Prompt: Some people think that school children need to learn practical skills such as car maintenance or bank account management along with the academic subjects at school. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

It is true that the skills which help to deal with everyday problems are always useful. However, not many practical skills can be taught to school children along with knowledge from text books. I would disagree that schools should teach skills like bank account management or car maintenance. Ċ Nowadays, we live in a knowledge-based economy in which independent thinking and problem solving are the most important skills. This is therefore, theoretical materials are emphasized and academic subjects such as mathematics, science and languages are taught in classes. Moreover, with timetables are already full, schools do not have time left to teach children anything else. Besides, young minds should not be overloaded with extra lessons at school to learn practical skills. If the students do not even have some free time just to relax, they might not be able to concentrate on their studies, and as a result, fail the academic subjects. Ċ In addition to the argument against teaching practical skills at schools, it is believed that the skills like bank account management and car maintenance are not really necessary for young children to learn. This is because most adults can manage their finances well without being taught accounting lessons at school. The simple skills like opening a bank account can be easily learnt when we grow up. Likewise, car maintenance lessons are not really needed because it would be easier for most people to take their cars to a qualified mechanic. Ċ In conclusion, schools are already doing a good job teaching traditional academic subjects. For the reasons mentioned above, if they start teaching many practical skills, the study of important academic subjects will suffer.