What new subject do you think schools need?

CyanideSandwich

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There are lots of subjects in schools nowadays, but do we need something new? There are some subjects which - lets face it - are pointless. (eg. Year 10 English. We all know English, now we're just going in circles) So, what do you think schools should have? Something that will really be useful in our lives. Something that the kids today really need. Anyway, that's enough from me. Off you go.
 

Mr. Fancy Pants

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Industrial Arts should be compulsory throughout the entirety of the educational process. Most useful thing I ever learned. I can design and make stuff on which you guys would spend thousands of dollars, while it costs me next to nothing. I can fix my own car, while most people pay a mechanic $200 to fix an oil leak, it costs me 5 cents worth of Silicon.

Basic First Aid should be compulsory too.
 

Aris Khandr

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Call it "Daily Living". Teach things like how to calculate, plan for, and live on a budget, prepare a few basic, healthy meals, balance a check book, and similar situations that come up in daily life as an adult. Perhaps also cover how saving and investing money work.

Debate. I know a lot of schools offer this as an elective or extracurricular, but it should be a mandatory class. There are few skills as valuable as being able to see where someone else is coming from, and argue with them without resorting to name calling, fallacies, or threats.

Controversially, I'd also like to see all students required to take a class on at least one religion that is not theirs. For the purposes of that, we'll count Christianity as one religion. The instructor should not be of that religion, and (if possible), not of the religion of the majority of the students, either. This gives them a completely unbiased point of view. The class should cover beliefs, role in the community, speakers from the religion, and possibly visit to a place of worship to observe, meet leaders, and ask questions. I believe that with those rules in place, it would avoid violating the separation of church and state, but provide some much needed lessons in respect and tolerance for those who do not share your beliefs.
 

Layz92

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I would say a class on marketing, body language and picking out lies so students would at least stand a little better chance of not being sucked in when they are older. This would be mandatory.
 

tzimize

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Aris Khandr said:
Call it "Daily Living". Teach things like how to calculate, plan for, and live on a budget, prepare a few basic, healthy meals, balance a check book, and similar situations that come up in daily life as an adult. Perhaps also cover how saving and investing money work.

Debate. I know a lot of schools offer this as an elective or extracurricular, but it should be a mandatory class. There are few skills as valuable as being able to see where someone else is coming from, and argue with them without resorting to name calling, fallacies, or threats.
The first part. A thousand times this. There is WAY too little practical information in school. I didnt give a shit how people in my coutry spoke 1000 years ago when I was in school, and I dont now. Why the hell is this garbage on the curicculum? Spend the time that should be spent preparing kids for real life actually preparing them for real life.

The debate thing is also good, but in any decent class there should be debates now and then anyway. And it should give the teacher opportunity enough to guide pupils to be at least mediocre debaters.

The industrial thingy I saw here is also good. Repairing stuff. Some basic mechanics, tool use. Etc.
 

Jordi

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Aris Khandr said:
Call it "Daily Living". Teach things like how to calculate, plan for, and live on a budget, prepare a few basic, healthy meals, balance a check book, and similar situations that come up in daily life as an adult. Perhaps also cover how saving and investing money work.
We kind of had a subject like that. I also though that this is pretty much what "Home Ec(onomics)" was supposed to be about (I see that some US TV shows), but I'm not from the US so I don't really know.

Aris Khandr said:
Debate. I know a lot of schools offer this as an elective or extracurricular, but it should be a mandatory class. There are few skills as valuable as being able to see where someone else is coming from, and argue with them without resorting to name calling, fallacies, or threats.
Agreed. Debating is really important.

I also think that it would be extremely useful to teach programming, statistics and the scientific method. Statistics, because 1) people are extremely bad at that shit and 2) because it is very useful when seeing through bullshit figures/numbers/statistics that plague everyday life in commercials and even (pop) scientific articles. You know the saying "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics"? Teaching statistics might give you a chance to see through those lies (and maybe also to fabricate them...).
Programming is not only very useful because it is becoming more and more pervasive in society, but it also teaches you a way of thinking that will help you in every aspect of your life. You learn to analyze, to break down problems into more manageable chunks and it helps you think systematically.
Finally, I want to see the scientific method applied to real world situations. I know they probably teach it in most physics and chemistry courses, but it seems to me that a lot of people don't automatically realize that it is an extremely powerful concept that can pretty much be applied to everything. I would like to see people thinking more critically about the things they see and hear.
 

The Cheshire

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Is "phillosophy" teached in the US schools? Cause that is a must for anyone who wishes to think with a little basis.
 

ChupathingyX

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CyanideSandwich said:
There are lots of subjects in schools nowadays, but do we need something new? There are some subjects which - lets face it - are pointless. (eg. Year 10 English. We all know English, now we're just going in circles) So, what do you think schools should have? Something that will really be useful in our lives. Something that the kids today really need. Anyway, that's enough from me. Off you go.
Not in my schools.

Seriously especially in my English classes I'm surrounded by people who still can barely read. They sound out like every fifth word and pronounce a lot of words wrong.

Not to mention the amount of times I've seen "a lot" spelt as "alot", that makes me rage inside.
 

l3lazec

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-Critical Thinking/Logic
-Financial Planning (how to spend your money, knowing how to save money and what not to do)
 

James Kortright

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CyanideSandwich said:
There are lots of subjects in schools nowadays, but do we need something new? There are some subjects which - lets face it - are pointless. (eg. Year 10 English. We all know English, now we're just going in circles) So, what do you think schools should have? Something that will really be useful in our lives. Something that the kids today really need. Anyway, that's enough from me. Off you go.
While I technically agree with you here, the dribble I hear coming out of most kids mouths suggest to me that they need keep it up until their late 40s lol.

OT: I would say criminal law. If only so that we can say upon their leaving school "yes, you do understand right from wrong. Your grades say so" lol
 

Trippy Turtle

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May 10, 2010
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Aris Khandr said:
Call it "Daily Living". Teach things like how to calculate, plan for, and live on a budget, prepare a few basic, healthy meals, balance a check book, and similar situations that come up in daily life as an adult. Perhaps also cover how saving and investing money work.

Debate. I know a lot of schools offer this as an elective or extracurricular, but it should be a mandatory class. There are few skills as valuable as being able to see where someone else is coming from, and argue with them without resorting to name calling, fallacies, or threats.

Controversially, I'd also like to see all students required to take a class on at least one religion that is not theirs. For the purposes of that, we'll count Christianity as one religion. The instructor should not be of that religion, and (if possible), not of the religion of the majority of the students, either. This gives them a completely unbiased point of view. The class should cover beliefs, role in the community, speakers from the religion, and possibly visit to a place of worship to observe, meet leaders, and ask questions. I believe that with those rules in place, it would avoid violating the separation of church and state, but provide some much needed lessons in respect and tolerance for those who do not share your beliefs.
1: i agree but that could be covered inside of another class.

2: most schools cover that in english but other then that i wouldn't mind.

3: this im not so sure about. Maybe teaching us how to accept other peoples beliefs but i wouldn't want to sit through learning about that religion. This is why i think persuasive essays/speeches are not good. i really don't care what other people think and if they don't see the same way as me i don't really want them to try to persuade me any more then i want to try and persuade them.
If people are willing to believe in god (they could be perfectly right) without proof then i don't really want them bringing their ideas and trying to change mine. i'm perfectly happy with my beliefs and couldn't care less if i'm wrong. I would rather be happy and wrong then confused and right.

I am extremely tired so this probably came out completely wrong.
 

JoJo

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Istvan said:
Critical thinking
Did that for AS-level, easiest A I've ever got.

OT: Basic life skills and parenting, simple but useful.
 

Zac Smith

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More in depth sex ed, rather then, put this on, this goes there baby comes out. Kids in the UK really need to learn more about it to fully understand it, which would certainly help many problems we have in this country