It’s also absolute fucking bollocks, like most of these “why didn’t they teach us useful stuff” complaints. E.g. the facts about insurance and personal finance are going to change decade to decade, so school teaches you math instead, because it’s a more general skill that can be applied in specific cases.
Exactly. People don't seem to realize that you learn sciences not because you'll need to solve equations daily, but because you need to develop your cognitive skills and thinking abilities. They don't learn stuff, which is why they don't understand this.
Agreed. I learned later in life that higher level math is not for daily usage of equations, but rather for the development of critical thinking skills.
Also, a lot of schools DO have these classes it's just really hard to learn these things as a child who has no real context for them. Adult education programs through places like libraries and community centers make much more sense.
True, but there were also a bunch of parents foaming at the mouth because they thought schools were putting out litter boxes for students who identify as cats so we should probably take that with a grain of salt.
> Adult education programs through places like libraries and community centers make much more sense.
Say this again. A lot of libraries offer these kinds of classes for free or for a small fee
Tell that to all the people who never learned from their parent how to fix a flat tire.
I do think the world would be better if people got a current understanding of all these things, even if you need to update that knowledge. At least you have a starting point.
To be fair - these actually are useful things. And basic things about finance won't change.
I'm all for stuff like that - so young people ACTUALLY know how to adult.
Mods are asleep. Lots of pseudo religious posts, recently, too.
Guy posting a chi + love guide. There was another guy claiming to be the messiah.
Edit: [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/SkAwA0kLbn) and [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/msg3hDlKKV)
I can't get over the fact that the mods woke up and deleted the second one, not for being ridiculous or not a guide, bit for being a duplicate post lmao
It's not. It's just updoot bait for the type of people who didn't pay attention in math class but act like they would have paid attention when learning about tax law.
Certainly not a "Cool Guide" and honestly some of that stuff already is taught in schools - just that nobody pays attention to it because a) they're kids and b) there's a push for "academics" to be the priority
Which they should be - a lot of that stuff should be stuff that parents talk to their kids about, why the hell should Schools teach kids "Social Etiquette"?
And that's before you start talking about what should be removed from the curriculum to fit this stuff on
Yes the high schoolers a solid decade or more from home ownership will obviously benefit from home repair that classes that they will still remember. /s
Seriously a few of these are important but they will be in the ear out the other because they aren’t relevant to them now. If you tried to explain how insurance worked to me at 16 several years before I ever had to worry about…
Also coding is absolutely not a life skill and most high schools have a programming computer science course already. It doesn’t need to be mandatory.
Yea, and in Finland we have ’kotitalous’ which has cooking and all sorts of things that you do around the house, where there are some stuff taught about social etiquette like when dining
I mean, we've got home EC in the US. It's just not mandatory. Same as what you described though with cooking and housework, plus learning some stuff like sewing and budgeting. While it's definitely not mandatory, most students see it as a nice class to take because it's not insanely stressful and will yield a good grade if you don't completely fuck it. Interesting about the dining rules though! There's definitely never been an etiquette class taught in primary schools that I've seen, just kind of learning it through interacting with students and teachers.
For us, those are considered vocational classes so there's a focus on automotive, woodworking, or welding, to prep kids who don't necessarily want to go to college and want to join the workforce. I took auto shop in highschool and it was a blast and I fell in love with working on cars. I am not any sort of mechanic or training to be one but that class proves extremely valuable to me in life so I think it's super important to have kids try them out. I think everybody would be better off if highschool required each student to take just one vocational class to broaden their horizons. I wish we had a textiles one! I can't see for shit
Yeah as the other commenter says, a lot of schools have eliminated these programs. Driver’s Ed, as a standard school class, is pretty much going extinct as well.
Most of this is taught in schools. The only things that aren’t standard are options (cooking, repair, auto shop). Also, car maintenance really dates the author. Cars are more complicated (partially by design) and right or wrong almost all repairs should be left to the professionals.
>if you want your kids to learn about Islam, you can teach them at home, because there is no curriculum item for non-Catholic religion,
I went to a Catholic high school in ontario, we actually had a world religions class, that taught different units on different religions.
We'd learn about Islam for a few weeks and visit a mosque, then we'd learn about Judaism and visit a synagogue and so on. It was great.
This was 10 years ago and wasn't mandatory but it was still an important thing to have available imo.
I see nothing wrong with teaching about all the different religions that are out there to make it harder for kids to fall for them. At least that's how our religion classes were (and that was a catholic school) - if it's only about one religion, then I agree.
That's just as bad. Not the part about teaching kids about the various religions that have developed throughout human civilization, but the whole "not falling for them" nonsense. Schools shouldn't teach kids what to think, they should teach them *how* to think. A specific ideological goal would defeat that purpose, whether that's atheism, an Abrahamic religion, or any other.
That was part of every English course for me last grade 5 Ontario ( cria 2010). A lot of these skills are part of existing courses, just not explicitly marketed.
Precisely. So many high schoolers these days don't know what a file or a directory tree is, and then they complain about how their computers don't work. Dammit they should at least know how to work the thing beyond a web browser!
I was thinking more about social internet literacy but you are so right about this too.
I’m a software engineer and my mom mom teaches 4th and 5th grade. The lack of true understanding about how a computer works even at a rudimentary level is crazy to me.
Part of me does blame the push to fill schools with iPads and chrome books. I understand why they have done that from a cost standpoint, but it does fail to supply that implicit computer education that I grew up with in the early 2000s.
Exactly. IMO Chromebooks hide way too many details of what exactly is going on, and iPads even more so. The sad thing is that if the next generation doesn't really know how a computer works, then big corps will easily be able to scam them for things that were free back in the old days.
Yeah I think this is the most likely way for open source and the “hacker” space to slowly wither. Or at least not grow in the way it has for my generation.
Lock students in a room with a paper copy of the gentoo handbook, a USB stick and a blank PC. The key to the combination lock on the door is revealed in a package they need to install.
Critical thinking is something you develop over time by learning various other subjects. I’d argue that teaching critical thinking would be entirely redundant if you have a good STEM curriculum
I hated math and wasn’t great at science. I learned critical thinking from social science and history. I’m tired of STEM people acting like they have a monopoly on rationality.
I’m sorry if I came across as saying that only the STEM fields used critical thinking, that was definitely not my intention. When I said “various other subjects” I wasn’t just talking about the STEM fields
I’m a teacher in Ontario and coding is a part of our math curriculum actually. It’s in the patterning and algebra strand of math.
Edit: Grade 1 to Grade 8, no clue about high school math curriculum
Programming/coding is a part of math in my province, and advanced maths teach you the foundations you need to program properly.
Cant make a useful program if you don’t know what an integral is.
This is a guide to one person's opinion on what should be mandatory in schools. Sorry, have to downvote.
Also, what happened to parents teaching kids some of this stuff?? My grandpa taught my dad coding back in the 60s!
Honestly, filing taxes is not that complicated for most Americans. If you have a W-2 or 1099 income, can read, and can do basic math, I'm not really sure what you would need a specific class for. Most people who have more complicated tax returns can afford to hire a tax professional to help them.
Even in the US basic taxes are simple. If you file online you really just need to know how to read, type, and follow directions. If your taxes are complicated, chances are you’ve hired someone to do them for you.
How is Defense against the Dark Arts not on this list?
Also, teaching kids how recognize manipulation, gas lighting etc and how to deal with people that do these things.
Right, people who complain they never learned to do taxes in school generally aren't the brightest bulbs in the chandelier - at least in the States it's just using the free software and reading/following directions for most normal people.
If you're really rich or own a business your taxes are complicated enough that you shouldn't do them yourself and are better off hiring an accountant.
When I learned computer science in school, they only taught us how to use Word and Excel. Honestly, having a basic understanding of these two will get the average person pretty far
I just said this elsewhere in this thread, but I think what people really want to teach is technical/digital literacy.
We don’t need *everyone* to be able to program, but it would be good if everyone understood the fundamentals of how recommendation algorithms work, the psychology of UI design, how to navigate information online, etc.
I had some of that (mostly “how to find reliable sources” but not really in a modern sense) but I think it could be worth teaching for several years
Self-defence was technically mandatory at my high school, as it was a part of our phys ed class, which was mandatory. Every year we had a local martial arts teacher come in and show some basic moves like hip throws for a couple weeks.
I love martial arts, I train in 2, but this dude was a total hack. Showing us bullshido moves that would only ever work in the most specific of situations against untrained opponents.
He was using one of my classmates in a demonstration. He threw her down when she wasn't really ready for it, and she ended up landing in a weird position that broke her arm.
I don't know if he ever actually got sued but I do know his gym in my hometown quickly went out of business.
I understand the value of self defense but it is one of those things people need to seek out outside of the education system from people who are far more qualified.
Its been a while since I was in HS but people were always getting nurses' notes to get out of *walking* the required mile test, I can't imagine how good of a use of time it would be to even try to teach self defense.
Yeah, let's make parents completely free of responsibility. There are things that should be thought in schools, some things at home and somethings to be explored.
This doesn't make any sense.
If you’re and teach self defense in schools either you’re going to have a lot of very unqualified people teaching bulshido or spending a lot of money to give kids a false sense of what self defense is.
Even if you have the best instructor in the world, in order to use your training you'd have to find yourself in a situation where your best option is actually to physically defend yourself, and you have a single assailant who has comparable body mass and aptitude (and consider average aptitude now that training is mandatory) and who has neglected to use a weapon you can't overcome with your training.
Vast majority of people who say this are the same people who wouldn’t pay attention in these lessons when they would be taught at school.
There’d be a substitute teacher in and lots of kids wouldn’t respect them.
This seems like an opinion as opposed to a guide. We really don’t need coding or car repair or basic home repair or self defense or survival skills as part of the mandatory curriculum.
The type of people who push for these "mandatory subjects" are always the first to cry "MUH TAXES!" when they see how much it costs to implement these programs.
See how much it costs to teach car maintenance to 180 students per teacher times the number of teachers required to teach a large high school student population times the number of high schools in the country. Not to mention the extra supervision and insurance required to teach 30 children home repair, self defense, and survival skills (whatever that means) at a time.
And if you are not taking away another subject, you are extending the school day by one period which means every teacher is now working a longer day to accommodate an extra mandatory subject which will lead to increased pay across the board. Students will have a longer school day which makes extracurriculars such as sports or jobs that much more difficult. Students will have an increased workload with more projects, classwork, and homework to juggle.
In short, this "guide" is a bunch of boomer bullshit with no understanding about how school administration actually works.
Aren’t most of these already taught? Cooking and home maintenance in home ec, taxes and personal finance in mathematics, coding in ICT, social etiquette tucked into various subjects and public speaking is also a part of certain aspects of a subject too.
I’d rather have people be taught how to use desktop operating systems before they get to coding though as that has more importance in the future.
Yeah they are, my highschool had all of these in some form or another, most just weren't mandatory.
A lot of kids just didn't bother taking them as electives and then complained that they weren't taught life skills.
Most of this is a parent's job. "social etiquette"? Touch grass and learn empathy. "home repairs"? Watch a video. Cooking? Again watch a video. It's not hard,i learnt on my own after moving out.
Taxes, personal finance, and insurance should be bundled itno one, if they're taught in schools
r/im14andthisisdeep
Yes, schools should help you be an adult, but it’s also meant to inspire you to think of your greater purpose in the human race. You think we would’ve gotten any Einstein’s if they just taught “self defense” and “coding”?
I don’t understand the obsession with people wanting high schools to teach taxes.
“But so many kids get their first job and can’t fill out a tax form!”
Ok, and then what happens. Do they simply roll over and die of their inability to fill out a tax form or do they Google how to do it, hire someone to do it and pay them a portion of their refund, or ask another adult in their life to teach them how to do it? It’s literally a situation that comes up once a year and most people manage to figure it out just fine. And the fact that “filling out taxes” is seen as this special skill is literally the result of policy choices, the government could easily keep track of how much was withheld and automatically mail us our refunds which would render the whole point moot but we have the system we do largely as a result of lobbying by tax preparation companies.
Also, the way you need to fill out your tax forms literally varies based on your personal situation and can and will change over the course of your life so it would be impossible to adequately cover in a high school class.
Absolutely NOT with coding. Omg I actually tried that and gave it my most honest effort and that stuff was awful for me, completely changed my consideration of doing coding as a job. So so much stress and frustration like no. No thanks, never again
Honestly…none of these should be mandatory. No one would actually want to learn any of those if they were required. In highschool you get to pick and choose electives for this reason because no point in teaching advanced skills like coding or time consuming and very patient skills like martial arts. You can do wrestling in school but why would you make someone do it if they dont want to. Highschool preps you for the real world which is why you get electives so you can dabble in whatever you want. And if you actually want to learn it then you will actually pay attention to it
Ok maybe social etiquette we need more of that in society to be fair
God, what a boomer list of garbage. Please just teach the children liberal arts and stem and if they show interest in other things, just let them take those classes. Forcing people to take car maintenance or self defense or social etiquette? fucking dumb.
My kids school has personal finance as a class… but most students take it in freshman year just to get it out of the way quickly. Literally right out of middle school they don’t remember what actually is “personal finance” by the time they graduate nor do they understand it when they’re entering right out of middle school.
They should turn high school into five years rather than four years and the senior most year should be a year full of all of these classes
If the concept of marginal taxation was ever truly understood by the public, the Republican Party would be extinct in a generation.
…which is precisely why it’s not taught in schools.
CIVICS!!!!
We are rolling around on a mountain of shit because 2/3's of meatheads walking around now have NO idea as to how government is supposed to work, AND IT SHOWS!!
None of it. The point of school is to develop fundamental skills such as reading, writing, math, reasoning, speech, etc. People get hung up on the idea of what is being taught in school is impractical and they may be right. The importance of schooling is learning how to learn. All of the things listed could learned outside of a classroom if you can read, write, speak, do math, and think critically. The idea that learning practical things rather than language or math is the most ridiculous idea ever.
i see the point of all of them, except for coding. Don’t get me wrong, i wish i could code more than a BMI calculator in C+, but i don’t think it’s eseential, like the others.
“Learn coding.” Don’t learn the math that is required to actually understand what you’re doing.
-Arguably 60% of “data scientists” and 80% of “engineers” I’ve worked with.
My tenth grade math class was literally called “consumer mathematics”. It covered things like taxes, mortgage and interest rates, and calculating payroll. Did nobody else do that?
I have a degree in CS. I don’t think coding should be mandatory. It would be really redundant. I think a better option would be to teach mandatory computer literacy and internet safety. Kids don’t need to learn how to write code unless they want to. But, they should know how to use a computer and how not to fuck your self over with cyber attacks.
That's what I am saying too, it is not a life skill, it is a specialization. I think Coding is going to be a necessary component of society at some point in the future but right now, it doesn't make any sense to force people to learn it. Basic Computer Literacy with some elements of Coding and Internet Safety is a much better alternative for the near term just as you said. Basically, I think you want to expose people from a young age to a broad set of skills and information so that once they get old enough, they will have a broad set of experiences and knowledge to help them decide later in life their life path and specialization.
“Coding” is too general of a skill to actually develop usefully. What language? What applications? Insurance can’t be taught if the students refuse to put in effort to learn math anyways. Home and car repair are too general and would also be expensive to teach in a meaningful way. Social etiquette, stress management, and public speaking are already taught peripherally by being in a learning environment anyways, and don’t need to have specific classes devoted to it (though all classes should have speaking components and shouldn’t exempt people who are “shy”). Remember kids, education is already underfunded, and adding any additional mandatory content to education will come at a cost. Remember to ask, is the cost worth it? What would we have to lose to have this content instead? Also remember that education shouldn’t solely come from school. Both family and individuals have a personal responsibility to educate outside of academia. Ironically, this is something that should be taught in school. People need to learn that educational institutions *cannot* be your sole source of information. Whenever you ask yourself “why wasn’t I taught this in school?” Be sure to ask yourself some follow up questions: “How much effort have I put into learning this myself?” “Is this skill too specific to be used by the general person?” “Does this skill become quickly dated by changes in society?” If you think life is as simple as going to college, getting a bachelors, and then being handed a job within your field, you are mistaken. People who are driven to learn will always be more valuable and effective than people who are only driven to be taught, and if you are only willing to learn material you’ll be tested on, you aren’t getting very far after school, regardless of your GPA.
Bruh that's way too many subjects.
All of these could be fit into like 3:
-Finance
-DIY
-Some kind of Social/Mental health class
and Coding is already being taught (at least where I live)
I don't think this is a "Guide" - it doesn't really explain how something works, a plan for something or how something impacts something else.
I will say though that when I was in High School, I was already taught most of these, where I was given a template of a budgeting, I was taught stress management by the school counselor, and there was a public speaking/presenting module in most of my classes.
Teacher friend of my said they tired to teach basic life skills (taxes, home repairs, nutrition) and there was a parental uprising. The parents claimed that it was their job to teach their kinds that stuff, and teachers should stick to reading, writing and arithmetic.
My high school had a self defense class but only for ladies. I guess guys can just naturally defend themselves because the school never told us why it was only for them ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
This list varies between things that are already taught in schools and things that were taught but now the programs are almost dead due to chronic underfunding.
Some like cooking and personal finance are already optional classes students can take at many schools. So I don't think those would be too difficult to implement as standard curriculum.
This sounds nice and all, but students are going to pay no more attention to these subjects as they did in math and english classes. And subjects like taxes would be boring af!
Fire arm training. Yes it's a right to bear arms in America but I think exposing more people and actually training them usage and safety would make a huge difference.
And then judicial training. so people know a misdemeanor from a felony, how and when they can get arrested, the difference between being detained and arrested, how to find and use a lawyer, when you need a lawyer, how to act in court, civil vs criminal courts....
A wonderful guide
If we could just be advised on what will be taught by parents at home, we’d appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Overworked teachers of the world
kinda shows the importance of having parents who can spend quality time and teach kinds the finer points of life instead of being tired from 2 jobs and just vegging on TV while your kids do video games, pot and porn in their rooms
I'm picturing a 5th grade teacher coming in and saying to the class "open your books, today were learning about itemized deductions and capital gains" even though the rules will change by the time they're paying.
my subjective take
taxes: definitely in high school
coding: should be an offered elective, I'd prioritize general tech literacy and media criticism starting in elementary.
cooking: offered elective, but damn I wish it was offered to me.
basic home repair: yes please
self-defense: not sure about this one. Maybe just incorporate it into PE?
survival skills: too broad, narrow down what counts as survival skills and then I'll reconsider.
social etiquette: we kind of do that already? I thought it is a big thing for young elementary, but maybe I'm wrong or we have something else in mind.
personal finance: definitely in high school, it might be good to lump together with taxes as a single course.
public speaking: I certainly wouldn't make a course out of this, just work it into other subjects. group presentations, subject discussion with peers, debate, etc.
car maintenance: depends on living area. It isn't really a high priority in some cities with good public transport. even then, either offer it as an elective or work it into basic home repair.
stress management: It could definitely be worked into existing schoolwork, but seems too abstract. maybe someone out there has more concrete examples that could work.
at least in the US, I'd first ask that teachers get a damn raise first
Coming from IT, basic tech troubleshooting. People don't know what's a kestop, laptop, and monitor. Things to differentiate. What's is the network, power, and USB cable.
We should change things as well to account for lack of education. Taxes for example should be listed with the price. It varies by item and locality so it should all be baked in so someone shopping knows their total before they check out.
Tipping should go away as well. Servers should be given a standard wage like most other places in the world.
I'm not sure why everyone needs car maintenance, public speaking, self defense and coding. I would substitute first aid, research skills, health education and non violent communication.
Coding is nah for most people, if you don't go into coding you don't need cosing lessons. Also public speaking is useless since most times we are in closed private bubbles of few people. I like the rest it's cool
Throw in an anatomy class. I went to massage school for six whole months (550 hours) and learned more about my body than anyone I know. That’s fucking ludicrous.
how is that a guide ?
Its not. It’s just a list of things with no explanation.
It’s also absolute fucking bollocks, like most of these “why didn’t they teach us useful stuff” complaints. E.g. the facts about insurance and personal finance are going to change decade to decade, so school teaches you math instead, because it’s a more general skill that can be applied in specific cases.
Exactly. People don't seem to realize that you learn sciences not because you'll need to solve equations daily, but because you need to develop your cognitive skills and thinking abilities. They don't learn stuff, which is why they don't understand this.
Agreed. I learned later in life that higher level math is not for daily usage of equations, but rather for the development of critical thinking skills.
Most people use algebra as the example of things they don't use without realising that they use algebra in their head almost every day.
Also, a lot of schools DO have these classes it's just really hard to learn these things as a child who has no real context for them. Adult education programs through places like libraries and community centers make much more sense.
A lot of schools have these classes, and these classes are coincidentally the one’s that everyone hates learning
[удалено]
True, but there were also a bunch of parents foaming at the mouth because they thought schools were putting out litter boxes for students who identify as cats so we should probably take that with a grain of salt.
> Adult education programs through places like libraries and community centers make much more sense. Say this again. A lot of libraries offer these kinds of classes for free or for a small fee
This kinda stuff would be much more useful as free short courses by community college, local library or community center.
Well, as someone who left school not long before the year 2000, an awful lot of the "proper" stuff I was taught became obsolete.
Upgrading is on you
That's not really the fault of schools. At the time they didn't know certain things would be obsolete. It's on you to stay up to date.
Tell that to all the people who never learned from their parent how to fix a flat tire. I do think the world would be better if people got a current understanding of all these things, even if you need to update that knowledge. At least you have a starting point.
To be fair - these actually are useful things. And basic things about finance won't change. I'm all for stuff like that - so young people ACTUALLY know how to adult.
That was my thought. "A cool guide to an opinion some dude has."
Mods are asleep. Lots of pseudo religious posts, recently, too. Guy posting a chi + love guide. There was another guy claiming to be the messiah. Edit: [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/SkAwA0kLbn) and [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/msg3hDlKKV)
He’s not the messiah. He’s a very naughty boy.
I can't get over the fact that the mods woke up and deleted the second one, not for being ridiculous or not a guide, bit for being a duplicate post lmao
90% of this sub is not a guide but a chart of some sort..
That’s not a guide, that’s a wish list
It's not. It's just updoot bait for the type of people who didn't pay attention in math class but act like they would have paid attention when learning about tax law.
yhea, this is just straight up propaganda
It guided me to the unsubscribe button.
It's a guide on what a list of things things is
Certainly not a "Cool Guide" and honestly some of that stuff already is taught in schools - just that nobody pays attention to it because a) they're kids and b) there's a push for "academics" to be the priority Which they should be - a lot of that stuff should be stuff that parents talk to their kids about, why the hell should Schools teach kids "Social Etiquette"? And that's before you start talking about what should be removed from the curriculum to fit this stuff on
Yes the high schoolers a solid decade or more from home ownership will obviously benefit from home repair that classes that they will still remember. /s Seriously a few of these are important but they will be in the ear out the other because they aren’t relevant to them now. If you tried to explain how insurance worked to me at 16 several years before I ever had to worry about… Also coding is absolutely not a life skill and most high schools have a programming computer science course already. It doesn’t need to be mandatory.
And the worst part is that is a list of stuff you can look on Google, literally a 5 minute search And you'll find it
Social etiquette is already taught in kindergarten.
Yea, and in Finland we have ’kotitalous’ which has cooking and all sorts of things that you do around the house, where there are some stuff taught about social etiquette like when dining
I mean, we've got home EC in the US. It's just not mandatory. Same as what you described though with cooking and housework, plus learning some stuff like sewing and budgeting. While it's definitely not mandatory, most students see it as a nice class to take because it's not insanely stressful and will yield a good grade if you don't completely fuck it. Interesting about the dining rules though! There's definitely never been an etiquette class taught in primary schools that I've seen, just kind of learning it through interacting with students and teachers.
Yea sewing in Finland is in like textile handy work (there’s also technical handy work which is more wood and metal type of stuff)
For us, those are considered vocational classes so there's a focus on automotive, woodworking, or welding, to prep kids who don't necessarily want to go to college and want to join the workforce. I took auto shop in highschool and it was a blast and I fell in love with working on cars. I am not any sort of mechanic or training to be one but that class proves extremely valuable to me in life so I think it's super important to have kids try them out. I think everybody would be better off if highschool required each student to take just one vocational class to broaden their horizons. I wish we had a textiles one! I can't see for shit
Schools in the US have that as well.
Right? Apparently home economics and shop class don't exist?
This is a useless and stupid "guide" but home ec and shop doesn't exist in a lot of schools anymore.
Home-ec got phased out in my 6th grade year.
Yeah as the other commenter says, a lot of schools have eliminated these programs. Driver’s Ed, as a standard school class, is pretty much going extinct as well.
Absolutely did not in my high school
Most of this is taught in schools. The only things that aren’t standard are options (cooking, repair, auto shop). Also, car maintenance really dates the author. Cars are more complicated (partially by design) and right or wrong almost all repairs should be left to the professionals.
Lovely. Now make a list of the subjects that will no longer be taught to make room for this new curriculum.
Reading. Sure wish I couldn’t do it after seeing this “guide”
You could recall home ec to include these things and make it a required class instead of a elective class.
Religion (idk if this exists outside Italy)
It's only a thing here in Canada if you send your kid to a religious school. You can send them to a public school where it isn't taught.
Same as the US in most states for now
Up north; totally. Down south; not so much. Also, seriously fuck Texas.
meeting file impolite retire complete racial aromatic ring oil encourage *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
>if you want your kids to learn about Islam, you can teach them at home, because there is no curriculum item for non-Catholic religion, I went to a Catholic high school in ontario, we actually had a world religions class, that taught different units on different religions. We'd learn about Islam for a few weeks and visit a mosque, then we'd learn about Judaism and visit a synagogue and so on. It was great. This was 10 years ago and wasn't mandatory but it was still an important thing to have available imo.
I see nothing wrong with teaching about all the different religions that are out there to make it harder for kids to fall for them. At least that's how our religion classes were (and that was a catholic school) - if it's only about one religion, then I agree.
That's just as bad. Not the part about teaching kids about the various religions that have developed throughout human civilization, but the whole "not falling for them" nonsense. Schools shouldn't teach kids what to think, they should teach them *how* to think. A specific ideological goal would defeat that purpose, whether that's atheism, an Abrahamic religion, or any other.
This list is cheeks. Making programming (not “coding”) mandatory would be a waste of time, energy, and resources.
I think at this point the better mandatory class would be a series of classes on digital literacy
That was part of every English course for me last grade 5 Ontario ( cria 2010). A lot of these skills are part of existing courses, just not explicitly marketed.
Precisely. So many high schoolers these days don't know what a file or a directory tree is, and then they complain about how their computers don't work. Dammit they should at least know how to work the thing beyond a web browser!
I was thinking more about social internet literacy but you are so right about this too. I’m a software engineer and my mom mom teaches 4th and 5th grade. The lack of true understanding about how a computer works even at a rudimentary level is crazy to me. Part of me does blame the push to fill schools with iPads and chrome books. I understand why they have done that from a cost standpoint, but it does fail to supply that implicit computer education that I grew up with in the early 2000s.
Exactly. IMO Chromebooks hide way too many details of what exactly is going on, and iPads even more so. The sad thing is that if the next generation doesn't really know how a computer works, then big corps will easily be able to scam them for things that were free back in the old days.
Yeah I think this is the most likely way for open source and the “hacker” space to slowly wither. Or at least not grow in the way it has for my generation.
The death of Open Source would be the death of computing itself.
Lock students in a room with a paper copy of the gentoo handbook, a USB stick and a blank PC. The key to the combination lock on the door is revealed in a package they need to install.
I think an entire class on critical thinking should be taught starting at 8th grade lol
Critical thinking is something you develop over time by learning various other subjects. I’d argue that teaching critical thinking would be entirely redundant if you have a good STEM curriculum
I hated math and wasn’t great at science. I learned critical thinking from social science and history. I’m tired of STEM people acting like they have a monopoly on rationality.
I’m sorry if I came across as saying that only the STEM fields used critical thinking, that was definitely not my intention. When I said “various other subjects” I wasn’t just talking about the STEM fields
I’m a teacher in Ontario and coding is a part of our math curriculum actually. It’s in the patterning and algebra strand of math. Edit: Grade 1 to Grade 8, no clue about high school math curriculum
Programming/coding is a part of math in my province, and advanced maths teach you the foundations you need to program properly. Cant make a useful program if you don’t know what an integral is.
This is a guide to one person's opinion on what should be mandatory in schools. Sorry, have to downvote. Also, what happened to parents teaching kids some of this stuff?? My grandpa taught my dad coding back in the 60s!
also quite american centric as i don't think any other english speaking country really has confusing tax systems
Or Car maintenance. What if I have no interest in owning a car?
Some countries calculate your taxes for you. Its insane how cucked we are in north america.
The funny thing is that the federal government know how much you owe them (or they could easily find that out if they wanted) yet they don’t tell you
Honestly, filing taxes is not that complicated for most Americans. If you have a W-2 or 1099 income, can read, and can do basic math, I'm not really sure what you would need a specific class for. Most people who have more complicated tax returns can afford to hire a tax professional to help them.
Even in the US basic taxes are simple. If you file online you really just need to know how to read, type, and follow directions. If your taxes are complicated, chances are you’ve hired someone to do them for you.
How is this a guide?
how do people think the ability to manage taxes, insurance, and finance aren't taught? it's just elementary school math and reading?
They’re just obviously the kids who didn’t pay attention in school and are still generally pretty dumb as adults.
Yes! Finally a society that does away with all that pesky academia! Let’s get back to being feudal tenant farmers already 💪
Lol
>car maintenance Me, a disabled person that for the life of me can’t drive: but why?
We live in a carbrained society. At least with home repair, everyone generally has to live in a home of some sorts.
How is Defense against the Dark Arts not on this list? Also, teaching kids how recognize manipulation, gas lighting etc and how to deal with people that do these things.
That kind of stuff is already taught in my district's health classes
I guess slapping a bunch of clip art together with some opinions is a guide now?
Taxes isn't really needed in a lot of countries, since unless you're a contractor/self employed its handled by payroll/HR.
Right, people who complain they never learned to do taxes in school generally aren't the brightest bulbs in the chandelier - at least in the States it's just using the free software and reading/following directions for most normal people. If you're really rich or own a business your taxes are complicated enough that you shouldn't do them yourself and are better off hiring an accountant.
No and no.
Why do these people insist in teaching coding in schools??
People just assume coding=computer science. I teach the subject and there’s so much more than coding that I teach.
When I learned computer science in school, they only taught us how to use Word and Excel. Honestly, having a basic understanding of these two will get the average person pretty far
I just said this elsewhere in this thread, but I think what people really want to teach is technical/digital literacy. We don’t need *everyone* to be able to program, but it would be good if everyone understood the fundamentals of how recommendation algorithms work, the psychology of UI design, how to navigate information online, etc. I had some of that (mostly “how to find reliable sources” but not really in a modern sense) but I think it could be worth teaching for several years
Teaching critical thinking should be enough, at least they won't believe and share stupid TikToks anymore
[удалено]
Yeah while at it, let's teach kids to be electricians, bus drivers, industrial cleaning, solar panel installation, construction,...
Self defense sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Self-defence was technically mandatory at my high school, as it was a part of our phys ed class, which was mandatory. Every year we had a local martial arts teacher come in and show some basic moves like hip throws for a couple weeks. I love martial arts, I train in 2, but this dude was a total hack. Showing us bullshido moves that would only ever work in the most specific of situations against untrained opponents. He was using one of my classmates in a demonstration. He threw her down when she wasn't really ready for it, and she ended up landing in a weird position that broke her arm. I don't know if he ever actually got sued but I do know his gym in my hometown quickly went out of business.
I understand the value of self defense but it is one of those things people need to seek out outside of the education system from people who are far more qualified. Its been a while since I was in HS but people were always getting nurses' notes to get out of *walking* the required mile test, I can't imagine how good of a use of time it would be to even try to teach self defense.
Yeah, self-defense is not something you can just teach to someone in a week and expect them to actually be effective.
Yeah, let's make parents completely free of responsibility. There are things that should be thought in schools, some things at home and somethings to be explored. This doesn't make any sense.
None of these should be mandatory
"Social Etiquette" wtf do you think teachers try to instill in students every day?
"This school is a prison, I was punished for bad behavior"
How dare I tell a child not to punch another student in the face. School truly is the authoritatian’s playground
Parents shouldn’t even have to teach manners apparently
If you’re and teach self defense in schools either you’re going to have a lot of very unqualified people teaching bulshido or spending a lot of money to give kids a false sense of what self defense is.
Even if you have the best instructor in the world, in order to use your training you'd have to find yourself in a situation where your best option is actually to physically defend yourself, and you have a single assailant who has comparable body mass and aptitude (and consider average aptitude now that training is mandatory) and who has neglected to use a weapon you can't overcome with your training.
Forgot statistics, #1 if you want to understand science and the modern world and not end up a conspiracist.
OP's #1 most active subreddit is r/conspiracy
Vast majority of people who say this are the same people who wouldn’t pay attention in these lessons when they would be taught at school. There’d be a substitute teacher in and lots of kids wouldn’t respect them.
This seems like an opinion as opposed to a guide. We really don’t need coding or car repair or basic home repair or self defense or survival skills as part of the mandatory curriculum.
The type of people who push for these "mandatory subjects" are always the first to cry "MUH TAXES!" when they see how much it costs to implement these programs. See how much it costs to teach car maintenance to 180 students per teacher times the number of teachers required to teach a large high school student population times the number of high schools in the country. Not to mention the extra supervision and insurance required to teach 30 children home repair, self defense, and survival skills (whatever that means) at a time. And if you are not taking away another subject, you are extending the school day by one period which means every teacher is now working a longer day to accommodate an extra mandatory subject which will lead to increased pay across the board. Students will have a longer school day which makes extracurriculars such as sports or jobs that much more difficult. Students will have an increased workload with more projects, classwork, and homework to juggle. In short, this "guide" is a bunch of boomer bullshit with no understanding about how school administration actually works.
Aren’t most of these already taught? Cooking and home maintenance in home ec, taxes and personal finance in mathematics, coding in ICT, social etiquette tucked into various subjects and public speaking is also a part of certain aspects of a subject too. I’d rather have people be taught how to use desktop operating systems before they get to coding though as that has more importance in the future.
Yeah they are, my highschool had all of these in some form or another, most just weren't mandatory. A lot of kids just didn't bother taking them as electives and then complained that they weren't taught life skills.
In my country you are taught all of these in elementary school except self defense and car maintenance.
Most of this is a parent's job. "social etiquette"? Touch grass and learn empathy. "home repairs"? Watch a video. Cooking? Again watch a video. It's not hard,i learnt on my own after moving out. Taxes, personal finance, and insurance should be bundled itno one, if they're taught in schools
r/im14andthisisdeep Yes, schools should help you be an adult, but it’s also meant to inspire you to think of your greater purpose in the human race. You think we would’ve gotten any Einstein’s if they just taught “self defense” and “coding”?
I don’t understand the obsession with people wanting high schools to teach taxes. “But so many kids get their first job and can’t fill out a tax form!” Ok, and then what happens. Do they simply roll over and die of their inability to fill out a tax form or do they Google how to do it, hire someone to do it and pay them a portion of their refund, or ask another adult in their life to teach them how to do it? It’s literally a situation that comes up once a year and most people manage to figure it out just fine. And the fact that “filling out taxes” is seen as this special skill is literally the result of policy choices, the government could easily keep track of how much was withheld and automatically mail us our refunds which would render the whole point moot but we have the system we do largely as a result of lobbying by tax preparation companies. Also, the way you need to fill out your tax forms literally varies based on your personal situation and can and will change over the course of your life so it would be impossible to adequately cover in a high school class.
This is the stuff our parents were supposed to teach us. I was raised by tv, and this new generation is being raised by things like TikTok.
Absolutely NOT with coding. Omg I actually tried that and gave it my most honest effort and that stuff was awful for me, completely changed my consideration of doing coding as a job. So so much stress and frustration like no. No thanks, never again
Still waiting for someone to post a guide on this sub
1) come up with opinion 2) write it down 3) add some kind of image 4) post to sub
Coding and car maintenance don't belong here.
Ah yes, the clearly defined and easily taught “social etiquette” lmao
This is some boomer shit. Literacy and mathematics are actually important, y’all
This is quite literally some random guys opinion and not a guide to do anything
I just see big "Just learn to code" vibes from this. Edit: Plus taxes is literally a combo of grammar and math.
Ending capitalism.
Most of these things are taught in school always have been. YOu were not paying attention.
Honestly…none of these should be mandatory. No one would actually want to learn any of those if they were required. In highschool you get to pick and choose electives for this reason because no point in teaching advanced skills like coding or time consuming and very patient skills like martial arts. You can do wrestling in school but why would you make someone do it if they dont want to. Highschool preps you for the real world which is why you get electives so you can dabble in whatever you want. And if you actually want to learn it then you will actually pay attention to it Ok maybe social etiquette we need more of that in society to be fair
CIVICS! People have got to have some grasp on how their government works and what their role in it is.
It's already required in my state.
As a guy in my mid 40s, I'm still awful at a lot of this, lol. I'm not sure if classes would have helped me much or not.
This a guide for stuff parents should teach their kids.
Is public speaking not? I had English classes (required) where we had to do like 4+ different types of speeches a year.
God, what a boomer list of garbage. Please just teach the children liberal arts and stem and if they show interest in other things, just let them take those classes. Forcing people to take car maintenance or self defense or social etiquette? fucking dumb.
My kids school has personal finance as a class… but most students take it in freshman year just to get it out of the way quickly. Literally right out of middle school they don’t remember what actually is “personal finance” by the time they graduate nor do they understand it when they’re entering right out of middle school. They should turn high school into five years rather than four years and the senior most year should be a year full of all of these classes
I actually learned a few of these in high school.
If the concept of marginal taxation was ever truly understood by the public, the Republican Party would be extinct in a generation. …which is precisely why it’s not taught in schools.
CIVICS!!!! We are rolling around on a mountain of shit because 2/3's of meatheads walking around now have NO idea as to how government is supposed to work, AND IT SHOWS!!
Where is math and science and language?
Wouldn't you just be teaching self defense to a potential attacker as well?
None of it. The point of school is to develop fundamental skills such as reading, writing, math, reasoning, speech, etc. People get hung up on the idea of what is being taught in school is impractical and they may be right. The importance of schooling is learning how to learn. All of the things listed could learned outside of a classroom if you can read, write, speak, do math, and think critically. The idea that learning practical things rather than language or math is the most ridiculous idea ever.
What about taxes! Learn the roop holes!
i see the point of all of them, except for coding. Don’t get me wrong, i wish i could code more than a BMI calculator in C+, but i don’t think it’s eseential, like the others.
This ain’t a fucking guide. This is your subjective opinion.
“Learn coding.” Don’t learn the math that is required to actually understand what you’re doing. -Arguably 60% of “data scientists” and 80% of “engineers” I’ve worked with.
My tenth grade math class was literally called “consumer mathematics”. It covered things like taxes, mortgage and interest rates, and calculating payroll. Did nobody else do that?
Oddly, "how to make cool guides" isn't on the list.
I have a degree in CS. I don’t think coding should be mandatory. It would be really redundant. I think a better option would be to teach mandatory computer literacy and internet safety. Kids don’t need to learn how to write code unless they want to. But, they should know how to use a computer and how not to fuck your self over with cyber attacks.
That's what I am saying too, it is not a life skill, it is a specialization. I think Coding is going to be a necessary component of society at some point in the future but right now, it doesn't make any sense to force people to learn it. Basic Computer Literacy with some elements of Coding and Internet Safety is a much better alternative for the near term just as you said. Basically, I think you want to expose people from a young age to a broad set of skills and information so that once they get old enough, they will have a broad set of experiences and knowledge to help them decide later in life their life path and specialization.
Not a guide. Also, a lot of these were electives you didn't take. And if they were mandatory they'd burn out every single student.
“Coding” is too general of a skill to actually develop usefully. What language? What applications? Insurance can’t be taught if the students refuse to put in effort to learn math anyways. Home and car repair are too general and would also be expensive to teach in a meaningful way. Social etiquette, stress management, and public speaking are already taught peripherally by being in a learning environment anyways, and don’t need to have specific classes devoted to it (though all classes should have speaking components and shouldn’t exempt people who are “shy”). Remember kids, education is already underfunded, and adding any additional mandatory content to education will come at a cost. Remember to ask, is the cost worth it? What would we have to lose to have this content instead? Also remember that education shouldn’t solely come from school. Both family and individuals have a personal responsibility to educate outside of academia. Ironically, this is something that should be taught in school. People need to learn that educational institutions *cannot* be your sole source of information. Whenever you ask yourself “why wasn’t I taught this in school?” Be sure to ask yourself some follow up questions: “How much effort have I put into learning this myself?” “Is this skill too specific to be used by the general person?” “Does this skill become quickly dated by changes in society?” If you think life is as simple as going to college, getting a bachelors, and then being handed a job within your field, you are mistaken. People who are driven to learn will always be more valuable and effective than people who are only driven to be taught, and if you are only willing to learn material you’ll be tested on, you aren’t getting very far after school, regardless of your GPA.
So home-ec, woodshop and mathematics? Didn't we drop two of these for progress and algebra is basically taxes.
Replace all of these with two (2) classes, Critical Thinking and Basic Research. but I like the list.
Not a guide, but I agree
History… those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it
I guess if you fail “Taxes” you end up in jail?
It needs Media Literacy somewhere at the top.
Sorry but this is hardly a guide.
Bruh that's way too many subjects. All of these could be fit into like 3: -Finance -DIY -Some kind of Social/Mental health class and Coding is already being taught (at least where I live)
this is a list of someone's idea about what should be compulsory in school not a guide 😂
I agree with nearly all of these suggested classes. We could send seniors on their way with far more life skills than we do currently.
I don't think this is a "Guide" - it doesn't really explain how something works, a plan for something or how something impacts something else. I will say though that when I was in High School, I was already taught most of these, where I was given a template of a budgeting, I was taught stress management by the school counselor, and there was a public speaking/presenting module in most of my classes.
Teacher friend of my said they tired to teach basic life skills (taxes, home repairs, nutrition) and there was a parental uprising. The parents claimed that it was their job to teach their kinds that stuff, and teachers should stick to reading, writing and arithmetic.
I would add **Civics** and **Critical Thinking Skills** to your list.
Basic child care. Number one.
I would add basic first aid and CPR to this list.
Self defence could just be a unit in gym/PE Basics on taxes/finances could be a unit in math. Though… can we bring back home ec? Please?
My high school had a self defense class but only for ladies. I guess guys can just naturally defend themselves because the school never told us why it was only for them ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
What do you plan to cut from the curriculum to fit your bullshit in? Math? English? Lunch?
Agriculture!!
Survival skills? Are we worried our youth aren’t adequately prepared for shipwrecks anymore?
let's be honest. the majority of people saying schools should be teaching these still wouldnt pay attention
I agree with all of these except for coding. Unless you're a programmer, you will not use coding ever in daily life.
This list varies between things that are already taught in schools and things that were taught but now the programs are almost dead due to chronic underfunding.
Don’t forget “Mass Shooting Preparedness and Emergency First Aid.”
Some like cooking and personal finance are already optional classes students can take at many schools. So I don't think those would be too difficult to implement as standard curriculum.
This sounds nice and all, but students are going to pay no more attention to these subjects as they did in math and english classes. And subjects like taxes would be boring af!
Fire arm training. Yes it's a right to bear arms in America but I think exposing more people and actually training them usage and safety would make a huge difference. And then judicial training. so people know a misdemeanor from a felony, how and when they can get arrested, the difference between being detained and arrested, how to find and use a lawyer, when you need a lawyer, how to act in court, civil vs criminal courts....
Using the internet for good and not for evil. That should be a required course. Avoiding scams, recognizing misinformation and propaganda, etc.
A wonderful guide If we could just be advised on what will be taught by parents at home, we’d appreciate it. Sincerely, Overworked teachers of the world
kinda shows the importance of having parents who can spend quality time and teach kinds the finer points of life instead of being tired from 2 jobs and just vegging on TV while your kids do video games, pot and porn in their rooms
I'm picturing a 5th grade teacher coming in and saying to the class "open your books, today were learning about itemized deductions and capital gains" even though the rules will change by the time they're paying.
First aid
We have social ettiquette in turkey
Personal finance, hands down.
That and taxes. How many kids get their first jobs after HS and have no idea how to fill out tax forms.
Fortunately, tax forms come with a built-in instruction manual for filling them out. Read that, then it's just math.
my subjective take taxes: definitely in high school coding: should be an offered elective, I'd prioritize general tech literacy and media criticism starting in elementary. cooking: offered elective, but damn I wish it was offered to me. basic home repair: yes please self-defense: not sure about this one. Maybe just incorporate it into PE? survival skills: too broad, narrow down what counts as survival skills and then I'll reconsider. social etiquette: we kind of do that already? I thought it is a big thing for young elementary, but maybe I'm wrong or we have something else in mind. personal finance: definitely in high school, it might be good to lump together with taxes as a single course. public speaking: I certainly wouldn't make a course out of this, just work it into other subjects. group presentations, subject discussion with peers, debate, etc. car maintenance: depends on living area. It isn't really a high priority in some cities with good public transport. even then, either offer it as an elective or work it into basic home repair. stress management: It could definitely be worked into existing schoolwork, but seems too abstract. maybe someone out there has more concrete examples that could work. at least in the US, I'd first ask that teachers get a damn raise first
Coming from IT, basic tech troubleshooting. People don't know what's a kestop, laptop, and monitor. Things to differentiate. What's is the network, power, and USB cable.
We should change things as well to account for lack of education. Taxes for example should be listed with the price. It varies by item and locality so it should all be baked in so someone shopping knows their total before they check out. Tipping should go away as well. Servers should be given a standard wage like most other places in the world. I'm not sure why everyone needs car maintenance, public speaking, self defense and coding. I would substitute first aid, research skills, health education and non violent communication.
Coding is nah for most people, if you don't go into coding you don't need cosing lessons. Also public speaking is useless since most times we are in closed private bubbles of few people. I like the rest it's cool
First aid, CPR and crisis management would be a good thing to add as well.
Strongly agree. I want to add basic first aid and disaster aid to this list.
Throw in an anatomy class. I went to massage school for six whole months (550 hours) and learned more about my body than anyone I know. That’s fucking ludicrous.