Published on 12, July, 2020
A home educating parent once mentioned that primary school level maths and English is 90% of what you need to know for everyday life as an adult an in most of employment. The remaining 10% can be learned as and when it is required. Most of what is taught in secondary school is not required for everyday life or most of employment.
Therefore is secondary school a waste of time from the perspective of education and knowledge?
No.
For me secondary school was often a living nightmare, but not a waste of time.
At school as I got older I, and I suspect most children pick up knowledge and behaviour that is not taught in the classroom. It's the experience that matters!
It may have been bad in general, but staying at home would have been even worse.
And being taught in a classroom with others is an experience worth having. There's nothing stopping one from educating themselves at home in their own time.
And for me personally, primary school was even worse. There I learnt almost nothing, in secondary school I was actually trying to catch up with what others learnt in primary school.
As for school being preparation for employment ???????
I keep thinking back to the contentious issue of school uniforms and how strictly some schools enforce the rules. Excluding pupils for minor infringements. The schools argument is that this prepares students for the workplace.
An episode of the 1980s comedy 'Are you being served?'. Involved work uniform policy being enforced. And the staff complaining that this nonsense belongs in schools and NOT in the workplace.