I blogged about this 5 years ago and yesterday evening it reared its ugly head again.
In the comments on my previous post there were discussions of politics and washing symbols, and last night, having looked up that post because I didn’t understand my pension documents I had to read for work, I also realised that I’d googled washing symbols earlier that day when putting my sleeping bag in the machine.
So I’ve put together what I hope is a better list of things that NEED to be taught at school. When we were at school the only PSHE we did was: don’t smoke, don’t do drugs, don’t get drunk, and I think we maybe had one sex education lesson. Here’s my list of what I wish I’d learnt at school. (as an aside: part of my 30 before 30 this year is to write letters to MPs and companies about ethical issues and I think to some degree this might become one of those letters)
- Politics. (This should be completely non-biased, just a basic outline of what the main parties stand for, and maybe a bit of history.)
- Pensions.
- Budgeting/Finances.
- Insurance.
- How to read washing instruction symbols on clothes.
- Basic household cleaning.
- You know what? These are teenagers we’re talking about: Personal hygiene.
- I considered putting mortgages… but with each year that passes it seems fewer and fewer will manage it! Mortgages and renting combined maybe.
I appreciate some of these technically get taught in other subjects, eg you technically do clothing care labels in textiles, but it’s something we all need to know, not sure if we’re sewing!
I’m sure there’s more that could go on this list, maybe I’ll do a longer version again in another 5 years…. what else would you include?
ineke.co.uk 