Grylls: Eton failed to teach me skills for life
HIS tenaciousness and derring-do have won him the admiration of young would-be adventurers worldwide.
But Bear Grylls has revealed that he felt his teenage years at Eton did not equip him with the practical skills required for life.
The SAS man turned television star said he was “never very good at school” and “struggled a lot with confidence” during his youth.
He told the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai: “I think schools celebrate the good-looking guy, the sporty guy or the academic guy.
“When I was at school, the people who were brilliant were often disasters in life because they missed the one thing that really matters in life, which is called the fight. The great people I know at life often struggled at school.”
Speaking to an audience of teachers and ministers, Grylls said his school did not teach him useful skills for life. “I wish they’d taught me how to keep fit, how to eat healthy food, how to lead a team, how to communicate with people,” he said.
Grylls, who has three sons, said that parents and teachers should limit the time that children spent on tech devices.
Instead, they must encourage them to play outside.
“It’s like nature, it’s like God has given us this great outdoor playground and it’s better than any device,” he said. The 42-year-old, who has filmed survival programmes with the likes of former US president Barack Obama, also criticised those obsessed with safety.
When he was appointed Chief Scout seven years ago, he admitted to the organisation that his health and safety ethic was “sometimes a bit dubious”.
Grylls was criticised by the RNLI in 2015 for leaving his then 11-year-old son alone on rocks in the sea in north Wales, as part of a training exercise. He said it had been carefully planned, arguing children needed to take risks.