What’s a thing you wish schools actually taught?
It would be wonderful if the little ones were introduced to the world around them. If they got to know their way around a globe.
The little sponges that they are would learn about the natural world, the name of rivers, mountains, and trees.
This information could be combined with colours and numbers.
They could learn to sing, whistle, and hum.
Planting seeds, watch them grow. Learn about the food they eat and where it comes from.
Small people would be taught to swim. How to take care of themselves, their teeth and hygiene.
Little souls would be encouraged to speak up or seek help if they felt uncomfortable or powerless in any situation.
We would want them to understand animal welfare and the way animals share our planet
I’d like our kids to learn about pollution and its effects.
There is so much they could take in. Given the chance.
Last but not least they could be taught about tolerance and how being different is okay.
There is room in their ever expanding minds for this and more.
IN THE BOOMER PIGEON HOLE? 
Hey Joey,
You’ve captured something fundamental here. Shifting the focus of early education from rigid academic testing to foundational life literacy and basic human autonomy makes a lot of practical sense. Kids are naturally observational, so grounding their early learning in tangible environments, like nature, self-care, and empathy, builds a much sturdier baseline for critical thinking later on.
When we look at traditional curricula, they often prioritise standardised outputs over these practical life skills. If you were designing a framework to implement this, how would you balance these organic life lessons with core literacy and numeracy? Also, do you think this shift needs to happen primarily in early primary education, or is it something that needs continuous integration all the way through secondary school?
Bob
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Bob, I am very happy to address this. Give me some time x….it needs to happen from the off
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Hey Bob,Thanks, that’s kind of you to say. I don’t see these ideas as replacing reading or numbers. I just think the practical stuff gives kids something real to connect those skills to. Counting makes more sense when you’re planting seeds. Reading lands better when it’s tied to things they can picture.For me, the life‑skills foundation belongs in the early years, but the values behind it: empathy, confidence, and awareness — shouldn’t stop there. They need to run through secondary school too. Otherwise, they get pushed out by exams.So I’d start early and keep it steady, letting the human lessons sit alongside the academic ones rather than compete with them.
Bob, thanks for reading my post and giving it some thought. I appreciate you coming here to air your thoughts x
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