Extraordinary levels

Pete Warren
Parent, London

I think the Blackpool college that is teaching casino studies has come up with an extremely good idea. It's all about statistics, the dullest subject imaginable, and teaching it in terms of betting probabilities would make it so much more interesting. And learning about the statistics of gambling would make you unlikely ever to walk into a betting shop. There should be a subject called life skills, which could cover a huge amount: how to organise a funeral or a wedding; what's involved in renting or buying a house; how to get a job doing something you love rather than something you're good at; and the difference between the jobs you should pay for and the ones you should do yourself. Nobody should pay someone else to change a tap washer or a fuse or to paint a front door; these are the kinds of things you can learn in half an hour and remember for the rest of your life.

Jon Berry
Lecturer, Hertfordshire

This might seem a strange choice, especially with most classroom teachers I know waging a daily battle against rudeness and backchat, but the subject I'd like to see included in the curriculum would be dissent. I'm always appalled at the way in which so many children are taught what to think. With tests and exams dictating the curriculum, it's hardly surprising if teachers feel constrained to provide the script for correct answers. Diversity of opinion and originality of thought often end up unrewarded. What form would lessons take? First, students would read whole works of literature and articles and digest information from a number of sources. They would be taught how to detect bias and to marshall an argument that could then be articulated coherently and forcefully. Sounds familiar? It used to be called English in a time before the government discovered literacy. So there we have it: dissent exemplified.

Sam Wolfson
Aged 15, from London

Casino studies? I worry about the serious RSI one could get from all that roulette spinning and dice throwing. Besides, there are GCSEs that the British youth is far more in need of. The speech impediment that seems to be afflicting most teens today is a complete lack of consonants in everything they say; possibly to balance the lack of vowels in everything they text. Just as ancient cultures must protect their languages, so we must protect 21 letters of our alphabet from extinction. Easily sorted by a GCSE in pronunciation. The exams you can take today are already so varied. Current GCSEs include biblical Hebrew and rural and agricultural studies. In fact, casinology would fit in quite nicely.