elementary logic like what is used in the clues by sam game does not take massive knowledge of other subjects at a high level yet only some colleges require it so even like a PhD can go through life without ever having had a course in it. Its maybe a bit easier to explain when they have been through things like algebra where math is a bit more abstracted. Still its easy enough to play the game with them and explain why a particular square must be a particular way. Its also good in that you can say you know I can’t figure out this one so lets get the clue and show that its an important thing but you know its not easy. So it is this wierd subject that is basic enough to engage with a child on it but advanced enough to never really master it. I guess in some ways that makes it like chess.
Cooking, each generation is losing the skill.
I got taught that in school as well as all the basic nutritin stuff
Wouldn’t it be better to have affordable delivery food? Cooks focus on the cooking, regular people won’t have to spend so much time learning and doing cooking, and focus on their own work/play
A human is not an ant! We don’t have to specialize THAT hard! A person should be able to read, cook, clean, do laundry, hammer a nail, screw a screw, paint a picture, and write a poem, at the very least.
that list feels a bit outdated. What about write a simple program? Make basic 3d models and 3d prints? Some photography and video editing. Design a simple website. Even if you aren’t a tiktoker, these are fairly essential skills in the modern world. And if we’re throwing in poetry and painting, might as well throw in music, sports, sewing, gardening.
I’m not saying humans should specialize on a single skill. I just think people should be able to choose not to cook in favor of learning other skills. At a certain point, society should reach a point where somebody can say “I don’t need a kitchen in my house, I’ll just eat out all the time”.
The problem with your argument is that humans need to eat somewhere between 2 and 5 times a day. Nothing else on your list comes anywhere close to that level of frequency or importance. Just because you learn how to cook doesn’t mean you have to cook every meal either. You should still just know how to do it.
That being said, there is an economic line where this matters. If you make $100 an hour, and have the opportunity to work overtime, cooking is a waste of your time unless you’re batch cooking or just doing it for enjoyment. However, If you’re making $12 an hour, the time cooking likely saves you more money than you would make working and then using that to pay for meals out. The actual tipping point will change depending on your wage and the cost of food.
I’m a bit of a wierdo in this, I have not once in my almost 40 years of life ever ordered food delivered to me. I’ve gone out to eat, I’ve picked up takeout myself, but I have never had food delivered to my home. I make enough for that to make sense, but I just don’t.
But we also need to go to the toilet a few times a day. Doesn’t mean everybody should do some plumbling. Why can’t food be treated like a utility, like electricity and water?
The answer to that is yes… Everyone should be able to do a little bit of plumbing.
However you don’t need to a plumber every time you use the toilet so that’s a bad example.
The concern is scale, Someone cooks your food every time you eat. One person can only cook for a limited number of humans. It only takes a dozen people to actively provide water to every house in a city.
That being agreeable is one of the greatest cheats in life. No matter how much you know on something, or how smart you are, if your personality sucks you won’t get very far.
So many talented and skilled people I know failed because they just would not work with other people very well. It’s extremely rare to be an individual talent skilled enough to overcome that barrier, so at least work on yourself a little bit so you don’t die from pride.
This one goes way farther than people realize. My father built a great career as an engineer with a large network of people who would hire him in an instant. He’s just nice, polite, and helps the people around him.
I’m very similar to him and it’s worked very well for me too. I might be stupid as fuck sometimes, but I own it and I’m nice. I’m somewhat early in my career but I can already see what my behavior gets me.
Oh yeah being a friendly and helpful engineer sets you apart lol. It’s done great things for me
Critical thinking skills - they’re actually very difficult to teach and constantly incorporating them into everyday life is super important
The easiest but most tricky way is through paranoia. It’s easier to look at the bigger picture of whatever you’re presented with if you always doubt the intentions of the one doing the presenting. Of course that could backfire by then doubting subject matter experts like doctors and physicists and end up becoming antivaxxers or flat earthers.
This is why teaching formal logic and basic philosophy should be right up there with critical thinking skills in general
Cooking, efficient cleaning, basic repairs
Heck I still barely have skills in these sets. My cooking is really basic, my cleaning is likely not every efficient and what is took me years to get, and I muddle through repairs.
Real history that explains how existing power structures came to exist. Not the bullshit history that schools teach, which is just wrote memorization and usually ignorant of the most important themes of class struggle.
“The schools we go to are reflections of the society that created them. Nobody is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help set you free.” -Assata Shakur
Compound Interest.
and
If it seems to good to be true, you’re probably getting scammed.
You didn’t learn compound interest in school?
I did.
(i actually took AP Stats and learned a good deal more than that)
But many, many do not.
And it is of vital importance that that anyone in this … final stage capitalist / technofeudal dystopia understand it well.
The US education system at least has fallen off a goddamned cliff, average kid is now 3 years behind grade level in literacy, I think its similar with numeracy.
Shits gettin’ real bad, really fast… if you have kids, you need to make sure they understand compound interest.
- financial literacy
- teach them what money means and what their time is worth
- philosophy
- teach them about multifaceted perspectives, there isn’t good vs evil but multiple shades of gray
- resiliency
- impose upon them that failure only happens when you learn nothing from your mistakes, everything else is just a setback
- health and medical
- teach them about their body, what it means to eat nutrient rich meals, and first aid
- self-reliance
- when you’re the only person with a clue, you’re your only hope, be your own advocate and rely on your own skills and judgment
all the other things like ethics, empathy, emotional IQ, constructive thought, etc will fall into place with a basic understanding of the above. the point is to challenge them and provide a support system for when they fall.
- financial literacy
Financial literacy and responsibility, life skills: laundry, dishes, vacuuming, hygiene, cooking and recipe reading. General well being, teach them to be somewhat physical regularly and exercise with them to promote it more so.
That last part is essential. People learn much more habits from observing people than from being told. Best one can do is be a good role model.
Schools are obsessed with academics because they tend to be more easily measurable. Therefore, they are spending less time building character, morals, and thinking skills. Teaching them how to be a good person is more important than ever.
I teach all of my kids that “no” is a complete sentence. I want them to be very conscious of consent, but I also want them all to respect their own wishes.
Unrelated, I also teach them all how to throw a good punch and keep their god damned hands up and chin down as soon as I think they have enough self control not to abuse it.
‘No’ is grounds for suspension at Bede Polding College, Australia.
Obligatory fuck Catholic schools, and the fascist teachers running them.
As a teacher for a decade. Read a clock, understand geography, science activities, history activities. We teach out of a manual now, and it’s all so the admins can jerk off to higher scores for ELA and Math.
Wait in some countrys learning to read clock isnt primary school material?
Morality, mostly. School is okay at teaching information, but is pretty bad at teaching behavior and mindset.
Also, actual history and current events. Holy shit US history classes are bad. Even AP history barely touches on the political concepts that are the backbone of the subject. It’s all war war battles dates war.
I kinda disagree. I’d even say that’s the main thing that kids are supposed to learn especially in elementary school. Social skills and behaviour are the things that are great to teach in groups. Not so great at home with 1-3 kids
patience, empathy, and compound interest.
This.
and for elementary school
