should highschool kids be taught basic life skills

[Ralikon]

They already have this through electives

[micgre8162]

I still use lessons from Home Economics, which I took almost 25 years ago. It's been much more useful than Shop. I can see a case for making HomeEc mandatory. I'm not sure that changing a tire or checking oil qualifies as a life skill for everyone. I haven't owned a car in 5 years and don't miss it. I can do 95% of everything I need to do using public transportation or a bicycle. The remaining 5% doesn't cost anywhere near what a car costs every month, so the math just doesn't support owning one.

[Nilinor]

People had to be taught to fix a tire or check oil? Seriously?

I am in shock, no one "taught" me those things, and yet miraculously I know how to do it. Its not freakin rocket surgery. The only real basic thing you need to be taught if you are trying to save all of $5 is how to change your oil, other than that those things should be automatic skills you have.

[chazus]

I feel like learning basic skills is easier than ever.

Earlier this week, my washing machine broke. It just stopped doing anything, but I could tell it was still powering on. A quick google and I tore the whole thing apart, down to the motor, replaced some wires, and now it works fine again.

I replaced my entire toilet as well, since I'm renovating my house. A quick google and learned how to do all of it.

Half my car repairs, replacing the radiator, replacing the instrument cluster, etc, were all google searches.

If people are still 'helpless' on how to do things, they ought to just look it up. You can learn anything these days of a basic nature pretty easily.

[the game]

I feel like learning basic skills is easier than ever.

Earlier this week, my washing machine broke. It just stopped doing anything, but I could tell it was still powering on. A quick google and I tore the whole thing apart, down to the motor, replaced some wires, and now it works fine again.

I replaced my entire toilet as well, since I'm renovating my house. A quick google and learned how to do all of it.

Half my car repairs, replacing the radiator, replacing the instrument cluster, etc, were all google searches.

If people are still 'helpless' on how to do things, they ought to just look it up. You can learn anything these days of a basic nature pretty easily.

By that logic highschool itself should be optional. I mean what do you learn at high school in general that you can't learn off google?

[Puupi]

Whoa, is there something different up there in Finland?
I don't know a single male teenager who hasn't made his own meal before, that seems super basic

It's more common than one might think, especially in central Europe and US - there are even houses that don't have a kitchen at all. During 50's-80's men always ate out or their wives cooked for them. My father is a prime example of that generation, he has never cooked in his life (okay maybe made an omelette couple of times) and he sure as hell isn't alone in that category. It has been pretty much the standard for centuries that men don't cook.

[micgre8162]

By that logic highschool itself should be optional. I mean what do you learn at high school in general that you can't learn off google?

Don't be snide.

[haxartus]

My school was about teaching you the ability to find the answer for yourself, it seems most people have the helpless attitude that they can't do anything for themselves

That's the main problem, people just can't do anything without hand holding. It's just absurd.

[Puupi]

By that logic highschool itself should be optional.

But it is? At least in Finland it is... high school is optional, it's not in the mandatory curriculum - that ends when you are 15.

[Deleted]

should highschool kids be taught basic life skills

These are things kids should be taught by their parents, or by whoever is responsible for them, long before high school. Car stuff and shit like that can be taught in a vocational school, and should also be taught before you get your driver's license.

Having said that, I'm pretty sure we had some of those things in our high school.

[Reeve]

If you look around at alot of kids who graduate highschool and don't have basic skills such as changing a tire on their cars, checking oil, cooking food. Growing a garden for food. Should classes like home economics, auto shop, vocational agriculture all be required for all high school kids? They were all optional when I went through high school and I think these things are basic life skills that everyone should be prepared for when they graduate.

No.

I know how to change a tire, but I don't really need to. People have cell phones now and can call AAA or a tow service or their dealership to do it for them. It's a nice to have, but not a necessary life skill.

I can't remember the last time I checked the oil on my car. It's completely unnecessary anymore, especially with cars that will tell you when they need attention, and with the upcoming advent of commonly available electric vehicles.

Cooking food is another nice to have, but you don't need to know how to cook a complicated meal. You can teach yourself pretty easily how to cook basic items just by reading the label, and if you want the ability to cook more complex stuff, you can always take a class after high school.

Growing a garden is again a completely unnecessary skill.


What IS useful in today's world are skills that make you more marketable, like computer programming, advanced usage of spreadsheets and databases, language skills, email etiquette, budgeting, etc.

I'm about to hire someone some time this month, and during the interview, I'm going to ask the interviewee to show me some basic excel skills. Make a pivot table, do a goal seek, run some VLOOKUPs. If they know how to do those things, or demonstrate the capability to figure it out, that'll go a long way to showing me they'll be able to handle the job.

[Thetruth1400]

It's more common than one might think, especially in central Europe and US - there are even houses that don't have a kitchen at all. During 50's-80's men always ate out or their wives cooked for them. My father is a prime example of that generation, he has never cooked in his life (okay maybe made an omelette couple of times) and he sure as hell isn't alone in that category. It has been pretty much the standard for centuries that men don't cook.

I've never seen a home without a kitchen, even in those micro homes that people build. All throughout history, the greatest chefs have been considered men, so I guess that that point you tried to make doesn't really hold much value either.

It's not really that common as you make it out to be. Sure, the women typically cooked, but that's because men used to work a lot more than they do now and the women were essentially forced to be the homemakers. Cooking for your man was seen as the societal norm, but that doesn't by default mean that no men could or would cook. Sure, your dad might not have cooked much and he wasn't alone, but he wasn't the norm either.

[frogger237]

I can see changing a tire and finding the spare being taught in school but changing the oil isnt even close to being a life skill when you can get it changed at walmart for like 10$ and its not an emergency thing like a flat tire or needed ur car jumped.

[Reeve]

No, you are just wrong.

In fact, a drastic but real life example: many men haven't cooked a single meal during their life, yet they spend 10 hours a day behind a steering wheel. Which of these skills is more important to them?

I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to change a tire. Any of those times I could have just called an agency to do it for me. But you know what I did the first time? Without prior training, I loosened the lugs, jacked up the car, took of the wheel, put on the spare, put on the lugs, lowered the car, then tightened the lugs. It's not fucking rocket surgery. I don't need school to teach me how to do that any more than I need school to teach me how to water my lawn.

[Dald]

By that logic highschool itself should be optional. I mean what do you learn at high school in general that you can't learn off google?

Social interaction.

[Vasciras]

At my school I learned how to work the kitchen/cook at grade 5 and 9 I think. It's called heimkunnskap (roughly translated to home knowledge).

[Puupi]

I've never seen a home without a kitchen, even in those micro homes that people build.

Those do still exist even today, though not so common anymore.

All throughout history, the greatest chefs have been considered men, so I guess that that point you tried to make doesn't really hold much value either.

Greatest chefs being men = all men cook? Give me a break. Men whose vocation is chef do cook - the others, not so much.

It's not really that common as you make it out to be. Sure, the women typically cooked, but that's because men used to work a lot more than they do now and the women were essentially forced to be the homemakers. Cooking for your man was seen as the societal norm, but that doesn't by default mean that no men could or would cook. Sure, your dad might not have cooked much and he wasn't alone, but he wasn't the norm either.

You are just plain wrong. Back in the days hardly any men cooked. A non-cooking man was the norm.

[Super Kami Dende]

changing tire on car or checking oil is not basic skills lol cooking is basic skill and everyone should know how to cook

It's this attitude that raises incompetent asshat teenagers.

[Puupi]

It's not fucking rocket surgery. I don't need school to teach me how to do that any more than I need school to teach me how to water my lawn.

I never argued it should be taught in school. But it is a basic skill. Teaching basic skills don't belong to high school, though.

[Reeve]

By that logic highschool itself should be optional. I mean what do you learn at high school in general that you can't learn off google?

Showing up on time. How to communicate with people in a formalized setting (don't tell your boss OR your teacher to fuck off). Completing assignments with deadlines, unsupervised. Critical thinking. Social interaction.

These don't sound like learned skills, but they are, and they're critical to success in the working world.