Rather than being drilled for weeks or months on previous test papers and practice tests , the life chances of your child would be better enhanced by learning how to use mathematics to solve a real problem , rather than simply how to perform a clever manipulation ; by learning to play chess and the violin ; by being put in competitive situations in which sometimes they win and sometimes they lose , but always on the basis of relative performance ; by spending a week away from home on a school camping expedition ( there is a great deal of initiative , enterprise , self-management , self-confidence , teamwork and communication required and learnt by a group of nine-year-olds putting up a tent after dark ) ; and by reading , for example , David Copperfield , even though it is never going to be tested .