useless lessons from your youth

Top class in Scottish Academy, we nevertheless had two useless years of Domestic Science. Hand made knickers (bloomers) were unlikely ever to be worn even in the 1950s. in laundry lessons we used flat irons, heated on a big contraption in the laundry room. We had to scatter water with our fingers on the items to be ironed - most incredibly a lace-edged hanky. I learned nothing in those lessons that I couldn't learn at home. Preferred hockey!

We had cookery and needlework classes in the first two years of my girls’ grammar school. Most useless lesson must have been making a suet pudding from scratch, pulling membrane off lumps of suet and chopping up the lumps of fat?. I left my pudding on the train!
In the lower sixth we had a Brides’ course!! The DS teacher told us what a lot of useless stuff we’d been taught in the first two years and took us on trips to Heals and the Design Centre. I think we were supposed to marry wealthy men!

I went to a Central school between a grammar and secondary modern. At the end you could do 'o' levels or a short hand typing course. You could then move to the grammar to do A levels if good enough.

We had domestic science and needlework up until 15 and I learnt the most useful things I used in life. Including when cleaning start from the top shelve. Good basic cooking and a wide range of sewing skills but not ironing, my father a naval man taught me how to iron a shirt.

Many of the girls went into nursing (our biology teacher had been a nurse). Being in a naval area many of the boys went into the navy and became engineers and in my class out of 18 boys 3 ended up headmasters.

I feel the girls missed out on chemistry and physics but generally I think we were lucky as it was a small school and we were not slotted into a model at 11. My brother went to the grammar and I ended up with better results than him

Algebra, trigonometry, and logarithms spring to mind.

Can't even imagine the nuns allowing "bottom patting" at my school. They were far too preoccupied with making sure we were modestly covered - also, they kept their hands firmly inside their sleeves.

We had to scatter water with our fingers on the items to be ironed - most incredibly a lace-edged hanky
My mother taught me that.

I was at senior school in the 80s. I learned to batique! Never used it since!
I absolutely refused to dissect a frog and had to wait outside the classroom!
I saw little point in R.E either. I used that lesson to do homework. But if I'm honest I hated school and wasn't there as often as I should have been ?.
I did really enjoy hockey and played for the school in the first two years of senior school. I played netball for junior and senior school too. But never did cross country!!
Chemistry and maths were my strengths and despite many missing months of school (skiving and incarcerated) my favourite teachers made an effort to help my pass (that I probably didn't deserve!!).

Kidbrooke comprehensive in SE London was the first school to be built in that area.
We had a huge room which had kitchens fitted with an oven, cooker, sink etc. And an ironing board. We were taught to cook (though my mum had given me basic lessons) we had to bring in something to iron each week.
The first meal we cooked was potato soup. I took it home in a dish my mum provided and no one was impressed least of all my mum. My favourite lesson was English, especially the reading hour we had in class. Still love to read now.

I enjoyed Domestic Science as we had a lovely Teacher (a Farmer's Wife) who I still see occasionally, whilst I was at School we got a 2nd DS Teacher who went on to work on This Morning (Susan Brooks). We too had a flat which was used by the pupils studying for the exam. I enjoyed cooking & ended up at College doing Catering (Day Release) which lasted 1 year. I'm still a good cook & love experimenting with recipes.

Hockey I hated, cold days, no gloves allowed, got told off if we pulled the sleeves of our jumpers over our hands, crossing a main road in awful hockey boots with studs, getting whacked on the ankle, need I say more. Hated most sport, never got picked for teams. Played Tennis & Badminton but as a "grown up" never went to the Gym or Exercise classes. At Primary School we were taken for Swimming Lessons, if at Half-term you hadn't learnt to swim without a float it was back to the begining, still can't swim.

Maths was another subject I enjoyed, logorithams were easy for me but never mastered a slide rule

Nobody could teach me to knit, my effort at a pot holder (for lifting hot pans) had more holes than a string vest. I've never tried knitting since.

Every now and then we had Country Dancing lessons ( in the 1960s) which did come in useful. The first dance dh and I ever danced was the Gay Gordons!

We then got a new PE teacher who taught us modern dance and, for homework 3 weeks in a row, told us to go and watch West Side Story at the cinema.

Amo, Amas, Amat, Amamus, Amatis, Amant. Latin was great wasn't it!
We also had a flat but I only "learned" how to wash dishes, which I already done at home anyway.
However, six of us were before our time and argued that the boys weren't made to do Cookery, so why should we. We were allowed to take another subject instead.

Things that I found utterly useless and pointless at school - religious education
drama
learning to play a recorder

There were a lot of subjects taught that I disliked (quite a few) but I could see that some of them might be useful later on in life.

Yes! Again domestic science- how to scrub a white wood table!!!

I did 1066 twice - once at primary school than again at secondary school. Also stuff about other civil wars and battles which seemed so dry and boring, it just all melded together into one grey blob of inconsequentialness that happened sometime in the past, for me. Only now, living near some sites that were affected by Cromwell's armies do I understand what it was about. It was just appallingly taught.

I have got a long way in this life knowing how to say 'the girls hit the pigs with sticks in the wood' in Latin.

Pi r squared sometimes comes on useful. Logarithms are as blank as they ever were. I tried to do a fraction the other day and failed.

We had a token 1 hour a week in 2nd year for needlework and I actually wore the skirt and top.

A token 1 hour a week cookery in 4th year, I still remember the formula for pastry and cake.

Latin is the most useful language, base of many European languages. Anyone remember those word quizzes in the Readers Digest? I could do many of them thanx to Latin.

If you want to know how many sheep there were in New South Wales in 1970, just ask. vital piece of geography knowledge ...

Learned to dissect a worm.?

Yes, logarithms and algebra. I've never used those since leaving school. We had domestic science lessons right through secondary school. In first year we had to make our own apron, and cap and wear it for the rest of our school years. We also had to make our PE skirt. It was a wraparound style and just covered our buttocks. Of course we loved those skirts! I hated the cookery as there were some rough girls in our class who made it a misery. My mother used to throw my efforts out for the birds when i brought them home! She was worried about what the rough girls might have added to my ingredients! Another useless lesson was French. I have never had the need to use it, yet still remember the earlier lessons.

Are the things taught at school supposed to be ‘useful’ later in life? I think they are meant to broaden outlooks and expand horizons. (Not ironing, obviously ?.)

I have an apron, embroidered and with cross-over straps, that my lovely late M-i-L made when she was at school in the early '30s - I use it when I'm patchworking in my armchair as it stops the little loose threads attaching themselves to my clothes, so I am reminded of her most days.

Yes - we did useless stuff in domestic science at our co-ed grammar school - I'd rather have done woodwork but there was still the girls/boys division in this one area. We were taught to scrub a wooden table - honestly! We were Yorkshire mill town lasses; our mums had us doing that from an early age. We also made a white apron, and baked raspberry buns. The next year, the kids in our stream were only allowed 'academic' subjects. Glad to lose DS and music, but sad to lose art.

I enjoyed domestic science with exception to needlework
I have always enjoyed cooking. Sewing and knitting I am hopeless but although was never shown how to crochet taught myself. History was my favourite lesson.
There is so much we have yet to discover and is a subject I still find fascinating.

Just remembered....
we had poster on our classroom wall in early year primary.
It was pictures of the different breeds of cows.
We had to learn the name of each breed
and we were then tested through out the week.
Never understood why.

But I can still remember the breeds and feel the need inform DGC whenever we come across a cow or two ??

Wow, some interesting stories here! Driverann, your experiences in PE would almost certainly be seen as child abuse nowadays! I was rubbish at any sort of domestic science (still am ...). My friend and I alternated each year at being bottom of the class (and year) at cookery. I also never found any use for algebra or logarithms. Quite enjoyed tennis, loved music, found history lessons boring because of the style of teaching but actually nowadays love history. Probably because of decent tv presentations by the likes of Mary Beard, etc. Also wasn't the best behaved child in school and did my time being made to cool my heels outside of the Head's office in my respective junior and secondary schools!

I went to one of the few co-ed grammar schools. The girls did domestic science and the boys did woodwork and metal work. Our domestic science at the beginning alternated between cooking and sewing. We did useful things like making delicious soup and bread and in sewing made our pinafores. I enjoyed it. It led to a lifetime of loving sewing and cooking. Of course we did Latin too, as did my daughters at their Grammar School around 25+ years later,- one of the last to remain. I lived that too although the teacher frightened me. I gave up Domestic Science when choosing O Levels as I couldn't fit it in. Useless things? That's difficult! I really wish we had been better taught in Art! One of my friends is an Artist and she gave some help to my daughter and I thought, if only I had been taught that at school!! But useless... really hard to think of... perhaps for me trigonometry. But then if I had decided to be a cartographer... I have to say I absolutely Loved my school. I was so lucky. The teachers were simply wonderful. I cried buckets when I left!