Gransnet forums

Education

What has been the most important school subject in your adult life?

(171 Posts)
Snuggy Sun 31-Aug-25 18:11:37

Maths

Grandma70s Fri 07-Nov-25 11:23:54

It’s interesting that so many (including me) mention the importance of Latin, and yet it isn’t taught much now, at least not in state schools. Why not?

Charleygirl5 Fri 07-Nov-25 12:42:44

English Language, and although I hated Latin and was useless at it, I have retained a surprising amount, and it has been helpful for quizzes on TV.

In Scotland, English Language and spelling were drummed into me.

M0nica Fri 07-Nov-25 13:28:04

DGD was selected for the local Gifted and Talented programme. One of the opportunities she was given was an out of school latin class organised by a local private school. through that she was able to take, and pass GCSE Latin.

She is going on to university to study English and considers that it will be a helpful background GCSE to have.

joannapiano Fri 07-Nov-25 15:54:51

Geography A level. DH came into our form in the Upper 6th and we went on a geography field trip. Married for 55 years. He is still good at map reading!

Norah Fri 07-Nov-25 16:07:12

Maths

Onlymedea Fri 07-Nov-25 19:04:04

Learning to read without a doubt. It gave me access to everything else so thank you Miss Blackband.

Mollygo Fri 07-Nov-25 22:53:34

French Latin and music. The year of technical drawing has been useful too.

Lovetopaint037 Sat 08-Nov-25 04:37:07

English, housecraft, shorthand and typing.

grandMattie Sat 08-Nov-25 05:17:47

Maths - just for the pure joy of solving quadratic equations, or geometric problems.
Biology and chemistry for satisfying native curiosity.
School in general for taking me out of difficult home situations.

mum2three Sat 08-Nov-25 05:51:28

History.

BlueBelle Sat 08-Nov-25 06:02:53

No one lesson. I think it gave me an all round grounding and knowledge, silly things that I get right in quizzes and stuff and I realise I learnt at school I was neither a high flyer nor a dunce I was well and truly in the middle, just average

Disliked the scientific brain parts ie maths, science, and languages brain wired up wrongly for them but can get by
Loved the arts English literature/ language history and my favourite geography
However it taught me social skills as a very shy only child who was a bit invisible I found a voice by the sixth form Strangely it was in a discussion group about racism I can’t remember what exactly but I do remember standing up and giving the teacher two guns much to the amazement and shock of my class mates
As a white girl from a white area in the country I ve no idea where my feelings had come from but I have never ever been able to tolerate unfairness and I remember my anger and disappointment when aged about 5 my paternal grandad joked to me that my precious black doll needed a good wash
Maybe it all stemmed from that

Grantanow Sat 08-Nov-25 10:03:46

I don't think it was a subject, rather one of the teachers who taught me to think logically.

Elegran Sat 08-Nov-25 10:45:35

English language and the reading of it for meaning, comprehension and precis. I wasn't aware at the time of how much I was being taught to extract from a passage of text and condense accurately into a couple of sentences, but the more I read these days of internet users' conceptions of scientific articles or "official" diktats, the more it sems most people completely misunderstand what a writer is saying.

Cumbrianmale56 Sun 09-Nov-25 15:38:01

Depends what you want to do in adult life. People who go into engineering would say maths, physics and design technology, someone who became a musician would say music and maybe a foreign language like German if they wanted to be an opera singer. It all depends.

Purplepixie Sun 09-Nov-25 15:46:02

Domestic Science

M0nica Sun 09-Nov-25 20:59:44

Cumbrianmale56

Depends what you want to do in adult life. People who go into engineering would say maths, physics and design technology, someone who became a musician would say music and maybe a foreign language like German if they wanted to be an opera singer. It all depends.

History has been my passion most of my life and was the most important school subject I studied.

It has had absolutely no relevance to how I have earned my living. I went from school to university, where I studied economics and that is how I made my living.

I would say that probably half the population have working lives that are not dependent on subjects they studied at school.

Shop assistants, care workers, lawyers of all kinds, and that is just to start. My DD left school to go to drama school, but ended working in the media, and now in banking (not as a banker). My son is an archaeologist. Neither of them dependent on one specific subject, beyond a good broad education.

Margiknot Sun 09-Nov-25 21:45:32

Everything! Obviously the 3Rs, but French, all sciences, music, literature, domestic science, needlework - have all been useful. I wish I could have continued some subjects like history for longer. Higher education dictated my career but some of the practical subjects from earlier education years ( cooking, dance, music, sewing, arithmetic) are most used.

Catterygirl Sun 09-Nov-25 22:57:56

English without a doubt.

M0nica Mon 10-Nov-25 08:52:42

Margiknot

Everything! Obviously the 3Rs, but French, all sciences, music, literature, domestic science, needlework - have all been useful. I wish I could have continued some subjects like history for longer. Higher education dictated my career but some of the practical subjects from earlier education years ( cooking, dance, music, sewing, arithmetic) are most used.

I think most of us could write what you wrote. It is just listing the school curriculum that makes up a good education, but which was the most important one to you from that list. The one that crepet into your soul, or would have completely changed the course of your life if you had notstudied it?

Celieanne86 Mon 10-Nov-25 10:12:53

English literature and language