Adults wish they were taught life skills instead of academic subjects at school, study shows [UK]

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 21:10 EDT, 12 April 2021 | Daily Mail Reporter

[metmom]

That’s pretty generous.

When I asked some public school teachers I knew well and knew would be honest how much time was lost to non academic activities, they said on a good day, 50%. On a bad day 90%.

[MortMan]

Academic subjects are supposed to underly life skills.

The schools, or the students, or both are failing.

[Bigg Red]

What?! Almost everything listed, in this excerpt anyway, should have been taught to them by their parents.

[Mears]

Moms taught a lot more than cooking.......sewing,laundry,ironing,washing and waxing floors etc.

.

[Bigg Red]

And my dear late mother taught me how to be an excellent cook and an organized homemaker. I am proud of the skills she taught me.

[x]

Parents don't do it any more. At this point, the people who are having kids are people who didn't have parents who taught them things like this.

I think it might good to have after school clubs for cooking, home repairs and life skills. Vocational/Technical schools teach some of those skills. Kids used to learn some of that in the Scouts, but that's not really much of an option now (if they are still around).

I'd say teach them math, reading, history, science during school hours, but connections and bridges can be made, too: what you learn in biology might help you keep good health and what you learn in chemistry might keep you from blowing yourself up.

[bytesmith]

I did OK on the SAT and the MCAT without prep, and I’ve been a doctor for 45 years.

Goodness, you did OK. My dad let me do anything, cut the grass, repair the mower and his car, etc. I did OK in engineering school and had a great career. Earned some patents.

[vpintheak]

I can tell you that I make very good money. More than a lot of engineers and scientists. I have never had the need for more than basic math and geometry in my entire adult life. I would have LOVED real-world classes in high school but I was stuck in a school that was basically college prep. Hated it, and so did most of my friends. Turns out most of my blue-collar friends are business owners, hard workers and tradesmen. Making good money, and were debt free, unlike most of our classmates.
Most jobs out there, including trades and technical careers don’t need much beyond that, and that can be learned on the job. And they make good money.

[vpintheak]

Oh yeah. I have an office job. Not digging ditches.

[Clemenza]

School is largely tax funded babysitting. Any parent who insists on working from home, but wants their children to do in-person learning is doing so because they miss said babysitting.

[A Navy Vet]

"One of the most important lesson/skill that I was taught was how to hunt, kill, field dress, skin, butcher and cook a deer."

Can I be your buddy when SHTF? If you have a non-computerized auto, I can be of service. Plus, I can chop wood.

[wgmalabama]

Agreed. Nothing like spending 2-3 hours on homework to find out they watched a movies in school. My kids went to a good small town public school. Teachers wanted to raise kids in the town, raise a family but still the BS was there. It wasn’t every day.

[Texas resident]

My wife and I taught our kids how to hunt, fish, set up camp, how to cook and how to treat their own wounds.

We told them that their teachers at school were important but we were their primary teachers.

My daughter is now a nurse and a pretty good shot.

[Starcitizen]

And I really haven’t ever needed my Algebra I & II and Geometry skills. Wish instead I had learned to repair a car.
——-
You maybe. But I use that every day as content creator/ media designer

Those digital lighting angles ain’t gonna calculate themselves.

[Chode]

Adulting 101?

[Starcitizen]

Wood shop (10) Metal shop (11) and Electrical shop (12) were the most useful courses I took in high school. The girls had to take Home Economics for three years, some of them actually learned to cook.

———-
Took the same three courses. Absolute rubbish and waste of time at a school in NE Illinois back in the very early 1980s. Most college-track students also did very poorly in them.

It was where all the cigarette-smoking punks, jocks and burnouts went and spent most of their time.

Think that’s why abhor these fields. Used to get the crap beat out of me by these classmates on a regular basis. So I associate those jobs with these type of scumbags.

[Qout]

I’m often asked, “Why don’t schools teach kids about how to pay taxes?” They get their first job and are asked to fill out a W-4. “What’s this?”

[M Kehoe]

8^)

5.56mm

[faithhopecharity]

Schools used to teach both academics and many skills classes. Some students took more of one, other students took more of the other. But all students could learn at least a couple skills in jr and senior high schools. Whether computer technology or radio electronics or auto repair or home making or wood shop/carpentry or firearms training/sports or netal shop or whatever. Lots and lots of practical skills used to be taught. Nowadays, most High school graduates can’t even open a door or fix a flat. It’s a tragic (and deliberate) dumbing down of the kids so that they can’t do anything for themselves. This enables more and more dependency that —certain fat leftist political hacks cater to —-

[Sicvee]

Plumbing shop is a great idea. My dad taught me auto mechanics which have been quite useful. I had to learn plumbing by myself with no Youtube. The major lesson in plumbing is that if it leaks just a little, that’s not good enough!