With the New Year already in full swing, it’s a perfect opportunity for people to reflect on the past as well as the future.

Using this chance, a UK education consultant asked parents, and school and department leaders: ’What would we want a baby born today to have gained from our education system twenty years from now?’

He is working on getting ’a consensus of what everybody wants’ for the education system here before compiling a report for the Department of Education, Sport and Culture.

We decided to take this question to Strand Street in Douglas, but instead asked shoppers what subjects or lessons they would have liked to have been taught at school.

Geoff Berry, 80, of Maughold, said he would have liked to have learnt Mandarin.

’I’ve travelled a lot and I’ve been to China three times and think Chinese is a language that’s going to be more useful for people,’ he said.

’Ni hao’, he said, was all he could manage in the language.

’French was the one everybody learnt at school. The language everyone is learning now is Spanish,’ he said.

Jessica Cain, 32, from Douglas, thinks learning about financial matters would have benefited her and others.

’How to budget, how to pay electricity and phone bills and direct debits... it would’ve helped me prepare for the things to come,’ she said.

’Mums don’t ever tell you about that stuff either do they?’

Onchan resident Michelle Ward, 52, also thinks learning about financial matters would have helped her and would help students today.

’I think schools should give advice on credit cards to students,’ she said.

’You get offered a credit card when you set up a bank account as a student. My daughter was definitely offered one. They just don’t understand that when they buy something with a credit card it’s not just paying for that, but it also costs interest.

’These things can go up to 18% in interest rates. Young people don’t realise that.’

She thinks some schools do have members from banks drop in to give courses to students on finance. However, she wonders if this should become part of the school curriculum.

Nicole Olliphant-Smith, 18, from Douglas, said: ’Tax returns because you need to know about it. It’s a must do in life and schools should be teaching that. You’re straight out of school and you don’t know how to fill the forms in and you haven’t had help.’

Peter Cannell, 19, Douglas, added that he would have liked to have had self defence classes.

’You never know who’s about these days,’ he said.

Douglas resident Sharron Duke, 49, said she would have liked lessons about tax, finance and insurance. ’Things you don’t know about as a kid because you’re mum and dad do it all,’ she said. ’And still learning! ’When you leave home you’ve got to pay rent and it’s a big shock.’

Her daughter Robyn, 18, said she would have liked to have had lessons about money exchange and the rates.

She added: ’I would have liked to have learnt about mental health while I was at school. It was something teachers didn’t mention at all. I don’t think there was enough training for them on mental health.’