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What subjects do you think schools should add

fishingmum
fishingmum Community member Posts: 562 Pioneering
I was talking with my son just before the holidays and some of the things we were discussing happened to be subjects he thingks should be introduced after talking with other people, in various groups and youth groups.

Some of the things he came up with to these groups was after discovering how little other pupils were aware of, or understood. So he would like an old fashioned home economics class (I suppose I made it sound better than it was lol) he thought when we had to learn basic household budgeting (regardless of wether your parents taught you at home ) basic cooking skills, not flavourless or 4 differnet types of pancakes, one veg soup with only 2 vegetables in it and told how to make cookies and brownies which would be great snacks but does not ensure you eat healthy. @Topkitten you made me think of this after the over weight post earlier.

Also sewing skills, I told my son how we had to learn to sew both hand and machine, which they have never done at school. it is very much throw out and replace instead of fix and mend.
He also thinks a couple of basic courses such as learning to change plugs, how to unblock a sink, how to check over your car should be part of it as too much is put on academic rather than practical and he felt a lot of pupils would stay on if there were more practical classes and not just p.e.

We noticed online the other day a school boy in England is currently trying to get sign language taught in schools, which my son thinks he is going to try and promote here as it is a useful language and opens up so much more for both hearing and non hearing people.

Any other subjects anyone thinks should be brought back or should be introduced for todays kids.
life is too short to let others make you miserable.
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Comments

  • Topkitten
    Topkitten Community member Posts: 1,285 Pioneering
    I agree that it would be nice to teach sign-language in schools but much more importantly to teach basic living skills. One thing I found out only this week that might be useful is that many countries now teach their children basic medical techniques such as CPR and other less important but sorely needed skills in schools. Those countries have a much lower death rate from heart attacks than this country does. USA for example is around 25% survival whereas the UK is only 10%.

    I have been watching a number of health service documentaries recently and, apart from one or two who cherry pick real serious cases rather than average ones, have been astounded by the lack of understanding in the general population and the wasted resources from completely unnecessary 999 and ambulance calls.

    Sadly this country seems to be putting our history far ahead of useful subjects.

    My children's introduction to cooking, for example, was mostly down to me cooking for them and my son has become quite a good cook albeit of basic meals rather than fancy ones.

    TK
    "I'm on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell" - from Wrong side of heaven by Five Finger Death Punch.
  • susan48
    susan48 Community member Posts: 2,221 Disability Gamechanger
    Basic cooking, cleaning, diy, but your sons so right, basic budgeting skills.

    Kids have lost the basic skills of everyday living.
    They think a fairy comes to clean there rooms, do washing make a proper meal from scratch.

    It’s our responsibility to teach our kids how we’re were shown by our parents but education has a massive part in this too.



  • Topkitten
    Topkitten Community member Posts: 1,285 Pioneering
    I am sorry but the comment re: fairy made me laugh, something I have seldom done recently.

    Tyvm for that.

    TK
    "I'm on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell" - from Wrong side of heaven by Five Finger Death Punch.
  • susan48
    susan48 Community member Posts: 2,221 Disability Gamechanger
    @Topkitten glad it made you laugh.
    Its true though  :D
  • debbiedo49
    debbiedo49 Community member Posts: 2,904 Disability Gamechanger
    All of the above as well as job searching/applications, and cv building and confidence building in the work place or further education environment. Also subjects around paying it forward and making a difference in your community. Volunteering etc
  • fishingmum
    fishingmum Community member Posts: 562 Pioneering
    I love the cpr/first aid @Topkitten one that would be good, however it would have to be put in  place so it would be an annual course as the amount people can forget or get wrong when not refreshed in the mind, but considering the amount of study periods they have at school I can see this being easy to put in place.

    In home economics we were shown as well about cleaning, not just dishes after cooking but actual cleaning the classroom and work area, I think that is a great idea to bring back, I am forever on at my kids about cleaning, omg what about using a washing machine :D that would be great, maybe give me a little less to work on. @susan48 yip I am sure my kids think it is a cleaning fairy or house Brownie doing it while they sleep lol.

    @debbiedo49 depending on what year they are in some schools encourage volunteering for things like Duke of Edinburgh award or part of PSE. My oldest 2 boys has racked up hours of volunteer work, helping out with youth club, delivering food parcels and wood in winter and helping out at various support groups. But when we go fishing we give the boys fish to go round and offer to people, so I think rural living offers more opportunities that way. If more kids done that I am sure it would make them think more about other people.

    I am also thinking about gardening, not just on a landscape and building walls kind but of learning to grow food, I have a funny feeling it will be more needed in the future than what it is now.

    life is too short to let others make you miserable.
  • iza
    iza Scope Member Posts: 703 Pioneering

    Teaching children what is true love and  how to build strong relationship, how to survive crisis is in life.  
    Teaching children how to manage finances. 
  • fishingmum
    fishingmum Community member Posts: 562 Pioneering
    @iza the school my children attend are doing something like that in PSE, where they teach kids about respect in a relationship, what is abuse, and they have a mental health room where they talk about all matters, it was started due to a boy who used to live here who committed suicide when he was 17.
    The finance aspect, I am amazed at the lack kids seem to know about finances, it seems as if no parent shows their kids how they manage money, which I think might make it easier for them to understand as a starting point, before school maybe take it further.

    But I think the strong realtionship and surviving a crisis should be in more schools.

    life is too short to let others make you miserable.
  • April2018mom
    April2018mom Posts: 2,882 Disability Gamechanger
    First aid

    I think that’s a good thing to teach in schools these days. Children need to know what to do in the event of a seizure or a heart attack or something. We should also teach them to cope with any medical crisis that can happen too. I believe schools need to do more when it comes to personal safety and first aid as well. Nothing too complicated just general simple first aid techniques really. 

    Also personal finance education would benefit our children as well. Kids should have decent budgeting skills and general financial awareness. This will help them when they are adults. I think that there are programmes aimed at helping children learn about money management and saving for the future too. 
  • feir
    feir Community member Posts: 397 Pioneering
    I'm not even sure what they teach in schools any more, my kids don't seem to remember.

    I've also always thought it was better to teach sign language rather than french, i actually had to learn both french and german in secondary school and never needed to use them, but did need to learn makaton when my son couldn't talk. Also if we'd learned sign language then deaf people could be more included in non-deaf people society and vice versa (if anyone wanted to be included).

    I'd like to see more philosophy in schools. I don't think it is a subject that needs degrees (although you can get them) but should be a fundamental part of all peoples thinking.

    I loved home economics, we learned that some vitamins are fat absorbed and these are the vitamins that you can overdose on because the body builds them up instead of getting rid of them quickly the way water soluble vitamins do, we also learned cooking in that class and how/why cooking is a science. Think we learned to budget also in that class, although having been poor most of my life i never had any money to budget with and so just went without.

    I'd like to see more emphasis on learning about experiences and how things affected life in social subjects, we did learn some of this in history but most subjects expected us to more remember dates and names than anything else.

    I think they should teach some politics also and how you can communicate with the systems in place, even teaching how to campaign or lobby.
  • fishingmum
    fishingmum Community member Posts: 562 Pioneering
    @feir we used to do modern studies and it was mostly about politics and the basic understanding of what was going on, it seems to have fallen right out of fashion in most school, one of my friends is a modern studies teacher and she was saying more and more kids choose not to take the subject anymore. In the area I am in it is not even offered as a subject.

    @April2018mom I believe some of the banks offer booklets aimed at children to help with basic finance skills, and some of the pension groups to help them understand from an early age. I do think it is worth getting these sent to you if you have children and you can adapt it to suit your own childs level of understanding, and build on it from there.

    It's the same with woodwork and metal work skills it is all great them learning to make a kids toy, but teaching them how to fix a few things might be more beneficial, I remember being out with my Dad learning how to change a tyre, fill up water and replace windscreen wipers and fuses in a car basics that did not need to be put in a garage, most people I know can not change basics for themself. Basic lifeskills, would help a lot of people to get on better and manage, I think it would allow them to use their mind more. I have a brother in law who I honestly feel is lucky to be able to tie his shoes, he is very intelligent, is a director of a large company and does the job well, but he can not change a plug. He does however have enough money to pay someone to do it for him, most people do not have.
    life is too short to let others make you miserable.
  • thespiceman
    thespiceman Community member Posts: 6,388 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello @fishingmum   I agree with you. Children today need to be prepared for the world outside.

    I would like to see more emphasis on relationships and not only sex education but the whole thing around relationships. All about it.  Sex education should be priority not explicit but mutual understandings of relationships.  We live in a society media led and so the aspects of how to be in relationships. 

    Add also the way of how to introduce the ideas and solutions to looking at work and volunteering. The way forward.  Even at teenage years should be some introduction of what is money. Money and budgeting, planning. The knowledge you need to grasp the benefit and other issues around it.

    Housing and applying for mortgages.  Banking and financial intuitions. Looking at Insurance and all the issues around that.  On line options. Companies and finding the right ones for you.

    Other things especially cooking and all that, budgeting, planning.. Supermarkets and on line solutions. Knowledge of food science and related.  Diet and lifestyle changes and well being.

    Mental health is I think a important one as well.  Also talking about health in general alcohol and drugs. The dangers and how to deal with it.

    Hope that helps.


    @thespiceman


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  • debbiedo49
    debbiedo49 Community member Posts: 2,904 Disability Gamechanger
  • feir
    feir Community member Posts: 397 Pioneering
    We never had that @fishingmum I did love learning about the social side of history, not even sure myself that i would've picked the politics course now i think about it.

    We were taught about the dangers of drugs in school @thespiceman but it was in an unrealistic way. Drugs always lead to death apparently, as a teen we could see this was not true. i bet teaching on this is actually better now and more realistic.
  • thespiceman
    thespiceman Community member Posts: 6,388 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello @feir   Good to hear from you . Hope you are looking good and feeling fine.

    My days at school a lot of stuff a lot of it was common sense. Used to have these guys from various organisations . Talking about everything from Road accidents. The film today would carry a X cert. The amount of people in my class. Being ill shall we say. Then the drugs and alcohol education. The various ladies and gents talking about everything health wise. In the most extreme way.

    Trying to get the point across.  Towards the end of the eighties some thing happened I do not know what. All I know this sort of gents and ladies who I know meant well stopped coming. AIDS was prevalent around early eighties and mid eighties.

    I had left school by 1981.  Asking about the advice and what to do keep safe all gone. Of course a lot it education but when and how you have denial.

    Also around the last ten years now eleven me and my addiction parted. Am clean but suddenly thought of those who need a helping hand. Some advice and information.

    So I thought I could find out. Do not have the people going into schools and colleges. Thought where is the education, the knowledge, the time. To stop and think about addiction.

    Whether drugs, alcohol but what about others like gaming, shopping, sex and other lifestyle factors young people can get addicted to. One is quite common is appearance.

    Especially developing skin complaints the image the mental side of that. My self conscious of my own self was from school. 

    Tried to set some thing up and tried to get funding and asked about. No one wants to know. All I can say is the negativity of people along the way. Joined one organisation that deals with substance misuse. Also alcohol another one. Quite staggered when I asked why do you not do schools and colleges.

    Lots of negativity lots of put downs. Then their is my friend who lives and breathes and works in addiction circles.  Trying to support been told to work else where. Lots of the clinics and funding shut down.

    All he wants to do is help and aid those in alcohol not drugs. Drugs is the one I worry about all the time. I have time for all members of the substance misuse community.

    All the time. Yet many are trying to come off and I am there must be able to support if I can.

    Know the struggles. From friends and my own history.  All I can say wish I could have done.  Gone to schools.

    Lovely to talk you as always.

    Take care

    @thespiceman.
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  • fishingmum
    fishingmum Community member Posts: 562 Pioneering
    @thespicemanthank you, I know it is difficult, but talking about it does help even if you never hear about it I know you will have helped someone. This is why I asked about what should  children learn at school, my oldest wants to try and accomodate for those who need a little bit more in life not just a history lesson or how to jump up and down from a climbing frame.

    Life is so much more than just academic ideals, it is about everyone around us as well, and that is life.
    life is too short to let others make you miserable.
  • feir
    feir Community member Posts: 397 Pioneering
    I'm totally looking great thanks @thespiceman lol. Just a little iodine here and there, dyed my fingers this morning, nothing too bad.

    It's stupid that everything costs money but also that money restricts things. Everyone's time could be valuable and put into places where it was needed if we didn't value currency. It's nice that you help people despite this but still can't do more.


  • thespiceman
    thespiceman Community member Posts: 6,388 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello   @fishingmum   Thanks for comments. It seems these days so hard for the children who are now growing up into adults. Understand I have grave concerns and worry for those in this world.

    More emphasis on sending a message and being supportive, kindness for others. Helping hands and  community spirit should be aware to others out their.

    Unfortunately this is not an ideal world and my fears are too many self centred people take advantage.

    All the time I see this every day.  Wish sometimes those who are being like that just for once being more understanding, tolerant and patience. A virtue should be set in hard stone in schools.
     
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  • thespiceman
    thespiceman Community member Posts: 6,388 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello @feir Thank you comments. Problem is now is not only money the necessary paperwork and qualifications.

    Several of us have addiction histories yet can not advise others because we are not qualified in the sense. We are but with life knowledge not actual qualifications.

    Although I have a wealth of knowledge and so does others I know. All too much and may I add PC  nuts.  Really a lot of it.

    Also one final point so many of my former friends in the addiction clinics and beyond have no purpose to stop. Happy in their lifestyle. I can appreciate that but in all sense they do not wish to change. I can support them and will do so. Not too close though.

    Fear myself relapsing.  Add to that a lot of them instilled now with this burden of contingence of alcohol and drugs. They do not realise old age is creeping up and the big concern is for the families.

    Who can see what is happening but are in an impossible position to say what they can do.  Lots of fears and worries for all of them.

    All very sad and I wish and pray for them constantly.
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  • feir
    feir Community member Posts: 397 Pioneering
    I didn't think of qualifications, i suppose that makes sense. @thespiceman

    I'm quite lucky that i managed to easily give up drinking when i had my kids and didn't really get into drugs so never needed to quit them but have seen one of my sisters get caught up in that. It's an ongoing with her, probably gonna be something that's with her for a lifetime too. She was happy in the lifestyle too but recognised she was damaging her family.

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