, just maybe, we can convince the stupid ****less fathers that sire every generation of new ****less kids that they should have some responsibility towards those children.

It works in Holland, lets make it work here.

Not sure how many of the above would be applicable to my 8-9 year old's but there is an awful lot of thinking for your self, teamworking, thinking skills, making informed choices kind of things going on in (most) of the classrooms in our primary school.

Oh, and Nonk, I am always trying out interesting little challenges for the class and the crisp packet thing could be just such a challenge.

Allows for experimenting, planning, critical analysis of attempts so far, various recording and reporting options (instructions, reports, stop-motion video) competitions for speed and size, probably a little maths through tessellation and symmetry now I think about it.

Thanks Nonk! 🙂

Listening.
Trust.
Why respect is of value.
First Aid.
Growing food.
Driving.

Was going to disagree with you Ambrose about driving on the basis that enough people who can't do it think they have the right to do it anyway without it being "free in school".
But, it could make the whole responsibility element much easier to make clear if it is incorporated with the rest of their education. Would have to see how it could be implemented first though. Interesting idea...

Tracker, I should have prefaced my comments with the words 'proper teaching'.

Nothing in school is free. Tax Payers (my employers) pay for it. Any teacher who disregards this is a fool. Having been involved on the margins of a number of enforced redundancies due to incompetancy I am more than aware of this. Anyone who teaches has the trust? of their stakeholders (how I hate that bluudy term GRRR :O)to bear in mind. If they are incompetant- they should change or go. This leads onto a whole new argument/ thread though, not for here and now.

cornering 🙂

Agreed Ambrose about the money (hence the quotes on the free bit) and yes, teachers have a huge responsibility. I take it you teach too? (just looked at your profile, I see you do, think I need to update mine, makes it easier to see where people are coming from sometimes).

Common Sense.

[i]first aid[/i]

too true - this should be a complusory subject at around year 9... something useful in those PSE/PSHE/whatever silly acronym it now has lessons

They should encourage them to learn for learning's sake and that you don't stop learning when you pass through the school gates at night: My lad was watching something on TV about how ethylene in ripe fruit helps to ripen other fruit - he told me about it and that he was going to tell his science teacher about it the next day. "Good on you,son" I said, quite proud. Next night I asked him what she said: "It doesn;t work like that" she said, and walked away. Nothing like a bit of encouragement, eh?

+1 on the value of money. Tax etc and what happens if you get stuck in debt! an how easy it is. First aid etc is good from an early age. Teach them that they need to take responsibility for their own actions. To many kids say it wasn't me! Respect to everyone, kids seem to think that they are owed something all the time. Stop treating kids like adults all the time.

Spelling! Handwriting! Apparently they don't teach that anymore when you get to High School, rely on spell checks on the PC. A teacher told me that.

Really? Are you sure that isn't an urban myth? I'm sure kids I know have spelling words to learn.

Although I can understand why you wouldn't bother teaching handwriting beyond a very basic level to allow you to scribble quick notes - how many people write anything important by hand nowadays?

Joe

History (to sys level,natch :-))
The fact that life is a competition,and as such requires hard work.
Self-respect/self reliance/respect for others.
Skills to match individual pupils abilities,eg vocational courses.(we already do a bit of this with the local college.Unfortunately they soon find out that they can't swear at the FE teacher and get away with it,like they do at school)