What should our children learn at school?

Had an argument with DH this morning (not the bad kind). He says school should teach practical stuff like how to fix an engine, enter into business negotiations and identify healthy food. That there is no point in making students do any kind of advanced maths or history because for most of them they have no practical application. I say that we use things like algebra all the time and we don't even realise, that if we only let the students who express an interest do advanced maths we reduce the options open to them at university when we should be trying to increase options and that those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it. That the benefits of genuine education as opposed to life skills training are real and tangible and expressed in things like increased empathy.

BTW - this is from a man who is utterly committed to giving his children a bi-lingual education despite the fact that it has very little practical application. If I were to say the sky was green he'd probably say it was purple just for the sake of arguing over it.

What say you?

I would say that the basics of maths, language (english plus another) and problem solving should be focussed on in early years, with a more diverse approach in late high school so that those who want to can do advanced math, and those who don't can do practical subjects, but all are encouraged to stay in school and benefit from an education. I don't see the point in forcing kids to study something they have no affinity for, beyond a basic level. So maths in year 11 and 12 - fine if they choose it but I think more kids will be inclined to stay in school if they have the opportunity to drop maths in favour of woodworking or technical design, for example.

I love the idea of teaching life skills such as mechanics in school.

I think the focus should be on the basics such as language and maths. When kids have a sound understanding of these then they can expand their knowledget hrough areas that intrest them. I dont believe advanced mathemetics is necessary for the vast majority of people. I hold literacy and numeracy as two of the most important things children can learn at school and of course problem solving. Having a firm foundation in these areas makes it easier to develop skills and knowledge in other areas.

However I feel children need to be exposed to other sunjects so they can decide what holds their interset and then choose which education path to take. From personal experience, even at a tertiary level, I had much more difficulty studying and focusing on topics that held no personal interest to me.

I think there is a place for life skills in school but not at the cost of losing time dedicated to literacy and numeracy. I think CPR/FIrst Aid, Basic Budgeting, Filling in Forms, Basic Health (including sexual health, illicit drugs, how to manage medication and how to access assistance for physical and mental health needs) and filling in forms are basic skills a number of adults lack and as teenagers there would be a benefit in learning these skills.

Good question! In primary school this isn't an issue, but in high school it certainly is. Back in the day only peope who aspired to a professional career/university were encouraged to stay on at school and everyone else left to seek out a trade or on the job training such as nursing used to be. But then we moved into an era where it was all about learning, pushing kids towards university who shouldn't really be considering university and keeping them at school. Now we've gone back to encouraging vocational education as well as uni and many highschools now offer VET courses to give kids a headstart on their trades. I know at my brothers highschool (and the one some of my kids will go to) have moved towards this and closely work with the TAFE to provide kids with the opportunity to do 'practical' subjects such as fabrication/construction, hospitality, childcare, and sports coaching as well as their traditional subjects. I think once kids get to that age, they should be given options to learn for fun and for life - so if you have a kid who is interested in medieval history but wants to be a machine fitter, then let them do history as well as their practical course. If subjects like history and advanced maths aren't offered because they serve no real life purpose, we're not allowing kids to engage in learning that is interesting to them. I don't think any kid should be made to do the minimum amount that will be enough to see them through adult life at the expense of learning for the love of learning kwim? When I was in year 11 and 12, I did 3unit english. Not because I needed to do it as a prerequisite for any Uni degree I was planning, but because I loved english and the whole process of reading a book and dissecting it afterwards to understand it better. If I had of been told that I couldn't do it because it served no purpose to me I would have been devastated.

Even DH, who used to work as a boiler maker found he used a lot of the advanced trigonometry that he did in high school to help him draft plans and work out formula's for bending metal. He's worked with enough people in that field of work who dropped out of school early, or who did the 'sandpit maths' level at school to know that maths can play a huge part in construction because they were the ones who were screwing up projects because they didn't even know how to work out the circumference of a circle!

Our schooling system needs a LOT more emphasis not only on literacy but information literacy and critical thinking skills.

Given that most young people now will never ever open a world book encyclopedia to complete a school project, they *really* need to know what they need to find, how to drive a search engine properly, and how to assess which of the search results actually address their need. And there are a whole lot of literacy skills that sit behind being able to do that.

I also think that teaching the culture of reading instead of just the mechanics is far more likely to result in people being able and inclined to pursue learning once they are adults and have identified what their areas of interest are.

I think the early years - 4-6 - should focus on social skills, imaginative play, critical reasoning and problem solving, rather than insisting kids rote learn numbers and letters etc. Literacy and numeracy, sure, as part of this process, but they shouldn't be a focus in and of themselves in early learning.

This is a really interesting question.

Personally, I think that schools should teach literacy and numeracy plus a bit of general life skills and ideas, e.g. basic economics, history, health, etc. I think most schools do this okay, but what I think is missing from the current curriculum are creative subjects such as art and music, which I think are a lot more important and beneficial than people give them credit for. Oh and physical education is also important.

The main problem with today's schools IMO is the focus on passing tests and exams rather than learning for the joy or learning, or the practical applications to what children have learnt. This may be the reason for the lack of focus on creative subjects - because how do you assess creativity?

Great question! I agree that Literacy and Numeracy are the foundations of any education. Critical Literacy and Information Technology are essential also. MaryDean put it beautifully.

Not so sure that teaching 'life skills' has to be at the expense of the more 'academic' subjects though... both have real and tangible benefits imo. I sometimes think providing an introduction (or the option to do this) into a more diverse range of subject areas would be beneficial so that students learn more about what is out there and what kinds of areas they could delve more deeply into (whether for work or pleasure). I sometimes wonder whether I'd have chosen a different career path (or those around me would have) if we'd have known more about what different options were out there (in all honesty, as a teenager, I basically thought it was tradie, lawyer, doctor, teacher or hairdresser and that was about it! :redface:)

Ooooh, it's a curly question and I'm not sure there is even one 'right' answer...

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Not so sure that teaching 'life skills' has to be at the expense of the more 'academic' subjects though... both have real and tangible benefits imo. I sometimes think providing an introduction (or the option to do this) into a more diverse range of subject areas would be beneficial so that students learn more about what is out there and what kinds of areas they could delve more deeply into (whether for work or pleasure). I sometimes wonder whether I'd have chosen a different career path (or those around me would have) if we'd have known more about what different options were out there (in all honesty, as a teenager, I basically thought it was tradie, lawyer, doctor, teacher or hairdresser and that was about it! :redface:)

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So true, there are so many professions out there that we just never got to know about.

I'll put my Thoughts in on this one!

There should be more of an emphasis on a "life skills" class as at least one person has said, but hopefully a better version than I received in year 9. One that focuses on making decent financial choices and planing, budgeting, looking at things like family planning... I'm not trying to say at this point that teenage mums/parents are bad, in fact I have seen a few on occasion that look like they actually have their heads on straight! But just the aspect of what their lives will be like should a baby become part of their lives.

I also agree with a previous point that there should sort of be more options as far as technical stuff goes as they get higher, I mean unless they want to become a writer or journalist of some kind, is there really much point of getting them to read 2-3 book per year and most likely regurgitate half the plot in "essays"?

Completely off topic, but... Oh my goodness DH is back on bellybelly :lol:


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How to learn and research independently. Teach a child that and they can learn for the rest of their lives, even if they don't see the point of algebra at school, they can pick it up later. This weekend, DH forgot about Pythagoras' theorum while buying a ladder. When in the shop with me later exchanging it, I could calculate the height the ladder would reach if the hypotonus was 7.21m, the ground needed to have 1m across for every 4m up... a 7.21m ladder would reach up a minimum of (root of 7 squared minus four squared = root of 45) 6.5m. Checking at home with a calculator it's a bit more, but we needed a 6.5m ladder.

Financial planning is done at schools - but it's just in the lesson, so not applied to real life. Which is why we need to develop life-learning and application skills rather than set subjects the whole time.

eta - and NO, don't teach family planning. Or at least don't teach it to my DH. I really want to birth a child (to paraphrase Archilles the young crocodile). So which expletive taught my expletive husband about expletive condoms? Seriously ready to lash out with severe verbal abuse to that person. DH has had it already for a little while now.

I love what marydean posted. I feel its so important to have good reading,spelling ect ect skills. And why history is important i feel it should be an optional subject and similar. I do feel that yes while life skills are important should a main source of that life skill come from us parents at home teaching them those life skills? I can teach my child life skills like cooking.....but how will he learn it at school if he can not read??

Its interesting to see this thread. The new national Curriculum is actually going to focus on a lot of things mentioned above. I cant say too much about it as I have only really seen things in draft form but education is changing.

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I think the early years - 4-6 - should focus on social skills, imaginative play, critical reasoning and problem solving, rather than insisting kids rote learn numbers and letters etc. Literacy and numeracy, sure, as part of this process, but they shouldn't be a focus in and of themselves in early learning.

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Yep, agree.

I also think kids are tested far too young these days. The primary years should be for exploring etc rather than getting kids tested with exams from such young ages. Too much pressure I say.