What Skills Should Be Taught At School
- Thread starter Gmart
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gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
A very important part of children's education in Japanese kindergarten's is growing vegetables and keeping animals.
I went for an interview at a state secondary (faith school) in Chelsea earlier this year where they grow all their own vegetables which are then used for their school meals.
I went for an interview at a state secondary (faith school) in Chelsea earlier this year where they grow all their own vegetables which are then used for their school meals.
Gmart
Well-Known Member
_angel_ said:First aid, how to swim and possibly even lifesaving.
I only know one of those three.
Also, a foreign language / sign language.
Good ideas!
I would add food hygeine coz I took that some time ago and it's a good basic.
How about parenting? Being able to impose good boundaries within which children can develop freely, can be very difficult.
Cycling proficiency?
Woodwork?
Tech courses?
Sport and fitness? It's all very well going on about diet if the other side of the equation is ignored...
LilMissHissyFit
Disturbed in a pink bra
why does 'thinking skills' need to be included?
I dont recall anyone I know whos relatively educated and intelligent ever being taught those and yet I cant say i know many people who cant think...
Seriously. Its rather wanky. If subjects are presented well and children encouraged to question and debate( not strongly present in the current NC as I understand it from teachers and uni staff I know) then students will develop a natural ability to think and reason widely
I dont recall anyone I know whos relatively educated and intelligent ever being taught those and yet I cant say i know many people who cant think...
Seriously. Its rather wanky. If subjects are presented well and children encouraged to question and debate( not strongly present in the current NC as I understand it from teachers and uni staff I know) then students will develop a natural ability to think and reason widely
SpookyFrank
Don't swallow the cap
LilMissHissyFit said:why does 'thinking skills' need to be included?
I dont recall anyone I know whos relatively educated and intelligent ever being taught those and yet I cant say i know many people who cant think...
Seriously. Its rather wanky. If subjects are presented well and children encouraged to question and debate( not strongly present in the current NC as I understand it from teachers and uni staff I know) then students will develop a natural ability to think and reason widely
'Thinking skills' may be a daft way of putting it, but I reckon teaching kids to tell the difference between a rational argument and a load of bollocks would make it less easy for advertisers/politicians/the press/any other shower of bastards you care to name to convince people of things which aren't true. Analysis of arguments should definitely be part of things like A level general studies if kids are still going to be forced to study it.
Other important things schools don't seem to bother with these days have mostly been covered, but I'd definitely go for first aid, nutrition, cycling proficiency and enough basic finance to avoid getting shafted by bad loans and credit cards etc.
There should also be free music lessons for anyone who wants to learn an instrument, I'm still pissed that I only got to do one term of drum lessons and one term of piano because me family was too skint
Stobart Stopper
Well-Known Member
How to ram-raid designer shops while on a moped
How to grow skunk
How to nick and unlock a stolen mobile
all useful.
How to grow skunk
How to nick and unlock a stolen mobile
all useful.
lobster
Well-Known Member
Some interesting ideas.
Going back to the original post, computing needs a complete reform, teaching children how to use X brands software is like teaching a kid that only this pen you can write with.
Foreign languages should be taught from as early as 5 years old, different languages should also be taught , not just French and German.
A friend of mine in Denmark has a class where anything to with the world is discussed, in other words it does not feel so much as a class to pass a grade than a hour to talk like adults. Politics, relationships, philosophy, economics and anything else is discussed in that class.
World literature past and present should be part of english, i know many will object to that on the grounds that english is meant to be about english literature. Understanding literature structure is by no means special in past and present english authors only.
From what i remember studying history at gcse level was about learning dates and how england won and all that. History should look at both sides, winners and losers, how the losers felt, how anyone feels about war.
why not look at another countries history?
Going back to the original post, computing needs a complete reform, teaching children how to use X brands software is like teaching a kid that only this pen you can write with.
Foreign languages should be taught from as early as 5 years old, different languages should also be taught , not just French and German.
A friend of mine in Denmark has a class where anything to with the world is discussed, in other words it does not feel so much as a class to pass a grade than a hour to talk like adults. Politics, relationships, philosophy, economics and anything else is discussed in that class.
World literature past and present should be part of english, i know many will object to that on the grounds that english is meant to be about english literature. Understanding literature structure is by no means special in past and present english authors only.
From what i remember studying history at gcse level was about learning dates and how england won and all that. History should look at both sides, winners and losers, how the losers felt, how anyone feels about war.
why not look at another countries history?
Gmart
Well-Known Member
LilMissHissyFit said:why does 'thinking skills' need to be included?
I dont recall anyone I know whos relatively educated and intelligent ever being taught those and yet I cant say i know many people who cant think...
Seriously. Its rather wanky. If subjects are presented well and children encouraged to question and debate( not strongly present in the current NC as I understand it from teachers and uni staff I know) then students will develop a natural ability to think and reason widely
Seriously. I wonder if you could exactly say why teaching our children to recognise fallacies is 'wanky'. Do you not care about all the people getting abused by this??? What kind of monster are you?
Any parent worth her salt would want to teach this to their children if she cared about them. Indeed they would be failing as a parent if they didn't IMO!!
LilMissHissyFit
Disturbed in a pink bra
SpookyFrank said:'Thinking skills' may be a daft way of putting it, but I reckon teaching kids to tell the difference between a rational argument and a load of bollocks would make it less easy for advertisers/politicians/the press/any other shower of bastards you care to name to convince people of things which aren't true. Analysis of arguments should definitely be part of things like A level general studies if kids are still going to be forced to study it.
If subjects were taught properly and in depth there wouldnt be any need for 'thinking skills' thats what Im saying.
Children would learn bullshit from validity by testing and debating what they are learning with each other and the teacher as they went along.
'General studies'?? At A level?? what an absolute load of bollocks.
If children were taught properly in the first place all these needless bullshit subjects wouldnt need to be mooted . Development of argument is something which shouldnt need teaching as a subject if the curriculum/teaching is geared towards a real appreciation of knowledge rather than learning a limited set of facts/opinions.knowledge base and then testing it.
It makes me realise why university lecturers shake their heads at the failiure of younger students to be able to put together coherent argument at university despite excellent exam results which got them into university to start with
Maybe this is already happening in schools - but more emphasis on group work where people have to work together to solve problems. Even possibly exam questions that can be tackled by a group.
Too much focus on league table results and individuals getting better grades with the added stress on pupils/teachers is bad. After all in life and work - getting on with people is more important than knowing algebra.
Apols to all algebra peeps.
Too much focus on league table results and individuals getting better grades with the added stress on pupils/teachers is bad. After all in life and work - getting on with people is more important than knowing algebra.
Apols to all algebra peeps.
_angel_
.
Zeppo said:
If we didn't teach algebra there'd be no engineers etc etc.
Frankly the idea of being assessed in a group strikes me as a bad idea. Group work is okay but shouldn't be treated as the best way of testing people. Too often one person does all the work and the rest get the credit for it - or the best talker gets the merit over someone who may have the ideas but not the confidence to get up and speak.
SpookyFrank
Don't swallow the cap
LilMissHissyFit said:
You're right there, and the problem with not learning about arguments goes right to the core, ie kids are taught everything in the form of 'this is how it is, memorise it' instead of being presented any form of debate. The good teachers at school always tried to give us some backgorund and some perspective on what they taught, but too many of them just read from the script and expected the kids to do the same. School science teaching doesn't even deal with the basics of the scientific method and experimental design ffs, and without those things science is basically meaningless dogma
When I took AS level critical thinking I was amazed at how useful and sensible some of the stuff we were taught was, but I was also totally baffled as to why we hadn't learned it much earlier on in the context of all the other stuff we were taught. You shouldn't get to the age of 17 before you understand the basic construction of an argument, and it certainly shouldn't be an optional subject divorced from everything else.
eta: the only way to have an effective education system is to abolish all exams; only then can education be valued for its own sake rather than as the creation of a product for sale on the labour market. IMHO.
SpookyFrank
Don't swallow the cap
lobster said:
Fair point. Examinations to test whether someone is fit for a particular job are one thing though; examinations for the sake of assigning kids an arbitrary score to 'prove' they're smarter or dumber than other kids are quite another.
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
How to buy fresh food
How to boil an egg
How to boil an egg
Gmarthews said:
ahhhh.... so you wouldn't dispel the fallacy that supermarkets are full of win then then?
firky said:
well spotted you bedwomb wadical you.
e2a ::: btw http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie
"In common usage the term has pejorative connotations suggesting either undeserved wealth, or lifestyles, tastes, and opinions that lack the sophistication of the rich or the authenticity of the intellectual or the poor."
aaaah poor Foxy!!!
firky said:You quote from wiki
I had a Raymond Chandler radio play (The Longer Goodbye) and some anime (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) to do.
LilMissHissyFit
Disturbed in a pink bra
SpookyFrank said:
Removing unecessary SATS tutoring and testing is imperitive I believe. Tutoring children intensively in three subject areas , teaching them how to pass exams and then testing doesnt benefit them I dont believe and is in the interests of the government, not individual childrens interest.
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