Thoughts on the 'traditional subject' shake-up in UK schools?

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Obviously education is important, and the range of subjects need to stimulate young minds, not just create legions of drone workers.

Obviously the three r's, reading, (w)riting and 'r'ithmatic (who the heck called them that) should be the foundation of a good education, also I would like to see communication skills (ie dealing with people), general life skills (ie paying bills, dealing with councils landlords and so on), cooking properly with proper ingredients, basically things that will help the person through life and become a much more rounded member of society.

I also think that they should school 9-5 with less holidays, with a reduction of the amount of homework, this frees up teachers and allows for more classroom time.

On another note for those unwilling to learn, they should be sent down a more vocational path, where they learn a trade and have minimal wages put into a savings account (and receive some travel and upkeep allowances out of the wage, paid to parents to pay for bus fares, tools, training etc)

 

I know nothing about schools in the UK and while schools in Idaho, where I live, tend to teach a fairly basic curriculum, I have been concerned about schools in more liberal states such as California, that seem to believe it's up to the public school system to educate on moral and social issues (such as diversity and all it can mean) as well as the more standard educational fare.

There are a couple of problems with schools dictating a particular social viewpoint to the students. One is that there aren't enough hours in the school day to educate students on the basics of education in our information age in the first place. On top of that, not every family shares the popular, "politically correct" viewpoint of whatever publicly elected official is setting education policy in the schools.

The answer for some is home schooling and for others is private schools. Home schooling requires parents that are fairly well educated, have the time to spend teaching their kids and frankly, have the will to do so. Private schooling requires a particular level of income or the dedication to prioritize spending to allow for private education.

I'm deeply concerned that various special interest groups are trying to impose their particular social viewpoints on society's children at the expense of the informational and lifeskills they'll actually need. This is probably why we have kids graduating from high schools that are fully informed on the liberal standpoint on all the various issues of the day but who cannot balance their checkbooks, which require only basic math skills.

:end rant: