What I would have liked to have learned in English classes at school:
- Grammar.
- The history of how the language evolved from one with a rich conjugation and case system into the vastly structurally simpler one we have now.
- Points of convergence and divergence with other languages, closely related or not. How did that happen?
- How to speak and write beautifully and precisely with rhetorical flourishes if needed
What I actually learned in English classes at school:
- Thomas Hardy really hated women.
@goatsarah German classes in Germany don't have any of the latter three items, either, it's just spelling and grammar, grammar, grammar. So much grammar.
On top of that, once you're required to write essays, you aren't actually taught how to do it or given any examples of one looks like (IIRC) which probably explains why I've always been bad at them.
@karohemd @goatsarah Can second the latter point as someone who's had to teach German & Austrian students at university level, the idea school gives them of what constitutes an "essay" ends up requiring some remedial teaching.
@JubalBarca @karohemd The OU is my first academic institution to attempt to teach me how to write an essay. School seemed concerned that it had five paragraphs but didn’t care much beyond that. And Cambridge just assumed you either already had every academic skill required or would figure it out.