Posted on 04/13/2021 3:06:01 PM PDT by Olog-hai
We all remember the endless hours spent in our school classrooms learning about declensions, trigonometry or the French future perfect tense.
But it turns out that adults really wish they had been taught practical life skills such as how to change a tire, write a CV or plaster over holes and cracks.
Money worries headed up the top 20 list of what parents wish they had learned at school — namely how to save cash, advice on budgeting and how to invest.
The survey of 1,000 parents revealed that how to cook everyday meals and how to start a business were also among skills they regretted not developing. […]
The research, commissioned by online learning service 8billionideas, found nine in ten parents thought self-care skills were more important in adult life than algebra. …
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Despite being a millennial, I was fortunate enough to have a shop class (wood/metal shop hybrid). I heard they got rid of it shortly after I graduated because only boys took the class and apparently that’s sexist even when there are no sex-based restrictions on enrollment.
Oh, IDK, I took French for 5 years, starting in 8th grade, no English in the classroom starting on day one, spoken French every single day, a bit of writing, learned French Christmas Carols, no literature (zero).
I am still more or less fluent 50 years after, love to go to Quebec, which is close to home, and I go to France when I can and beat down their pathetic attempts to speak to me in English.
A lot of study is like weightlifting, except on your brain.
What's happened in public schools is disgusting.
My kids, or at least six of them, have taken Spanish for a total of 25 years between them, and they can't speak a word of it.
I’ll bet his very basic math and language skills are still solid though. The USA has a problem where we have a significant number of 18-year-olds that can’t even write a sentence. My great-grandmother, on the other hand, was able to run a business, keep a daily diary, go to nursing school later in life, raise a household, etc. all with just an eighth-grade education. What a decline.
Weight lifting would be a good class for all the fat pansies I see all the time. Nutrition class too.
Parents used to do a lot of this stuff. Especially fathers.
When 50% of the kids don’t have Dads we get girls in Boy Scouts and men acting like girls.
They used to teach that stuff in school during my parents generation. They even had time to teach the three Rs. But that was before climate change, and sjw subjects like fisting and entire semesters of screeching about orange men and turning the quarterback into the home coming queen
When I home schooled my kids we spent two the three hours each day on school. They were free to do whatever they wanted after that. We didn't waste time. As for life skills - mommy and daddy provided those, just like previous generations.
That’s ok. Do the same thing at work. You get similar results.
Working at home without her office mates...my wife is usually done with her “work” around 11:30 am.
All my aunts and uncles on one side of the family can speak in German despite only having two or so years of high school German. Their description of their classes was just like yours.
OTOH, I only know of a few people of my generation who actually retained their second language after high school. What’s the point of all these daily workbook assignments and weekly vocabulary and grammar tests if the student can’t say a basic sentence after four years? It’s not working and hasn’t worked for decades. But they won’t change this “modern” approach.
“ Can you imagine your dad teaching you calculus?”
I teach all my friends kids all manner of science, physics, engineering and algebra through calculus, diff eq, statistics. High school algebra is the worst. When kids are having trouble, I ask them to show me what their teacher taught them. I am always appalled at how obvious it is that the math teacher does not understand the first thing about mathematics. I also find it astonishing that they do not seem to teach english, or spelling or grammar, and history is either not taught at all or revised to the point of absurdity. Also things that were general knowledge or common sense in the 70s and 80s are simply gone.
Life skills so called are the job of the parents.
I reject the premise that our schools are giving out all the life skills.
We did kindergarten for about 45 minutes a day and by high school they did about four a day if you don’t count educational extracurricular activities.
Not to brag but they did FANTASTIC
As a single mother, I had to learn to do many things on my own, because I couldn’t afford to pay anyone to do it for me. When you’re forced to be self-sufficient, you make sure you know the things that will help you, and your kids survive.
Just take engineering and you’ll learn everything you need to know
I don’t think my kids are learning a whole lot; but they seem to have a good time and have lots of friends - so I don’t really care at this point
My older son is entering high school next year I hope they step it up a little bit academically
Anytime they’re ready I have three engineering degrees
I remember when they used to teach Home Economics in school. Girls went to Home Ec, boys went to some type of woodworking class.
If the Banks and Wall St and govt officials weren’t raping the lower and middle classes of their wealth and keeping their wages stagnant there would be no worries about hiring a sheetrock guy or a plumber.
The people who produce the wealth of our civilization are raped by a huge class of NGOs, bureaucrats, money managers, lawyers, politicians and other parasitic classes. We see them all the time. Fauci is an an example of a connected bureaucrat getting rich.
Everyday cooking used to be something kids learned at home from mom.
Same with other necessary every day skills.
Parents have failed their kids in this area, not the schools.
The average PhD couldn’t pass an 8th grade final exam battery from 1910. Much less a politician or teacher. Lol.
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