Should you learn life skills in school?

I was debating with two students from America and the debate was the significance of subjects taught here in the uk vs there. They think that you should be taught life skills; such as how to pay mortgages, bills, car payments etc in school compared to subjects that will not affect them in the future. One of them wants to do business and stated she does not need biology to do business or learn how to do equations in maths but instead should be taught life skills. I agreed with the fact that you should be taught on what you want to do but you shouldn't go to school to learn how to pay mortgages/bills because that's something that your parents can teach you. but one of them replied with the fact that there is no law that your parents SHOULD teach you so they shouldn't have to but teachers who get paid should? Also that parents are just there to feed you, give you a house. what do you guys think? i can't cope with two v 1

I definitely think life skills should be taught in schools throughout a child's life (not a 2 hour session once that they'll forget instantly).

In our economy most parents are working and don't have as much time as they may have done in the past to teach their kids everything their parents may have taught them. While people can argue til the cows come home that it's the parent's responsibility, it doesn't change the fact that either way this is something every new generation needs to learn ...and in my experience it's something most of my generation definitely don't seem to have been taught by anyone.

The amount of students in university who:

- don't understand how their overdraft works
-don't understand basic cooking techniques
-cannot use a washing machine
-don't understand how to budget
-don't understand how taxes work
-don't have a clue what credit history is or why it's important
-don't understand how to use their bank account
-don't understand binding legal contracts (this one affects a lot of uni students with accommodation messes)
-don't know how to set up or pay bills
-etc

It's shocking and something needs to be done about it, because with this ignorance comes problems. you get young people getting into serious no frills debt because they don't understand the consequences of their actions. Or have their credit history shattered before they even turn 20 and it is hard to climb back up. Granted adults should take responsibility for their actions, but it would be much better avoided if they were just taught continuously from a young age rather than thrust in at the deep end. While I usually agree that in a lot of cases it's good to learn from mistakes, these types of issues are not ones I think should have mistakes made in them as they can have serious repercussions for years.

Treat the disease, not the symptom.


People are always saying this about the younger generation since the dawn of time. We're all still here.

I definitely think life skills should be taught in schools throughout a child's life (not a 2 hour session once that they'll forget instantly).

In our economy most parents are working and don't have as much time as they may have done in the past to teach their kids everything their parents may have taught them. While people can argue til the cows come home that it's the parent's responsibility, it doesn't change the fact that either way this is something every new generation needs to learn ...and in my experience it's something most of my generation definitely don't seem to have been taught by anyone.

The amount of students in university who:

- don't understand how their overdraft works
-don't understand basic cooking techniques
-cannot use a washing machine
-don't understand how to budget
-don't understand how taxes work
-don't have a clue what credit history is or why it's important
-don't understand how to use their bank account
-don't understand binding legal contracts (this one affects a lot of uni students with accommodation messes)
-don't know how to set up or pay bills
-etc

It's shocking and something needs to be done about it, because with this ignorance comes problems. you get young people getting into serious no frills debt because they don't understand the consequences of their actions. Or have their credit history shattered before they even turn 20 and it is hard to climb back up. Granted adults should take responsibility for their actions, but it would be much better avoided if they were just taught continuously from a young age rather than thrust in at the deep end. While I usually agree that in a lot of cases it's good to learn from mistakes, these types of issues are not ones I think should have mistakes made in them as they can have serious repercussions for years.

I agree with that, some parents don't have time but they've taught you basic life skills throughout growing up and still will teach you. Event though parents are at work sometimes it is the childs responsibility to go and find out things for yourself and be independent. you don't get spoon fed everything. Teachers are there to teach something you don't know, yes you don't know how to pay mortgages however that's something that can easily be done. Cooking, using a washing machine, budgets are things you've seen as you grow up.