The Most Important Subject

Shaun.P said:

I am a teacher with a question for everyone in the forum (especially parents).

What do you consider to be the most important subject in High School? In other words, if your children were to leave High School with a qualification in only one subject, what would that subject be?

Please try to be specific as possible. E.g. if you think science, do you think physics, biology or chemistry?

I feel very strongly about this question, however will not disclose my answer yet as I do not want to sway the conversation one way or another.

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This may have been mentioned but...COMPUTER SKILLS.

Granted a lot of students now are great with computers but a lot are still not and thats a bad thing since pretty much no matter what job they will go in to, they'll need computers and need to know how to use them for researching.

mobilehaathi said:

Math teaches you to think critically about abstract problems. I'm rather surprised you think otherwise...

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I agree, but only if properly taught. This is why I have referred to the fact that some who teach maths are not completely comfortable in the subject as their mastery is (due to circumstances) less than it should be. This is reflected then, in how they teach the subject.

And also, it does (yet again) reinforce the old cliché about how an enthusiastic committed teacher in a subject is someone to be treasured and can influence a student's life beyond all recognition.

Re maths, I was extraordinarily lucky in that I had an exceptionally gifted teacher for the subject, an extremely talented woman known for her excellence in the field, who combined left wing politics (as I later learned when we became friends), with a keen interest in philosophy and an athlete's appreciation of the need for a grounded life.

How to communicate.

Which is much more than "English" (or whatever your primary language is).

To communicate an idea you need to first figure out what the idea is, then to parse it down to a manageable size. Then you have to put your writing into a logical structure. There is also the concept of sequencing your arguments. You also need to focus your attention on the subject for longer than 45 seconds.

I believe all of these skills can then be transferred to the sciences, maths, etc. Also, I believe that there is little point in being really good at science or math if you can't communicate what you know to others.

So... my vote is for "communication skills" - but defined as being more than just good in English (or whatever your primary language is).

Scepticalscribe said:

I agree, but only if properly taught.

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True! Although this holds for all teaching, I can appreciate how there might be more problems finding genuinely good teachers in maths.

English, specifically read, write and speak.

Not everyone can put the 3 together. It did not come together for me till I was older. I could read and write but could never master the art of speaking. So I did not always come across the way I wanted too. As I got older it became easier to make my point clear.

Great thread!

I know it's not a high school subject, per se, but I think that the most important skill kids need to learn these days is how to be tolerant of, work with, listen to, and respect others. Sounds trite, but lack of this ability is one of the leading causes of dysfunction in society.

in high school my teacher just told me how to get high score.