Valuable Life Skills

[Fish-Finger-er]

something which si-man said earlier in NMC,and a topic by ilukeee linked me onto this topic. is it not slightly worrying how many people have no practical ability when it comes to the real world. most of this isnt relevant to any of us personally,as being trials riders, we learn to fix our own bikes, and therefore are semi practical,and can transfer these things over to other walks of life.

heres one which i dont think well be able to appreciate, but youll understand. waynio said that some places in london charged £12-£20 for puncture repairs. now other than a lack of time/general not being bothered, cant see why people should need punctures repairing. most kids learn to ride a bike,a fair few go through cycling profficiency at school, but at no times are they really taught how to maintain bikes. its all well and good teaching them how to be able to go on bike rides with there friends safely, but if they cant repair a flat tyre when they get one. then they could be in trouble stuck 10 miles from anywhere.surely it should be taught how to repair a puncture, a 1 off, 1 hour lesson in schools would achieve this.or just a portion of cycling profficiency.

go ask at school or college, how many people know how to wire a plug,or replace a fuse in a fused plug, or reset the RCD trip switches in there house. other than wiring the plug, which is semi useful, but not that essential, the other stuff is kind of a vital thing, which could be learned so quickly yet few people bother.

onto motor vehicles, which in my eyes is one of the most serious, as there potentially weapons of medium scale distruction, a car going 60mph suddenly losing control, can quite easily end/ruin many lives. but how many people know/check theres cars tyre pressures, know the legal limit on tyres. had a 40 something woman in work the other day with her car, which shed had for 5000 miles, wanted us to give it a quick 5 minute check before she went on a 1000 mile 4 day trip, which is perfectly reasonable.while checking the levels under the bonnet, she asked me to show her how to top up the screen wash, and check the oil level. now in my eyes, if you cant check the oil on a car, you shouldnt be allowed to own/drive one. shed driven the car from new for 5000 miles, and hadnt even glanced at the stick once, and not knowing how to top up the screen wash, what happens when you run out when on a trip, dont think the AA cover that kind of thing.

also i suspect theres a fair few others who dont know how to change a tyre, replace a bulb/fuse etc, which is still in my eyes essential, but a bit less important/stupid than the others.

being someone whos relatively practical, and has been used to using power tools, working with engines,bikes, cars, etc from a young age, and just being practical enough to have a basic grasp of electrical items and the confidence to try and repair stuff myself, i have learnt all of the above, and a hell of a lot more. but is it not stupid that people dont know this stuff, yet spend about 45-50 hours of there life learning pythagoras theorem, and another 45-50 learning about triganometry?surely stuff such as i mentioned is slightly more important in the real world??

rant over.

comments/feelings on this, and is anybody like this, or know anyone who is?

[Robwalker]

Very true, but what about people who rely on these people for a living. If everyone could do there own thing then there would be no need for mechanics?

[Si-man]

Ooo, I get a mention haha

I know what you mean with the bike fixing etc.

When i was 4, learnt how to ride a bike without stabalisers, and by the time i was 5, i used to take the bike apart and put it back together again...

People get taught or shown f**k all these days when it comes to life skills etc.

I also used to help mates fix cars at the age of 13. Computers werent really popular when I was growing up, I blame these for the downfall of children in the practical area.

I used to love fixing stuff and making things when I was a kid.

Might be totally off track to the topic here, but I have the attention span of a small stone

[Gavyn.]

something which si-man said earlier in NMC,and a topic by ilukeee linked me onto this topic. is it not slightly worrying how many people have no practical ability when it comes to the real world. most of this isnt relevant to any of us personally,as being trials riders, we learn to fix our own bikes, and therefore are semi practical,and can transfer these things over to other walks of life.

heres one which i dont think well be able to appreciate, but youll understand. waynio said that some places in london charged £12-£20 for puncture repairs. now other than a lack of time/general not being bothered, cant see why people should need punctures repairing. most kids learn to ride a bike,a fair few go through cycling profficiency at school, but at no times are they really taught how to maintain bikes. its all well and good teaching them how to be able to go on bike rides with there friends safely, but if they cant repair a flat tyre when they get one. then they could be in trouble stuck 10 miles from anywhere.surely it should be taught how to repair a puncture, a 1 off, 1 hour lesson in schools would achieve this.or just a portion of cycling profficiency.

go ask at school or college, how many people know how to wire a plug,or replace a fuse in a fused plug, or reset the RCD trip switches in there house. other than wiring the plug, which is semi useful, but not that essential, the other stuff is kind of a vital thing, which could be learned so quickly yet few people bother.

onto motor vehicles, which in my eyes is one of the most serious, as there potentially weapons of medium scale distruction, a car going 60mph suddenly losing control, can quite easily end/ruin many lives. but how many people know/check theres cars tyre pressures, know the legal limit on tyres. had a 40 something woman in work the other day with her car, which shed had for 5000 miles, wanted us to give it a quick 5 minute check before she went on a 1000 mile 4 day trip, which is perfectly reasonable.while checking the levels under the bonnet, she asked me to show her how to top up the screen wash, and check the oil level. now in my eyes, if you cant check the oil on a car, you shouldnt be allowed to own/drive one. shed driven the car from new for 5000 miles, and hadnt even glanced at the stick once, and not knowing how to top up the screen wash, what happens when you run out when on a trip, dont think the AA cover that kind of thing.

also i suspect theres a fair few others who dont know how to change a tyre, replace a bulb/fuse etc, which is still in my eyes essential, but a bit less important/stupid than the others.

being someone whos relatively practical, and has been used to using power tools, working with engines,bikes, cars, etc from a young age, and just being practical enough to have a basic grasp of electrical items and the confidence to try and repair stuff myself, i have learnt all of the above, and a hell of a lot more. but is it not stupid that people dont know this stuff, yet spend about 45-50 hours of there life learning pythagoras theorem, and another 45-50 learning about triganometry?surely stuff such as i mentioned is slightly more important in the real world??

rant over.

comments/feelings on this, and is anybody like this, or know anyone who is?

thats all well and good but try actually teching kids how to sort punctures at least half the class will not listen, so for most you'll be wasting your time.

it's not really a great idea to teach people to do any of these things until there old enough to fully understand

how deadly electricity can be and is.

i'm sure the teach you how to do some car maintenence before you do your practical test, they ask how to check pressures and top up oil water and screenwash

in my maths class we covered the whole coarse work for pythagoras and trig in less than 10 hours each

[Si-man]

Very true, but what about people who rely on these people for a living. If everyone could do there own thing then there would be no need for mechanics?

I can see what your getting at there, but these people were talknig about have hardly any basic knowledge whatsoever on how to fix anything!

Changing a spark plug, easiest job ever. Just think how many people cant or dont even know where they are!!

[Fixed Pants™]

Puncture repair kits have instructions on them so you wasted your time posting this. Only joking.

Too true, i hate Pythagoras, although it's easy, and i hate trigonometry...

I've always said that things we learn in school are absolutely bloomin' useless unless we go into speciciality jobs, i hate the way schools teach and i hate everything at this stage in life.

Why the hell do we need to learn about how plants work in science, WHY??? Dick and head springs to mind, we're all going to be useless twats with loads of useful (less) knowledge in later life.

It's so annoying how, as you've said, we spend like 100+ hours learning bloody trigonometry and Pythagoras solving simulataneus equations by inverted f**kwits, why the heck do we need to know all this useless tosh?

Rant over for now, excuse the French, and good topic, but will get closed at around page 6 due to people getting worked up about it...

Edited December 22, 2006 by Fat Pants

[Fish-Finger-er]

Very true, but what about people who rely on these people for a living. If everyone could do there own thing then there would be no need for mechanics?

nah, dont mean being able to do anything, personally myself, theres very little id call someone out to do or pay someone to do out of my inability to do it(gas being the main big one), but id certainly pay people to stick in a new bathroom for me, purely cos i aint got the time. so theyd still be called on by me, whose got these skills.

also i was on about wiring plugs,changing fuses, checking tyres,repairing bike punctures, i wasnt on about total house rewires, services/cambelts/brakepads etc on a car (let alone some of the more involved jobs). or indeed stuff such as fitting new forks to a bike. as if any of this stuff was to go wrong to any of us, very few people could fix it without it effecting them(i.e you go out for a ride, your forks snap, you dont carry spare forks, and the chances of u gettin some where your riding are slim, but punctures,chances are youve got the stuff, or in most cases can get patches etc from a shop in a 10 minute vacinity).

not talking about people becoming jack of all trade mechanic,plastering,plumbing electricians who are corgi registered to fix their own gas boilers, but simple stuff such as i mentioned would surely make life easier and safer for everyone, and cant see it putting anyone out of a job.

[Gavyn.]

Puncture repair kits have instructions on them so you wasted your time posting this. Only joking.

Too true, i hate pythagoras, although it's easy, and i hate trigonnometry...

I've always said that things we learn in school are absolutley f**king useless unless we go into specifality jobs, i hate the way schools teach and i hate everything at this stage in life.

Why the f**k do we need to learn about how plants work in science, WHY??? Dick and head springs to mind, we're all going to be useless twats with loads of useful (less) knowledge in later life.

It's so annoying how, as you've said, we spend like 100+ hours learning f**king trigonometry and pythagoras solving simulataneus equations by inverted f**kwits, why the f**k do we need to know all this useless shit?

Rant over for now, excuse the french, and a good topic, but will get closed at around page 6 due to people getting worked up about it...

we need to know it because at the end of the day we have an exam and if we fail the exam we get a shit job

[Fixed Pants™]

But the exams shouldnt be souly based on a stupid grade... Lets put it into perspective... You're an employer, i'm a smart arse that doesn't know any life skills what so ever, the other person is mediocrly educated and knows a lot of life skills, who you gonna employ? Some fanny that can't change his own tyre or check his oil but knows pi to 130k places or someone with average intelligence that will be useful. I know who i'd employ, the other guy.

Exams and education should slide together, 70% learning and 30% life skills, as a rough idea.

f**k the govenment f**k schools f**k THE SYSTEM! Wow, what a cool rebelistic motto.

Edited December 22, 2006 by Fat Pants

[Fish-Finger-er]

1)thats all well and good but try actually teching kids how to sort punctures at least half the class will not listen, so for most you'll be wasting your time.

2)it's not really a great idea to teach people to do any of these things until there old enough to fully understand

how deadly electricity can be and is.

3)i'm sure the teach you how to do some car maintenence before you do your practical test, they ask how to check pressures and top up oil water and screenwash

4)in my maths class we covered the whole coarse work for pythagoras and trig in less than 10 hours each

1)half the class dont listen anyway, and when it comes down to it, half the class dont listen anyway, cant see itd be taken any less seriously than a DT lesson, and if it was something that everyone learnt, as opposed to just being a lil project, im sure people would learn it, to save looking like idiots who know nothing

2)i learnt not to put my fingers in plug sockets at an early age,im guessin you did too, either that, or you got crazy hair. aint talking about teaching it to key stage 2 kids. surely at 13/14 your old enough to do that,let alone the school leaving age of 16.

3)yes they do, but how many people remember it/actually know how to do it on a car, rather than the car where there instructors pointed out what bottles what.

4) your just boasting how quick you are at maths now.

and at the end of the day, not even saying it has to be taught in school, if say a 1/2/3 day course was made compulsory at 18 to learn stuff like this,along with other basic skills. would save a lot of time/moeny in the long run, and if it was say a 3 day course on basic stuff like this, as well as how to open a word document, save it, print it, change a lightbulb, some basic maths,how to lift stuff safely, and at the end a certificate was awarded, for general competence with life skills etc, would make everyone instantly safer,and more employable etc.

[Si-man]

we need to know it because at the end of the day we have an exam and if we fail the exam we get a shit job

Yes, but the whole point of schooling is to get educated for future jobs and just life skills, if they teach you music and you want to be a botanist, abit f**king pointless isnt it.

It's like I went to college to study engineering at ND level, was hard as f**k at 1st because what we were supposed to have done at gcse level (to follow onto a level) we hadnt done f**k all about.

One thing that pisses me off is just the lack of common sense people have these days, gets on my tits sooo much it's untrue.

[Fish-Finger-er]

70% learning and 30% life skills, as a rough idea.

although i had to cut away 95% crap, youve got the idea, if it was all taught how to do basic stuff like this in schools, could see everyone being a lot more competent.

and to the person that said we need to learn these things, as otherwise we may fail an exam, yes we may fail an exam, but can honestly say in the real world,there uses for this kinda stuff are very slim,unless your specializin in something which uses it, and im not sayin cut them out all together, i agree most aspects of maths are useful, but surely dropping an hour or 2 from a couple of subjects with largely irrelevant information every few weeks, and using them to boost practical life skills would be far more beneficial.

[Gavyn.]

1)half the class dont listen anyway, and when it comes down to it, half the class dont listen anyway, cant see itd be taken any less seriously than a DT lesson, and if it was something that everyone learnt, as opposed to just being a lil project, im sure people would learn it, to save looking like idiots who know nothing.

I know what you mean but it's not going to be taken as seroiusly as a maths lesson surly uless they just don't want to learn

2)i learnt not to put my fingers in plug sockets at an early age,im guessin you did too, either that, or you got crazy hair. aint talking about teaching it to key stage 2 kids. surely at 13/14 your old enough to do that,let alone the school leaving age of 16.

ahh ok i though you meant teaching it to the same sort of age people as doing there cycling proficiency.

3)yes they do, but how many people remember it/actually know how to do it on a car, rather than the car where there instructors pointed out what bottles what.

But most males anyway do know how to do all that stuff so they must have been taught at somepoint

4) your just boasting how quick you are at maths now. hehe

and at the end of the day, not even saying it has to be taught in school, if say a 1/2/3 day course was made compulsory at 18 to learn stuff like this,along with other basic skills. would save a lot of time/moeny in the long run, and if it was say a 3 day course on basic stuff like this, as well as how to open a word document, save it, print it, change a lightbulb, some basic maths,how to lift stuff safely, and at the end a certificate was awarded, for general competence with life skills etc, would make everyone instantly safer,and more employable etc.

and you can use maths for a lot of things which are practically related just most people choose not to

Edited December 20, 2006 by Gavyn L

[nmt_oli]

Puncture repair kits have instructions on them so you wasted your time posting this. Only joking.

Too true, i hate pythagoras, although it's easy, and i hate trigonnometry...

I've always said that things we learn in school are absolutley f**king useless unless we go into specifality jobs, i hate the way schools teach and i hate everything at this stage in life.

Why the f**k do we need to learn about how plants work in science, WHY??? Dick and head springs to mind, we're all going to be useless twats with loads of useful (less) knowledge in later life.

It's so annoying how, as you've said, we spend like 100+ hours learning f**king trigonometry and pythagoras solving simulataneus equations by inverted f**kwits, why the f**k do we need to know all this useless shit?

Rant over for now, excuse the french, and good topic, but will get closed at around page 6 due to people getting worked up about it...

I have to say, that trig, pythag and simultanous equations are relatively simple and very useful maths tools, which are put to use in a lot of situations, especially engineering which is the field you car or bike was designed /made- this kind of stuff is useful!

I do however agree, theat while knowing how a plant works is interesting, its not likely to be of any great use.

On the whole a 'life skills' lesson would be very benificial in a school environment. We had general studies at a level, it was shit, didint learn jack- if it had been doing this, it would have been a much much better use of time and resources.

[Fishy]

But, for the people that are incapable to do these things there are people around that can, and that do this for a living, providing a service within a school that has it would mean they would be loosing money and spending it on specialist teachers, meaning that jobs would be lost.

b*****d government.

[Bionic Balls]

i also agree with alot of your points...but you really undermined it for me when you rebuke the practicality of simply geometry. As a self proclaimed "handy-man?" you must surely realise that the difference between a bodge and repair is too often that you've cut something slightly too short! being able to draw properly won't hurt...

that took me surprisingly long to write

btw- do many people know much about how to repair computers? we being the computer generation 'n all..i installed a cd-drive once but that was really pushing my limits

adam

[PaRtZ]

what about economy? I wouldn't know the first thing about banking if my dad didn't work for hsbc. Or what a p90 was to reclaim tax, because school didn't teach me

or even what *stuff* I should use to clean tiled floors. Bleach? Jif? Mr Sheen?

but is it feasible to even try to teach all these useful things to kids when there at school?

[A!!]

A lot of people i know are missing on skills like this, and have a distant lack of common sense.

For example i can remember being out on my bike with a few people i know, and we were riding some jumps and one of them was running really high psi in his tyres (but not realising it was left to me to tell him), at which point i said "you need to let some air out your tyres" and i got a reply of "how do i do that". Baring in mind this guy was about 13 at the time, i couldn't believe what he just came out with.

I often do find my self fixing my friends bikes. There is one guy i know that has the most ***ked bike i have ever seen, consisting of snapped gear/brake cables, wobbly bb, missing and completely loose spokes, out of line handlebars, loose headset, completely ripped seat, very flat tyres, and he's 15. Fair enough if he doesn't know how to fix them as not everyone will, but it doesn't take much brain power or time to go get it serviced or even read up about how to fix certain things. But instead he still uses it for jumping and razzing round town on

I guess the reason i have a acquired good practical skills is through having motorbikes when i was younger, and being around my dad's bikes. And i always use to watch and help him fix them when i was younger. So now i understand a lot more about the way things work, and how to take things apart and go about fixing them, for example a carburetor. Plus it's also something i enjoy doing, as it is a satisfying feeling when you have just taken apart something very complicated, then fixed it, and put it back together again and got it working.

[future orange 660]

alot of people simply cannot be arsed and would rather pay someone therefore they often dont need to.

[anzo]

I know a training nurse, shes a right bright spark. But...she knows absolutely nothing practical wise. Shes spent her life with her nose in a book and learnt very little, of course, its not a girly thing to fixing bikes and such.

But I do hear it a lot, its like the knowledge takes over...and the practicality of it fails. Its like learning styles...some people learn better in team work, others by reading, others by practical work and others by leactures.

Personally I, and probably many of you on here, learn in a practical way. I suppose that puts down trials in general...monkey see, monkey do and all that.

Life skills is a MASSIVE subject that cannot possibily be covered in schools, to the point of teaching how to change a lightbulb or like you said, a puncture. Schools teach kids what the need to know...sex, money, relationships, bullying and all that boo hoo bullshit.

Its like doing Management at University. Unless you want to work for some massive, faceless company, it doesn't improve anything. My workplace for example, the MD worked as a labourer many years ago and did a few courses at his depense...he then got a production manager job and stuck with it for a few years, made to General manager...and was later made redundant.

He applied at our place for a General manager position, and then later became Managing Director with a brand new Merc outside.

Now, he isn't 'qualified' like some Uni guy or girl is, he learnt from a bit of luck, a few night classes and a f**k load of experience. On management courses they teach by the book...therefore, students will do things by the book...which isn't always practical, they've been learning by the book for so long that they have no self input to anything.

But thats just my rant on Management, its learnt, not taught.

So...I've gone completely off topic, so I'll end with a good night. x

[1a2bcio8]

Where's this real world I hear people talking about? Does it mean I'm living in an unreal world? Help?

Edited December 20, 2006 by rowly

[Josephine]

and if it was say a 3 day course on basic stuff like this, as well as how to open a word document, save it, print it, change a lightbulb, some basic maths,how to lift stuff safely, and at the end a certificate was awarded, for general competence with life skills etc, would make everyone instantly safer,and more employable etc.

That'd piss me off even more than numeracy and literacy hour (thank mini cheddars I dodged those).

I think anything so formal as a mandatory course would just be nannying people, and it'd not go down too well. I am, however, all for people taking some responsibility for themselves and becoming a little less reliant on people to do simple little jobs (puncture repair is an excellent example ).

Vehicle maintenance has to be the biggest one, the level of ignorance is shocking. Personally I don't know a lot and I certainly couldn't do any car-type jobs as fast or effectively as a trained mechanic but I can look after myself or work it out for the simpler stuff. The basic lack is of common sense; I think that's what we're on about, people just lack the knowledge to look after themselves, and I don't think it's fair to blame it on the state, people should really take responsibility for themselves.

Joe x

[Rebelistic]

f**k the govenment f**k schools f**k THE SYSTEM! Wow, what a cool rebelistic motto.

Cheers Rebel

Did you take the word 'rebelistic' from my name or is it just a coincidence - Not that I mind

[Luke Rainbird]

So many people are retards, and the whole stupid nanny-state situation doesn't help things.

Get rid of loads of taxes/laws etc and make a few people take responsibilities for their own actions/lives.

Obviously some law enforcement has to be in place, but on the whole people are completely clueless nowadays

[Fixed Pants™]

Coincidence i guess... I have a wide vocabulary, i think.