Makeup in schools....

... a really interesting topic came up today when I was chatting with two of my Year 9 girls (14 year olds).

We were talking about the girl in the news at the moment for her ridiculous ranty speech about how teachers don't teach properly and you don't learn anything in schools.  My girls were a bit scathing about the speech but admitted there were things they wish they were taught in school.  When I questioned them about what, one thing they came up with was makeup.

They basically said that they love the way I wear makeup and think that along with all the other life skills that are taught, there should be an option for teenage girls (and genuinely interested boys) to take a makeup class or course through school, taught by a teacher with sufficient ability or an outside contractor.  I've actually had similar thoughts myself over the years, after seeing one teen girl after another come in with inch thick orangey foundation, badly applied eyeliner and lippy in the wrong shade.  What better way (asked the girls) than having a laugh with your friends, and a teacher you like and want to imitate (In terms of makeup) while learning something that can be really positive.

I LOVE THIS.  It won't fly in most schools (many are anti-makeup!), but it's something I'd LOVE to see going as a community outreach programme or similar.  The girls are right.  Someone needs to teach them.

I've promised I'll take in some of my fave makeup for them to look at and swatch next term and informally talk some tips through with them at break time in the mean time, but thought this would be a super interesting discussion too.

How did YOU learn?

Who was instrumental? Whose role is it?

If there were a course you could have taken at school, would you have?

Would you teach such a course if you were asked to?



 

I'm against a set makeup class in school itself in the curriculum, unless it was as part of a beauty therapy option which I know some schools offer. If anything I'd think it'd be better maybe as an extra-curricular option but I know there are places outside school that offer it. If I had kiddies or was still in school myself, I'd also prefer it being taught by someone qualified in the area such as a makeup artist or beauty therapist who had undertaken a course themselves than someone with an interest in the subject.

Nah definitely not curriculum, more just  in the way that itinerant groups like Cycle Safety, DARE, St John, the career people, those that train them for babysitting etc come in, on an opt-in basis, with (obviously) no assessment.

I don't think I agree at all with it being taught at schools (respectfully of course).

I think the joy of makeup is learning by yourself. Mistakes are OK and expected and you can learn from them.

I also think that encouraging the wearing of makeup when you are young (school-age) isn't particularly good. Just that that is when you are learning who you are and I don't want young women to think that it is necessary. Once you are older it is easier to see that it is an option not a necessity.

I think it would be a cool thing to learn for NCEA students. Add it in as an optional class because that's when they're going to be wanting to learn life skills and it would be helpful for those like myself who want to work in the beauty industry. If I'd been offered some sort of beauty course in high school I would've had much less stress over what I wanted to do in the future. Because I didn't learn it in high school, I felt like it couldn't be a good job and I think often students have that outlook on careers which is actually very sad. 

I agree in some ways kirsty and I definitely don't thinkt hey should feel like they have to wear it!  But they are (some of them anyway) and in the age of inquiry based learning and student driven programmes, I think it's a potentially intriguing point :)

And for me I learned completely through YouTube. I think second to actual beauty schools, YouTube is the most accessible and useful resource out there for young girls (and guys) to learn about make up. 

Oh and everything I have learnt about makeup I have learnt myself. My Mum doesn't wear any makeup other than lipstick occassionally. I would love to know how the rest of you all learnt about makeup!!!

mine was mum for skincare, then a Mary Kay lady Mum got to come to the house for a few things mostly eye related, then friends in Japan and at uni, then trial and error.

I was a test model for a younger friend in Dunedin when she trained as a beginner MUA and training in makeup gave her so much more confidence to experiment that I kinda felt like I'd missed a step somewhere.  TMUA this sounds kinda liek what you're saying?

I think you're EXACTLY right about schools being able to give an impression of career paths as being 'acceptable' or not TMUA.  My last school offered an opt-in hairstyling/beginning hairdressing taster for some of the less academic girls so they could decide if they were keen before they actually left school but some of the more academic ones opted in as well because they were interested.

I wonder if the problem with the whole career path thing is that people think that path means one type of job or career. It seems to be badly thought of to branch out and do something different! (I say that as someone who accidentally fell into my career through not knowing what to do).

They should have life skills course aimed more at senior students I think, things that should be included in the course are budgeting, rental agreements and tenancy, credit, hp and loans, what insurance is, applying for scholarships, cvs and interview techniques, basic cooking skills (if possible), appropriate clothing requirements with hair & make up.

There is a whole lot of stuff that when we left school, we didn't know. Stuff that affects you straight out of moving from home to the big world.

I think kids just need to hear from as many representatives from as many different fields as possible and understand that their dream job may not even exist when they leave school and may develop as they move through one career.

Look at me.  Wanted to be a teacher.  Became a teacher.  11 years later and my dream, and my entire career, is shifting into an area that didn't exist when I was in school in the 90's :)

I definitely agree raging frog.  Also, voting in elections, online etiquette and a myriad of other things :)

KirstyJ I had one teacher at high school 4th career change. she would train, work a few years then decide it was not for her, then new profession. She also changed countries in that time too.

I would like to see more in schools particularly years 12/13 on living away from home, budgeting, cooking simple meals, even something like how to set up power etc would be helpful! My high school you could do star courses where you would go to the local teritiary institute a couple of times a week and learn in a choosen disipline whether it be  beauty, horse riding or automotive so I think we were quite lucky!

I agree, I think personal presentation should be part of secondary as part of preparing for the workforce, and classes in makeup etc for those who want to pursue beauty careers. Some kids need to start at "you need to shower every day and clean your teeth..."

Agreed on the fact that your job might not exist when you leave school! Look at all the Youtubers these days, it is awesome and amazing.

I think teenagers now are different than when I was in school in the UK. Makeup was the norm past about 14 and it was almost like we were competing against each other back then for the boys attention with the use of makeup and I don't personally think that's healthy at that age.

This was in the 80's though and when I look back at those photos I'm like omgoodness what possessed me? Bring back Visage, Gary Newman and the other New Romantics and of course Adam Ant. Times were definately different. Thank heavens there was no internet, that's all I can say. I would be perpetually embarrassed lol.

I learned makeup skills from both my Mum and my big sister and trawling chemists for ideas.

We did a makeup training day at Uni which was fun but that involved special effects too. Interesting, fun and informative and tutored by an expert makeup artist that was hired just for the day.

I learned about makeup and skincare myself mostly through magazines, and some Youtube, my mum didn't have much interest in either.

Did anyone's school have drivers ed? Mine didn't but I really wish it did, safe driving skills are so essential and I didn't learn to drive until well after school. Having lessons more freely available could result in less younger drivers getting into accidents.

My school had like a safe driving course thingy.

Good idea about the driving Jesse! I'm really lucky my Dad was so focused on me getting my full license as soon as possible... becuase I was not as keen.

I definitely don't think makeup should be taught in schools, whether it's an outside subject or not, there are far more important things that students are missing out on.
When I was in highschool I had wished we were taught things like budgeting, how to pay bills, driving education, how to get a job/CV stuff, proper cooking, even first aid! 
Makeup is something that is personal and should be learnt in your free time because it's not a life skill. Yes it's becoming a more popular industry for work but that's something you should focus on once out of school. 
There are so many ways to learn about makeup - YouTube, blogs, books, even Instagram. I personally don't think it's necessary to be taught in school, most schools don't even allow makeup to be worn anyway.

I learnt how to apply makeup by watching my mum as I was growing up and playing with it whenever I could, I assume that this is still how people are learning as well as watching YouTube and using other tools as mentioned above.

Trudijoy I wish you were a teacher in the UK.  It is such a pleasure to come across one who is capable of thinking outside the box. I agree that it should not be part of the curriculum but it can be 15 mins at the end of class or similar. I have interviewed a whole bunch of young ladies who could have done with a very quick course on "presentation for an interview".  It is unfortunate but a fact of life that how you present yourself is the first most important thing.

This is my first post!

Aww thankyou LinF - I'm actually leaving teaching for a while but the UK is still on my wishlist so you never know!

Interesting thread. I would love to see career path type subjects learned in the last years of schooling. Maybe this is where Beauty can come in. I taught myself. I've had many errors.I only watch tutorials on Beauty Review or fellow members on you tube.

interesting topic. When I was at school we weren't allowed to wear make up (although lots of girls did). You would only get told off to remove it if you had thick eyeliner or your make up was really obvious. I didn't wear makeup at school, only occasionally mascara or eyeliner on mufti days.

dani, my school also had the star elective courses as an option for students who were interested in those fields. In year 12 we had a trip to the careers expo, and in year 13 I remember we had someone come to talk to us about budgeting, flitting, student loans etc. I would have loved to have been given the option of having driving courses though. I'm still on my learners...

If makeup was taught at school I definitely would've taken it, like don't get me wrong learning how to sew was fun and all but I dont own a sewing machine so I'm never going to need to know how to make a drawstring bag but I would've liked to know how to match foundation. I was literally that 15 year old with pale skin and the foundation lines. Or how to blend eyeshadow, i literally cannot make it work still.  
Like what does not sound appealing about spending an hour a day learning how to look beautiful? Not to mention it'd benefit in so many ways but it should be taught by someone who is qualified in that area. But I think it should be a course thing, like it only goes for a term and after year 11, or a class for year 13s as it'd prepare them for after school.
Even a course on adulthood (learning how to budget, learning how to dress according to the job you want/have, learning to write a cv correctly, makeup, coping with uni and a job etc).

If that was too long you didnt read it, I agree it should be taught in school but with certain conditions.
I learnt through youtube but got interested through my sisters collection of goodies haha.

Great Thread!! 
I was fortunate that my Mum is a bit of a glamour puss & she used to work for a Make up company so taught me a lot about what suits me & how to apply it. It's only now, in my 30's that I'm getting more adventurous. 

I think it would be a good idea for Students - maybe years 12 & 13 to have this included in some sort of life skills course, but maybe presented in a way that it's applied to professionalism - like how to dress etc. for a job interview. I believe that the basics in presentation could possibly speak volumes to a lot of teenage girls on how to wear make up and all that. Give them the basics & if they wish to go further, there is youtube & blogs for things like that.

I wish there had been more teachers like you Trudijoy when I was at high school. I might have stayed for longer haha! 

Has cooking stopped in Schooling now? 

I did home economics for both of my high school years - which was literally just cooking. but that gave me the foundation to decide that I wanted to be a chef leaving school, I continued onto Polytech and became a qualified chef - though 10 years on I'm designing kitchens instead of working in them (Hospo is a fickle beast) haha

Oh Trudijoy!  This topic is right up my ally.  I work for a secondry school and what you are talking about does exist is some schools.  For me, I'm passionate about students finding out about the 'real world'and  what they want to do with it.  Schools have Gateway & STAR funding they can access to give students the option to try different careers and its not just for the less academic ones either (although, common misconception that it is).  I have a group of students doing an intro to beauty industry course next term, its 2 days and they will get to lear about makeup, facials & nails and also about skinscare.  I've offered it to students I see who could use a confidence boost (or need some gentle advice on makeup application lol).  As far as drivers ed is concerned, totally agree and I have been pushing it with the school all year.  I've set up a whole programme that will encourage whanau to be part of the process as well.  The biggest problem with that though is the cost.  For each student that goes through just the learners part of the course (including sitting the theory) costs around $315!! so not cheap and my budget wont sustain that for the 100 odd students that want to do it which is a shame.  Some schools I am in contact with have Pathways as a subject, where stuff like this is taught (as its all worth credits), they also do budgeting, CV, personal presentation that sort of stuff which is great, but would only be for those kids not looking at going to Uni as they wont get the right kind of credits towards that which is fine but can be too limiting.  What would be an interesting excercise and I have thought about doing it is running a course after school or on a weekend, bring in an expert to teach it and then you would get the kids that are genuinely interested coming along, invite the parents to come too.  I couldnt think of anything more fun than even a sleep-over with makeup lessons and maybe a few budgeting tips to go with it, maybe thats something you could do with those girls Trudijoy?  

I agree with some of these further comments particularly with regards to presentation skills for interview etc, real life skills rather than just general makeup lessons as such.

If there was an after school option and the Mums could come along too then it would be a really fun evening.

I'm not so sure my mother would have wanted to be involved though, looking back on it, as it could have hit on some of her insecurities.

I think a delicate touch would be required as some girls could be left out due to the parent factor and then would feel maybe inadequate at school thereafter because they missed out. Just a few thoughts, I'm certainly no expert :)

I personally don't think this should be in the school curriculum. With the advent of YouTube and the internet I feel girls can learn heaps about makeup if they want to. Unlike in my time the amount of information available is amazing. As some of the comments above have said, I think that other life skills such as learning how to budget, make meals, pay bills etc should be taught as they're necessary skills to have to survive. 

Another part art of me thinks that teenage hood should be all about experimentation and experimenting with makeup is a rite of passage almost. For those that are interested in learning about makeup they can get an education via YouTube and/or study it outside of school. 

Remember that there Is a huge difference between being taught and being in the curriculum.

I've been teaching keen 14/15 year old girls to walk in heels for grad as well. Sometimes they listen more to a teacher or friend or aunty etc than to a parent about stuff like this too

I don't think it needs to be in school as they have enoough to cope with already but a good idea for perhaps the YMCA school programs or something similar so for a small charge a beauty therapist would give the basics .It would be a lot of fun.

I remember a million years ago at Intermediate School having someone coming in to chat about basics of taking care of yourself - Shampooing/Conditioning, how to rub moisturiser in to your face etc.  I know its random but has always stuck with me  :-)

Growing up I always had play makeup but as a young teenager, I got my hands on a friend's older sisters real makeup and looked like an oompa loompa.  My Mum does not and has never worn a lot of makeup so my parents sent me along to some classes which covered applying makeup.  I am forever grateful for this.

 

I completly disagree, no place for teaching make-up in school. Budgeting, machanics type of life skills yes but not make up

There are some makeup workshops that exist that cater for teenage girls. Some counters (Bobbi Brown springs to mind) also do actual makeup lessons that you can book in for.

I would be hesitant as including it as part of the school curriculum, however peripherally. It's hard enough being a teenage girl without another layer of suggestion that your value comes from your beauty.