Hi everyone,

When I was a child we had TV shows on the in morning on channel 4 which taught kids about numeracy and spelling.

Why doesn't the BBC use the same approach with adults?

I see no reason the BBC couldn't broadcast a show teaching people basic skills which employers would appreciate. It doesn't have to be advanced, just enough to wet the appetite. It beats the hell out of strictly come dancing sit idle in front the TV learning nothing.

Sure, most people wouldn't tune it but some people might and get the point. Kid's did, I did.

For example, a short course on programming and where to learn more (the internet). My girlfriend who has no ability in programming (or logical reasoning) managed to write a simple picture viewer by reading an MSDN article. It took her 30 minutes.

There is bound to be other fields that this would apply to.

I realize that some of these pointless shows create vast amount of revenue through advertising and sales to other countries but I think what is more important is getting people trained and into jobs at a low cost.

A lot of people don't realize that job training really is something you have to take a personal responsibility for rather than wait for the government to hand out jobs/training.

I thought about this after reading this BBC article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20905415

Agree / Disagree ?

Thanks for listening.

I think the largest obstacle for adult training on tv is that not many people would watch it, especially if it's not on-demand. It would be cool to have more learning programs on adult topics though.

if someone wants to better themselves with new skills, tv is imo not the place to do that.

...

and lastly(and most importantly to any broadcasting company), what's in it for them?, would you riddle these training shows with advertisments to cover the costs of not only broadcasting, but also to bring in experts in the field's that you want to teach? and at the end of the day, is their even a market of people who would be willing to tune in?

edit: also, i find your story very hard to believe that someone with absolutely zero technical know how, was able to read some articles and in 30 minutes, program an entire picture viewer, which covers loading images, searching for images, decoding images, and displaying them through the graphics api. all in 30 minutes, she must be quite the genius.

you've obviously never done anything with windows forms in .net.

I wasn't suggesting that people would be qualified to get a job after watching a few tv shows. The point was to get people into a mind set of life learning rather wasting their evening watching mindless tv. People in long term unemployment have fantastic stories of sending out 3000 CV's per year, this is a total waste of time, they should be teaching themselves skills in their spare time which they can talk to employers about.

Spark their interest, show them it isn't rocket science and give examples of those whom without formal education have gone on to build a very successful career.

Imo a lot of people think that unless they are attending an educational institute then learning is unnecessary. Even with a good degree, any degree, after you leave university learning should not stop. For people who are constantly improving their knowledge and adapting to the needs of society a job is never hard to find.

Children are born with a passion to learn, its slowly eroded away in favour of instant gratification consumerism.