What don't they teach in schools anymore?

[FlightlessDuck]

I never learned gardening or laundry at school in the early 90's.

I think this is all a problem of there only being so much time in a day, you know? How are we supposed to prepare our children to be the workforce of the future AND teach them how to cook and clean. What exactly are parents supposed to be doing? Isn't this their job?

 

[Gracedis1]

Correct typing skills before they develop bad habits. And definitely a signature in cursive. I've worked with many young adults who print their signature.

 

[DLgal]

Teach them how to do independent living stuff. Have them do these things during their time off after you teach them how:

1. Make their own breakfast and lunch including clean up
2. Do their own laundry. All of it. Sorting, washing, folding.
3. Clean their bathroom. Wash the towels.
4. Change their bedsheets. Wash those too.
5. Vacuum and MOP the floor
6. Run the dishwasher and unload it
7. Get the mail and learn how to recognize junk mail
8. Take out the trash, take the bins to the street, bring them back in
9. Show them how to make a grocery list by checking which items are running low
10. Show them how to address a letter, stamp it and mail it (send a letter to a relative or something
11. Show them how to turn off the water and gas to the house and show them where the circuit breaker is and how it works.

 

[DLgal]

Correct typing skills before they develop bad habits. And definitely a signature in cursive. I've worked with many young adults who print their signature.

My 73 year old father still prints his signature. It has never been a problem in his life. Signatures do not have to be in cursive. My 15 year old son prints his signature. He hates cursive writing.

 

[MrsBooch]

Sewing - simple sewing. Sewing on a button, doing a hem, etc
Also this is something I think is very important but - general pop culture from 1940's 50's and up. Kids should know about Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Where's the Beef, Andy Warhol, etc - I have a Trivial Prusuit from each decade - i used to just drill down on the questions. People are really confused as to why I know so much about shows and cultural events that happened well before "my time" - I think it's a massive disservice to kids to NOT clue them in. The world existed before they did.

 

[China Expat]

As a teacher I second every item in all above posts, plus how to tell time without a phone, and some basic geography-countries, US states and capitals. Current events around the world. For high school students, developing their CV for college applications and a draft personal statement.

 

[marthachick]

Oh yes! How to tell time on a clock with hands!

 

[Wendy1985]

Not surebif they ever taught this but how to use a search engine my friend is asking me questions that is better answered by Google, yes it was not untill recently that I learned how cool Google can be

 

[Cubbiecakes]

Disagree with most of the above, except the home ec/typing class.

These should all fall squarely on parents' shoulders; why did you have kids if you're not going to teach them basic life skills?

 

[dclpluto]

Common sense
The way kids look now a days I will have to say exercise.
All the military branches had to up their weight charts because they couldn’t get enough recruits in the weight range they had.
Sorry I call it like I see it

 

[Cubbiecakes]

Common sense
The way kids look now a days I will have to say exercise.
All the military branches had to up their weight charts because they couldn’t get enough recruits in the weight range they had.
Sorry I call it like I see it

Why should they exercise when Mumsy and Daddikins drive them everywhere and only let them do supervised, safe play dates?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Common sense (especially in daily problem solving) and common courtesy. Too often these don't get taught or even modeled at home (although, ideally, kids should learn these from their parents), so the classroom is the only place kids might have a chance to learn these important life skills. And when these aren't even taught or modeled in the classroom...