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Education overhaul

Do you think that we would have less of an obesity problem in our society if our education system was overhauled to include mandatory cooking classes, nutritional science, exercise science, physical exercise (not the PE classes that exist nowbut military style PT, runs, calisthenics, lifting etc.)

This is all part of the same argument I've made many times before on teaching other real world skills such as changing oil or fixing a toilet, garbage disposal, finance management etc.

I'm 30 years, so I might be off the mark but looking back the most useful thing I ever learned in school (besides basic math, English etc.) - was my social skills. I remember spending 7-8 hours a day doing things that I have honestly never used in my life yet all the things I listed above- the fitness stuff, the rest as well...those are things I had to learn on my own and I use them all the time.

I want this discussion to focus on the fitness/health portion but I felt the rest was worth mentioning.
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Replies

  • RealWorldStrengthLLC
    RealWorldStrengthLLC Posts: 552 Member
    edited October 2019
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I think that's more on the parents and leading by example. Learning those things in school doesn't mean much when it's not going on at home.

    Yeah but the problem is there are obese parents, parents who couldn't manage a piggy bank, parents who can't change a tire, parents who think McDonald's is healthy etc.

    Like my parents taught me really well with finances, but neither of them know *kitten* about nutrition and exercise and growing up I was skinny fat and then chubby because of it.

    Edit, not because of it, but I definitely didn't have a dad that made controlled portions and said let's go for a bike ride.
  • I definitely agree it should be taught at school, as well as balancing a budget, pros and cons of owning a home vs renting, how to buy and take care of a car. It would be great if these things were taught at home, but they’re not always. There should be a class called “Adulting” and these things should be included.

    I'm actually going as far as to say overhaul the whole system - screw reading pride and prejudice and learning trig (those should be electives), we're going for a group run and then we're going to make steak and eggs and learn how to change a spark plug.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I think that's more on the parents and leading by example. Learning those things in school doesn't mean much when it's not going on at home.

    Yeah but the problem is there are obese parents, parents who couldn't manage a piggy bank, parents who can't change a tire, parents who think McDonald's is healthy etc.

    Like my parents taught me really well with finances, but neither of them know *kitten* about nutrition and exercise and growing up I was skinny fat and then chubby because of it.

    Edit, not because of it, but I definitely didn't have a dad that made controlled portions and said let's go for a bike ride.

    Most of the stuff you mention was available to me as an elective in high school. I took nutrition and I took a variety of fitness classes because I was a competitive athlete. I took shop and learned how to change oil and a spark plug, etc. I took home economics and learned how to cook and hung out with a lot of pretty girls. I also took an accounting elective.

    There's only so much time in school...you can't make a bunch of electives mandatory curriculum without crowding out math, science, history, etc
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    I only remember having to read very, very few books in school, and I never had trig or geometry, or even algebra 2. But I would have if they had been offered to me. I also would have taken a life skills class. I would have left out music, study hall, geography, history. I think those things should be offered, too. I just wasn’t interested/didn’t learn anything. I would have devoured a class in cooking and eating well, as well as personal finance classes.
    Like COGypsy said. You can’t make kids learn it or like it, you can only offer it.
    Side note— we had a science teacher, small physics class, farming community. Physics was hard for us, until we started talking about how it pertains to tractors and pulling plows and we all got it instantly. Same applies to math and recipes, math and sewing, etc. give them a reason to learn it and you get their attention.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,257 Member
    Education may help, but "more is caught than taught", so as @cwolfman13 states the root cause lies more with parental behavior and the growing detachment between schools and families.

    I grew up in a small town where the best teachers made sure to make real world connections to what was taught and most worked in their fields outside of academia. Our home economics teacher was a CPA. Shop teachers were mechanics & tradesmen. Parents were commonly brought in to speak to areas of expertise. My mom came in a few times to teach first aid and nursing. My father came in to demonstrate welding.

    Our PE teachers handled health and we sort of covered CICO, but nowhere near the refinement we know today. We are back in a small town atmosphere which has a lot more parental involvement. Not sure where they stand on health yet as we just moved in, but it appears to focus more on a eat less, move more philosophy - just do it gradually.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    CSARdiver, sounds like you had a great school experience. Wish we could all say that. Like I said, we had one science class.
    W
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    Whose education system are we talking about? The education system in the US is just barely standardized on the national level (common core) and that's a new thing. There are also plenty of people who regularly use these forums who aren't living in the US.

    In general I think the US' education system needs to be changed in some major ways, but not in the ways you've mentioned. Outside of financial literacy and what not.

    I can see the exercise related things you're talking about being a major issue for many students, though I do think that swimming coupled with water safety should be offered whenever possible (even if that means bussing students to a pool), though there are multiple logistical issues I can think of. The school that my two of my friends' daughter does this (though they have their own indoor pool), but there are a number of options in terms of swimming groups by gender and students who are say, allergic to chlorine (like said daughter), can get out of the requirement.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    I think a big issue, a double edged sword, is we've made life so convenient. We just don't have to expend calories on so many things our parents and everyone before us did. We evolved to survive scarcity, we live in a world of plenty, and a pedestrian is someone who just parked there car (as close as possible).
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,427 Member
    Do you think that we would have less of an obesity problem in our society if our education system was overhauled to include mandatory cooking classes, nutritional science, exercise science, physical exercise (not the PE classes that exist nowbut military style PT, runs, calisthenics, lifting etc.)

    This is all part of the same argument I've made many times before on teaching other real world skills such as changing oil or fixing a toilet, garbage disposal, finance management etc.

    I'm 30 years, so I might be off the mark but looking back the most useful thing I ever learned in school (besides basic math, English etc.) - was my social skills. I remember spending 7-8 hours a day doing things that I have honestly never used in my life yet all the things I listed above- the fitness stuff, the rest as well...those are things I had to learn on my own and I use them all the time.

    I want this discussion to focus on the fitness/health portion but I felt the rest was worth mentioning.

    It sounds good in theory, but think it fails in our politically correct/polarized world. If you teach nutrition that included consuming animal products, do you have vegetarian/vegan groups coming out protesting? On finance, do you teach a Dave Ramsey, no debt other than a mortgage or something else?
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,257 Member
    CSARdiver, sounds like you had a great school experience. Wish we could all say that. Like I said, we had one science class.
    W

    One of those things you can only see in hindsight. I hated school until I went to college and talked to other people and what a miserable time they had by comparison.

    One of my gen ed courses as an undergrad was Communications 101, but instead of just teaching the material our professor and assistants used each module to make sure people knew the basics - changing oil, paying bills, managing a budget, basic home repair, etc. Every group had to teach the class how to do something - make a presentation and a demonstration.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Do you think that we would have less of an obesity problem in our society if our education system was overhauled to include mandatory cooking classes, nutritional science, exercise science, physical exercise (not the PE classes that exist nowbut military style PT, runs, calisthenics, lifting etc.)

    This is all part of the same argument I've made many times before on teaching other real world skills such as changing oil or fixing a toilet, garbage disposal, finance management etc.

    I'm 30 years, so I might be off the mark but looking back the most useful thing I ever learned in school (besides basic math, English etc.) - was my social skills. I remember spending 7-8 hours a day doing things that I have honestly never used in my life yet all the things I listed above- the fitness stuff, the rest as well...those are things I had to learn on my own and I use them all the time.

    I want this discussion to focus on the fitness/health portion but I felt the rest was worth mentioning.

    It sounds good in theory, but think it fails in our politically correct/polarized world. If you teach nutrition that included consuming animal products, do you have vegetarian/vegan groups coming out protesting? On finance, do you teach a Dave Ramsey, no debt other than a mortgage or something else?

    I think the more pressing issue would be accommodating major food allergies and intolerances. There are also other food related issues that would come up as well (ex. food choices made on the basis of religion as well as the vegetarian and vegan stuff that you mentioned), but my major concern would be about accommodating students who for health reasons can't eat and/or prepare XYZ ingredients.

    That said, presumably there are schools that are already dealing with this given that cooking is taught at various schools around the world.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I think you could expand the criteria in health class enough to cover the essentials which, to me, are understanding how the scale works and CICO. If I had a better understanding of the scale I would not have gotten so frustrated and ultimately believed myths. If I had it planted in my brain that as my activity changed/slowed I needed to be careful about how much I was eating I might have avoided some of my weight gain.

    Most kids are learning skills from demonstration videos so it might be more important to teach kids how to evaluate informative ones from misleading ones.
  • Slacker16
    Slacker16 Posts: 1,184 Member
    A radical change that could be interesting would be... removing PE classes completely and instead having it so kids have to bring in attestations that they do sports in an organized setting outside of school (municipal sports teams, swim teams, etc...).

    It would teach children that physical activity is sometimes you have to find time for outside of work (school, for them) and encourage them to seek out activities that they enjoy.
    (...) screw reading pride and prejudice and learning trig (those should be electives), we're going for a group run and then we're going to make steak and eggs and learn how to change a spark plug.
    Please don't. There's already too many college students that don't know trig, mathematical and scientific literacy will be increasingly important in the job market and it's a lot easier to learn practical skills on your own than theory.
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
    It starts at home. Normally, if parents are obese, so are the children. The kids think it's ok because Mom and Dad do it.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,427 Member
    I definitely agree it should be taught at school, as well as balancing a budget, pros and cons of owning a home vs renting, how to buy and take care of a car. It would be great if these things were taught at home, but they’re not always. There should be a class called “Adulting” and these things should be included.

    I'm actually going as far as to say overhaul the whole system - screw reading pride and prejudice and learning trig (those should be electives), we're going for a group run and then we're going to make steak and eggs and learn how to change a spark plug.

    There's something so incredibly depressing to me about the proposal that we should decide to ditch the entire traditional concept of education and instead just focus on basic skills to maintain life. I don't believe we need schools if all they're going to be offering is instructions on how to cook eggs and execute basic mechanical tasks.

    I don't think @youcantflexcardio was saying ditch the traditional concept of education, just put in a few requirements for life skills.