Schools should focus on academic success and passing examinations. Skills such as cookery, dressmaking and woodwork should not be taught at school as it is better to learn these from family and friends. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

It is true that many people believe that schools should only teach academic subjects and prepare students for formal exams. I disagree completely with this view, and I would argue that teaching practical life skills is essential. Firstly, it is a mistake to tailor teaching strategies to the narrow focus of academic subjects and exam success. It is impossible for every student to pursue a successful career with fantastic job prospects in fields such as finance, medicine, law or education. All of these demand academic skills, but the job market for these professions is relatively small. Those who fail their exams will consider themselves as failures. Such negative feelings will inevitably shape a child’s personality and values during their formative years. Only a few students who are high-flyers will succeed and enjoy the material rewards of their academic success. Secondly, while children need to acquire practical skills, there may be no family or friends to help them. Consider, for example, single-parent households, with no father to teach DIY skills or households in which working mothers have no time to teach children to cook or sew. There are, too, many dysfunctional families in which, for whatever reasons, parental involvement in bringing up their offspring is almost completely absent. Yet children need to learn these domestic skills, and the only place for many of them to do this is in school. Otherwise, when they enter adult life, they will rely on expensive ready meals or on buying new clothes and furniture when all that is needed is a simple repair. In conclusion, I totally disagree with an educational policy which focuses only on academic subjects and exam success. Schools must place equal value on life skills to ensure the full development of children.