F1 in schools

[jab]

I went through the whole of school with F1/motorsport barely ever getting a mention, which I personally think is a bit silly given that it's one of the most popular sports in the country. I know there is the F1 in Schools project, which is a great idea, but how widespread is this? Plus there is also this which was around last summer, but otherwise there isn't much

If I was an F1 (or any series of motorsport, really) team boss, then what I'd do in between races is tour local schools with my drivers to talk to kids. Do any teams actually do this? Surely it would be a great publicity coup for them and would be encouraging the next generation of fans, because the attitude I see is that they're taking it for granted that younger generations will be interested, despite the increasing domination of football

And of course I'm just talking about Britain - what about elsewhere?

Your thoughts and experiences?

[EGG]

I thought the idea was to educate kids, not to indoctrinate them into one sport or another.

[jab]

It's not indoctrination, though. Kids at school are educated about loads of other sports - why not motorsport?

[EGG]

Originally Posted by jab

It's not indoctrination, though. Kids at school are educated about loads of other sports - why not motorsport?

Other sports are used as fitness programs, motorsport isn't really practical in this regard.

[ASCII Man]

Originally Posted by EGG

Other sports are used as fitness programs, motorsport isn't really practical in this regard.

You don't need to be fit to race a Formula 1 car?
That's new...

[Jamesy-18]

I'd have loved to have F1 is our school too, but motorsport never really gets any mention here either. I remember one in an assembly a teacher was talking about Schumacher's '06 Shanghai win, but that was about it.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by ASCII Man

You don't need to be fit to race a Formula 1 car?
That's new...

EGG wasn't saying that. Many other sports can be used at school to keep kids fit, F1 can't. My school didn't have an FIA approved circuit.

[Adam43]

F1 needs engineering skills that are useful elsewhere. It can be used to build and promote science and technology education. Rather than just an end in itself. I think that is why it mixes well with this initative.

On a side note, I'm not sure I'd be touring schools to get fans it I was a team boss. I'd probably concentrate on winning races!

[jab]

Originally Posted by Adam43

On a side note, I'm not sure I'd be touring schools to get fans it I was a team boss. I'd probably concentrate on winning races!

I'm sure the drivers and team bosses aren't permanently marooned to the HQ during races. We have a testing ban now so why not in the winter?

(I was also about to add "especially in the summer when there are no races" but I'll leave you figure out why that would've been a bad idea )

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally Posted by Adam43

F1 needs engineering skills that are useful elsewhere. It can be used to build and promote science and technology education. Rather than just an end in itself. I think that is why it mixes well with this initative.

I agree that this is how F1 best sits within a school environment. You can't "do F1" in PE the way you might play football or do athletics, but considering the lack of interest that a lot of kids have in scientific subjects (or subjects that are in any way complex), I would have thought that presenting them with an opportunity to learn how the skills are applied in an environment like F1 would be a good way of getting them interested. And of course, if a school is fortunate enough to be situated anywhere near an F1 team's factory, why not arrange a visit rather than expecting the team to come to you? It has to be better than the visit to Blackburn Rovers FC that I was saddled with when I was at school.

[fourWheelDrift]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

I agree that this is how F1 best sits within a school environment. You can't "do F1" in PE the way you might play football or do athletics, but considering the lack of interest that a lot of kids have in scientific subjects (or subjects that are in any way complex), I would have thought that presenting them with an opportunity to learn how the skills are applied in an environment like F1 would be a good way of getting them interested. And of course, if a school is fortunate enough to be situated anywhere near an F1 team's factory, why not arrange a visit rather than expecting the team to come to you? It has to be better than the visit to Blackburn Rovers FC that I was saddled with when I was at school.

I certainly agree with this, in my experience these kinds of things tend to be driven by relationships with local organisations, maybe there are schools that have a racing team round the corner they have an annual visit to, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it's happening in a small way somewhere and we just don't know.

[jab]

Originally Posted by fourWheelDrift

Sport in school is largely about getting kids to take exercise together (with a nod to encouraging them to appreciate competition), the other sports you mention do this at a reasonable cost and I don't think there is any kind of Motorsport that is remotely comparable.

If it's cost that's the issue then maybe the motorsport authorities need to invest more in it. Do Go Motorsport do anything in schools? I just think those in the privileged positions need to be a bit more proactive at the moment, because I think the motorsport fanbase is taken for granted right now. I should think the average membership age of a place like 10 Tenths is quite high, compared to, say, a football forum - numbers will start declining (if they haven't done so already) in things like club racing when the older generations pass on

Case in point - I'm a bit of a train buff, but there seems to be little enthusiasm from younger generations, and the older generations will undoubtedly be quite protective of their position in the railway preservation movement, so I think in a decade or 2, they're going to be in trouble, because they won't have the numbers anymore. Club racing is much the same - I haven't had much first hand experience of it, living in the back and beyond in Wales, but the impression I get is that it's an older generational sport with little drive to encourage younger people to get involved and keep the sport alive

I don't think a bit of preaching (for motorsport, not trains - you can't really do much about the latter) would be so bad. Loads of other organisations come to schools to do that - local businesses, churches etc. It wouldn't exactly take much - as Ralf's Girl points out, football teams do it, as do rugby teams and other sporting teams. I doubt a driver's schedule is that packed during the winter months before testing starts, and it's not exactly going to be the most stressful of activities to stand up and answer questions for some kids for guys who normally get grilled by the world's media in front of millions of viewers back home. I can see Jenson or Lewis quite enjoying that sort of thing, actually. And it doesn't even have to be an F1 thing - why not GP2 or F3 drivers/teams?

There's got to be a way of doing it somehow. It doesn't take much. In fact, it goes beyond schools. We need more fan interaction in general. F1 is so protective of the drivers today. You can't get close to them anymore

[awrb]

Originally Posted by jab

There's got to be a way of doing it somehow. It doesn't take much. In fact, it goes beyond schools. We need more fan interaction in general. F1 is so protective of the drivers today. You can't get close to them anymore

I agree, there should be more promotion for the sport, they should do things to get people interested, I just don't think schools are the place to do it. I agree drivers should get out and do things to get noticed and get F1 in peoples minds. I don't think we should worry about loosing all fans though. Older generation got into the sport themselves, so some of us have followed. At least we've got good tv coverage so people can follow it easily.

[bendy]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

I agree that this is how F1 best sits within a school environment. You can't "do F1" in PE the way you might play football or do athletics, but considering the lack of interest that a lot of kids have in scientific subjects (or subjects that are in any way complex), I would have thought that presenting them with an opportunity to learn how the skills are applied in an environment like F1 would be a good way of getting them interested. And of course, if a school is fortunate enough to be situated anywhere near an F1 team's factory, why not arrange a visit rather than expecting the team to come to you? It has to be better than the visit to Blackburn Rovers FC that I was saddled with when I was at school.

It's not just F1 though that isn't well known in schools, motorsport as a whole is mainly alien to most kids. Its so disappointing that I am literally the only person in my education career that has been interested in Motorsport.

It SHOULD be taught and told about in schools, perhaps not physically, but in an activities after school to kart track or something. Many kids dont know what an engine does! They just dont know what they're missing out on at all.

And motorsport needn't be that expensive either (ok maybe if you want to do well) but for others it can be really cheap. Stupid education system!

[fourWheelDrift]

Originally Posted by bendy

And motorsport needn't be that expensive either (ok maybe if you want to do well) but for others it can be really cheap. Stupid education system!

If we seriously believe that I'm afraid we are out of touch with the real world. Think about entry level sports for youngsters for a minute. Just to pluck a few sports out of the air:

Football or Rugby, to have a go all a youngster needs is a ball and a few mates, the cost really is virtually nothing. For a very little he can compete in a whole season of his local kids league. Not much travelling as it is pretty local for most youngsters.

Tennis, find a mate who wants to play and hire a court for an hour for a fiver, that's two and a half quid each. Most kids have suitable clothes and shoes already, night have to buy a racquet and a few balls but basic kit is very cheap now, cheaper than ever in fact.

Bowls, nothing needed except the price of hire of the woods and green indoors or out, hired by the hour for a small sum shared by all who are playing (not the woods I mean the cost of the green is shared.

Ice skating, comes up quite expensive at seven pounds including skate hire but this is for a session lasting several hours.

Cheapest way I have found to get involved with motor sport is arrive and drive Karting at about one pound per minute.

Let's suppose we are a kid with a fiver to spend on sport, we can have:

Virtually Unlimited football or Rugby.
One hours tennis.
Maybe an hour or so playing bowls.
Pays for most of a session of ice skating, maybe a couple of hours.

Or a whole five minutes Karting.

My life is massively enriched by my interest in motorsport and I actively encourage others to get involved but lets not kid ourselves it is not, never has been and probably never will be a cheap sport that everyone can get involved in.

Sorry if this sounds like a rant or is overly UK centric, as I say we have a great sport but we shouldn't kid ourselves about it.

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by fourWheelDrift

If we seriously believe that I'm afraid we are out of touch with the real world. Think about entry level sports for youngsters for a minute. Just to pluck a few sports out of the air:

Football or Rugby, to have a go all a youngster needs is a ball and a few mates, the cost really is virtually nothing. For a very little he can compete in a whole season of his local kids league. Not much travelling as it is pretty local for most youngsters.

Tennis, find a mate who wants to play and hire a court for an hour for a fiver, that's two and a half quid each. Most kids have suitable clothes and shoes already, night have to buy a racquet and a few balls but basic kit is very cheap now, cheaper than ever in fact.

I would add that for football and rugby you do have some specialist clothing (boots and mouthguards in the case of the latter, for example), but no more expensive than tennis. The cheapest in that regard is probably basketball (OK, some people have taken to the idea of mouthguards, but it's just that in theory, but not always in practice*, basketball is non-contact ...).

* No, I'm not talking about when Ron Artest gets soft drinks thrown at him.

Bowls, nothing needed except the ...

Ice skating, comes up quite expensive at seven pounds including skate hire but this is for a session lasting several hours.

Cheapest way I have found to get involved with motor sport is arrive and drive Karting at about one pound per minute. ...

My life is massively enriched by my interest in motorsport and I actively encourage others to get involved but lets not kid ourselves it is not, never has been and probably never will be a cheap sport that everyone can get involved in.

Sorry if this sounds like a rant or is overly UK centric, as I say we have a great sport but we shouldn't kid ourselves about it.

Absolutely. Motorsport will always be probably the one of the most expensive sports to participate (it could be less expensive, but it will always still be expensive) in, and that is unavoidable.

Originally Posted by Quintin03

Maybe it's better to stop the discusion on the participation in motorsport at school and get back to the engineering side which, IMO, is much more relevant to education.

I agree, motorsport is a good way of promoting engineering.

Few benefit from sports classes while many benefit from science and chemistry classes.

You should see the number of obese kids these days ...

[GolddustMini]

jab, i think f1 in schools is quite widespread in schools certainly from what ive seen anyway.

I am currently training to be a DT teacher and obviously because of my experience in industry (motorsports stuff) i do touch on it a bit in my teaching (especially with KS4 pupils it does seem to get alot of them interested) and i do mention motorsports occasionally in my teaching which does seem to interest the pupils a bit.

the problem is that we are supposed to provide pupils with a rounded education about everything as upposed to turning out lots and lots of mini ross brawns, so we have a large area to touch upon!

schools and colleges are increasingly taking on BTecs and their is one in motorsports

but (in answer to your question) yes f1 in schools does seem to work at getting pupils involved, also alot of schools have done alot with the (very open) bloodhound SSC project whcih provides alot of resources for STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths)

[bdwoody]

maybe jab has a point about motorsport in schools, if there was a route that pushed the design ,build , running ,driving (and that includes the fitness of the drivers) thenit may give some pupils an avenue to persue. of course if that avenue came to a dead end then the schooling would not necessarily be lost ,as engineering is one of the areas in this country we seem to be lacking good people not in the motorsport arena ,that we are very good at but in other areas.

times have changed and peoples views of education have changed, i saw a piece on simon cowell last night and he said that he couldn't wait to leave school to persue a carear in the music industry. i am sure there are a lot of young people in the same situation that can't do this as they dont have the oppertunity to be in the right place at the right time a la mr cowell ! giving young people the chance to go for it in an area may well boost the countrys engineering pool making it easier for companys to get the skills that at present are a bit thin on the ground !!

[bendy]

Couldn't agree with you more. Not just F1 though, I think schooling should involve some motorsport stuff as well. I am 17 and race Superkarts, and whenever other kids ask me what I do and I mention karting, they have NO idea what I am talking about. Or they think its just like ride-on mowers. And their view of F1 is just "oh it's so boring, just cars going round and round the same track."
It's such a shame really as it seems nowadays that schooling doesn't involve this hands on love of cars and therefore motorsport when it is such a great thing, and with education , a LOT more people will get involved in.

But obviously learning about the properties of biscuits is more important....

[bdwoody]

and you forgot to say how many more atoms lead (pb) has than gold (au) ...hehe

[bendy]

That too!

I mean, people my age have NO clue about what they're missing out on with motorsport.

[Knowlesy]

If I was an F1 (or any series of motorsport, really) team boss, then what I'd do in between races is either do some proper work or have a holiday.

[jab]

The schools could at least run the odd day trip to a karting circuit, though. Why shouldn't my school take a class down to Llandow for the day?

[Adam43]

Apart from cost, time and insurance, there is no reason. Although maybe a team manager should take them inbetween races?

[jab]

Good point on the insurance, what with parents and schools not wanting to do anything where the kids could break a fingernail these days...