by Aldrin A Wilding-West

Created on: April 26, 2010   Last Updated: April 27, 2010

Do you, like me, question the value of the education our children are receiving today?  Why is it that the balance of focus on particular subjects seems so very far out of kilter with the realities of what children will actually have to deal with when they reach their adolescence and later adulthood?  This is not just a question of educating individuals, this is perhaps even more importantly a matter of educating a society.

Many will no doubt agree that not enough of the very basics of everyday life are taught to our children in school.  It could, I suppose, be argued that these basics should be taught at home with parents or family or guardians, but in a society where we are more often than not required by law to have our children educated by the state, and in a generation where the parents themselves may not have received basic life skills education, should the state not be responsible also for providing our children with a grounding that will serve them, and indeed our society as a whole well in the future?

Let's take a look at some basic examples of everyday problems our society faces, which could well be/have been improved if children had been, and are in the future educated in very basic life skills:

Communication skills.  Reading, writing and arithmetic will always be number one in my view.  Our knowledge and understanding are still more often than not, passed on in the written word.  Reading is a necessity for so many reasons in our society.  Writing is something that allows you to communicate to others effectively over distance, and basic arithmetic is a must in a society based on buying and selling using money.

Money, as we all know, is what makes the 'civilised' world go around, yet children as old as fifteen, sixteen, sometimes even older, often do not have the first idea of the worth of money, the effort it takes to earn it, or indeed what our money needs to be spent on in order for them to have a roof over their head, a shirt on their back and shoes on their feet.  Children need a good basic education at home and in school on the value of money, how it is earned and how to manage a basic household budget.  These are all, without doubt, things they will need to know to benefit them, and our society, later in life.

You may ask why I mentioned money before food.  The answer is that in the 'civilised' world, our children no longer have the knowledge of how to grow their own vegetables and fruit, or

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