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Ashtrayhead

Über Member
Location
Belvedere, Kent.
That's the sort of stuff you learn at home.

(Clarkson is mates with that other twat A.A. Gill.)
 
Ashtrayhead said:
That's the sort of stuff you learn at home.

(Clarkson is mates with that other twat A.A. Gill.)

I thought that at first. But in the modern world, where it's become necessary for most households to have a dual income (rather than one, as was the case when I and my siblings were being brought up), I can imagine it's pretty difficult to find "quality time" to spend teaching your kids to do this kind of thing. I have no kids (fortunately - :ohmy:what if they grew up like me?) so I may be missing something here. But it seems to me that the problem lies within the long hours culture.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
I think he's right about learning useful stuff. For kids who aren't academically minded, far better that they get the chance to learn a useful skill, without the stigma of being considered less valuable for it, which seems to be the way things have gone - bring back woodwork and metalwork and polytechnics, BUT, without the value system that says that doing a 'tech course is somehow less valuable than a university degree.

For a lot of people, I suspect, the sort of stuff people are most bored by at school (Shakespeare, latin, etc) is actually the sort of thing you come to find interesting later, when you have a little life experience and some things make more sense. Perhaps we should use school to train people (whether that is to train them to 'do something useful' or to train them to think and study in order to go on and be lawyers and doctors), and have an option in middle age to take a year or two out to do a more 'academic' subject, if you want.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
And yes, you ought to learn to cook at home, but when your parents don't have the time, or don't know how, how is that going to happen?
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
Arch said:
And yes, you ought to learn to cook at home, but when your parents don't have the time, or don't know how, how is that going to happen?

Regarding time, it depends on what you cook, I think. When the missus and I both worked full time, I used to chat to my son and daughter while cooking about what I was making and how, if they were interested enough to ask, or were hanging about the kitchen. It was all pretty simple quick stuff (by necessity) but hopefully will give them some idea that quick, easy meals aren't just pre-packs that you stick in the microwave for a few minutes. (And that their food isn't simply magicked to the table at tea time :thumbsup: )
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
John the Monkey said:
Regarding time, it depends on what you cook, I think. When the missus and I both worked full time, I used to chat to my son and daughter while cooking about what I was making and how, if they were interested enough to ask, or were hanging about the kitchen. It was all pretty simple quick stuff (by necessity) but hopefully will give them some idea that quick, easy meals aren't just pre-packs that you stick in the microwave for a few minutes. (And that their food isn't simply magicked to the table at tea time :thumbsup: )


That's true, and I learned the same sort of cooking at my mother and father's apron strings. Lots of pasta, risotto, curry type dishes - my evening meal rarely takes more than 20 minutes to cook. But there seems to be a generation, or two, who lost that skill, and therefore, can't pass it on...
 

QuickDraw

Senior Member
Location
Glasgow
Keith Oates said:
As usual, Clarkson has said something that is funny but also carries some merit, no wonder he's always on the Beeb.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some merit, perhaps but not very much. He completely misses the point of education. It's not about learning about Maths or Shakespeare or whatever these are just the tools that are used to teach us how to think.

The examples he quotes are valid but preparing you for running your house doesn't put food on the table. I'd much rather be able to earn a decent living and pay a plumber to fix my pipes.
 

Keith Oates

Janner
Location
Penarth, Wales
QuickDraw said:
Some merit, perhaps but not very much. He completely misses the point of education. It's not about learning about Maths or Shakespeare or whatever these are just the tools that are used to teach us how to think.

The examples he quotes are valid but preparing you for running your house doesn't put food on the table. I'd much rather be able to earn a decent living and pay a plumber to fix my pipes.

So a plumber doesn't earn a decent living!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

QuickDraw

Senior Member
Location
Glasgow
Keith Oates said:
So a plumber doesn't earn a decent living!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're not going to learn to be a plumber, or any other job, at school though are you? Learning how to change the washer on a tap doesn't make you a plumber. Clarkson is talking about "life skills" you know useful stuff your parents should pass on to you. I'm not convinced that schools should be taking on this role.
 
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Aint Skeered

Aint Skeered

New Member
QuickDraw said:
You're not going to learn to be a plumber, or any other job, at school though are you? Learning how to change the washer on a tap doesn't make you a plumber. Clarkson is talking about "life skills" you know useful stuff your parents should pass on to you. I'm not convinced that schools should be taking on this role.

I beg to differ,
I was a bit of a thicky at school ( not much has changed ) I struggled big time with the 3R's but really enjoyed the practical stuff, like metalwork. (I left school with 7 basic CSE's and O leval metalwork) This gave me a grounding for when I left school, and I became an apprentice Sheet metalworker.
I think it's pointless flogging a dead horse, schools should access where the kids skills are, and build on that base.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Aint Skeered said:
I beg to differ,
I was a bit of a thicky at school ( not much has changed ) I struggled big time with the 3R's but really enjoyed the practical stuff, like metalwork. (I left school with 7 basic CSE's and O leval metalwork) This gave me a grounding for when I left school, and I became an apprentice Sheet metalworker.
I think it's pointless flogging a dead horse, schools should access where the kids skills are, and build on that base.

Absolutely! But somehow we've reached a point where only academic success is applauded, and those kids who don't fit in to that seem to just opt out instead....
 
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