Question du jour

[vanillafluffy]

What subject(s) do you think kids should be taught more about in school? What do you feel gets too much emphasis already?

Let's start in preschool, and teach them consideration for others. I know, this is the sort of thing parents ought to be dealing with, but apparently, THEY DON'T. Teach them that their actions can affect themselves and others in ways that can change their lives for better---or worse. Think of all the bullies who never got this message, all the messed up kids who never learned how to make friends or how to BE friends. Introduce the Golden Rule: Treat other people the way you would like them to treat you.

Expand that. As they reach grade school, broaden the concept from the playground to the community. Teach the importance of responsibility, stress that the world is NOT all about them. Encourage social activism and helping others. Can you imagine how much better the world would be if this was what the next generation accepted as normal behavior? That would give us older folks a lot to live up to!

Discover and develop an individual's natural gifts. Reward creativity, the fine intellect, the natural athlete, talented performer, the born nurturer. Find a way to make the passion the profession. Similarly, instead of teaching "The Test", and harping on degrees and higher education, institute vocational training so that no child will be left behind in the career arena. Not everyone has the inclination for college, and the world needs people in medical, technical and service industries. At the very least, everyone should graduate with a trade that's in demand and will earn them a living.

Today's educational criteria seems to be more geared toward test-taking and less toward preparing young people for the world after school. While it's agreed that students should be able to demonstrate proficiency with basic math and language, the trend has been to dumb things down to the point where most grads are communicating at what would've been considered a 5th grade level two decades ago. We need to expect more, not less. Academic ability is one way to determine whether a student would be best suited to a vocational program. If they disagree, then they should be prepared to work for higher education.

TL; DR: Let's concentrate on life skills, not test results.
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Comments

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

In order: Manners, ethics, cooking, basic personal finance, and basic life skills, which is an ever-broadening category. I had a 21-year-old in my office last year who has two children and no idea which section of an envelope a stamp and the address go on. And she's not dumb -- no one ever showed her.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

Okay, I can understand not knowing how to write a proper business letter, because not everybody learned that in 6th grade like I did. (Everybody had to pick a state and write to the Chamber of Commerce askig for information, thereby getting info for geography as well. I picked Kentucky, because hello, Kentucky Derby and I was a horse-mad kid.) But addressing an envelope? This suggests that she never received any mail or didn't pay much attention if she did. Although 2 kids at her age *does* suggest part of the problem.

Let's throw Sewing 101 into the basics class. Even if it's just to mend a tear, sew on a button or stitch a straight line. Beside being a good, useful skill for oneself, tailoring is marketable and could be something that sparks a passion.

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[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Definitely sewing in the basics class, along with how to change a tire and check the fluids in the car, unclog a drain, rewire a lamp and several other dozen things I can think of that are easy and fun to learn and will save a person a heap of money over time.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

Real Life 101. Love it! And after graduation, a continuing ed program, because we should never stop learning, and once the kids are out on their own and working, they're going to have various needs. Like maybe there should be a regional orientation, local customs and what to expect. That way, if someone who grew up in Florida ended up in Michegan, they wouldn't freeze to death by not having a coat in September.

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[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Teaching people from the South have to drive in snow would be a great course. I know of a lot of Southerners too afraid to move North for work because they wouldn't know how to drive on ice and snow.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

That would be me! I've had my license since I was 17, but because I've never gone on vacations where there wasn't public transportation, or long car trips, I have never to this day driven anywhere but in the state of Florida.

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[thru-the-blinds.livejournal.com]

Yes, THIS.

I'm chronically frustrated by the school system. It was bad when my son was in there and it's even worse now that Caelie's in. They're pushing EVERYONE toward college, never mind that a college degree doesn't guarantee jack-shit these days. The majority of the grade is based on test scores, never mind that not everyone tests well. There's no such thing as "basic" math where they learn to do taxes and balance a checkbook - REAL LIFE SKILLS. Now they're all thrown into Algebra in 6th grade and then into Calculus. WTF? 90% of us are never gonna use that crap in real life!

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

*nods* Basic math. Yup. In my day, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we learned to cac things like price per unit to do comparative shopping, figuring out percentages for discounts, miles per gallon, stuff like that. I personally never did master what I call "alphabet soup math". I've never needed it as a life skill, either!

Some people test well, but that doesn't mean they're well-adjusted in other ways. Just last night, I got an email from GK, all happy about Thing One's test results. His scores were pretty impressive, but he's still a special snowflake who has to go to a school oriented to his particular difficulties. There has to be a distinction made between academic comprehension and the ability to apply knowledge to real life.

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[thru-the-blinds.livejournal.com]

There has to be a distinction made between academic comprehension and the ability to apply knowledge to real life.

EXACTLY.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I know some very smart people who have a helluva time succeeding at Life. (In fact, I'm one of them.)

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[thru-the-blinds.livejournal.com]

IMHO, Real Life tends to suck lemons more often than not, so it's definitely not a reflection on YOU! ;-)

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

They used to call that "citizenship" when I was in school, I think.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

Citizenship is an excellent name for it. I wish they'd bring it back, and teach the little darlings things like "Stay out of your neighbors' yards unless you've been given permission.". Grrrr....

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[cbtreks.livejournal.com]

How to have a conversation, particularly over the phone but also in general. What is it with people who just talk over you when you're trying to have a conversation anymore? Unfortunately, I'm not talking about kids - I'm talking about grownups, middle-aged and older folks who should know better. I can't stand talking on the phone anymore, even with friends and relatives. They say something - I try to reply and they talk over me. They finish that thought, I try to reply, and they talk over me again! And again and again. It's as if people view the phone as an occasion for a monologue of everything that's on their mind at the moment. I'm not interrupting them - they're moving from one topic to the next, almost without breathing. A pause or stop that you'd think would indicate they were waiting for a reply apparently no longer means that *sigh* (Oh my gosh, I sound old! And crabby.)

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

Isn't that the truth? I can think of quite a few people who believe I'm the quiet type. I am to an extent, but more often it's because I can't get a frackin word in edgewise!

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[candesgirl.livejournal.com]

My son is in fourth grade, and since preschool he absolutely HAS been taught consideration for others. And past elementary school they DO teach things like social activism. In my town, a child can not graduate high school unless they've put in a certain amount of hours of community service.

My son has been meeting with his school counselor once a week for two years to learn things like how to make friends, because he is as smart as they come, but socially awkward around other kids. To be frank, I rather wish sometimes that they'd focus more on JUST academics sometimes. Though I know they mean well.

And I have to say, I know that myself, and many other parents that I know, absolutely DO teach things like consideration and manners to their children.

[vanillafluffy.livejournal.com]

I wish I lived in your town, then, because around here it's all about The Test, and the educational budget gets cut for everything else.

I shouldn't make blanket statements about ALL parents, because I know that's fallacious. I'm very frustrated with all the BS the local hellions are putting me through. I'm pretty sure their parents either don't give a crap, or don't have a clue.

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