Majority of people in UK ‘embarrassed’ by gaps in knowledge, poll finds

Languages, history, economics and IT are among the areas people wish they were more knowledgeable in

A computer user in Hong Kong, learning from his Mandarin teacher Lily Huang at her home on Hainan island in mainland China on 27 March 2007 (AFP via Getty Images)

Two-thirds of British people are embarrassed by gaps in their knowledge, and blame the choices they made while in education.

A study of 2,000 adults found that three in 10 felt they should never have chosen the GCSEs they ended up taking. A further 16 per cent of university graduates wish they had studied another subject.

Languages, history, economics and IT are among the areas people wish they were more knowledgeable in.

But 64 per cent also said they believed the world of digital technology moved faster than they can keep up with, leaving them behind.

As a result, one-quarter said they would like to master coding, 30 per cent wanted to know how to build their own website, and one-fifth were keen to learn Microsoft’s Excel programme.

And 12 per cent of those polled had been using the coronavirus lockdown as an opportunity to research e-learning courses.

The study was commissioned by mobile network Giffgaff to launch a new online hub offering a series of videos teaching digital skills.

A spokesperson for Giffgaff said: “The great thing about humans is, you’re never too old to learn a new skill or further hone the ones you’ve already got.

"At the moment we’ve all got a little bit more time on our hands and people are looking for new ways to fill that time.

"It’s the perfect opportunity to try out learning something new.

“We want to inspire and help people to do new things and to always put community first - this is where our new academy comes in.”

The study also found more than a third of adults believe they didn’t work hard enough in school, and a tenth claim they fell in with ‘a bad crowd’ which stopped them maximising their learning potential.

One in five felt they weren’t pushed hard enough by their parents, and 13 per cent said intelligence was seen as a bad thing during their school days.

More than one-in-10 have even felt the need to lie about their level of education, according to the OnePoll polling figures.

Of these, four in 10 misrepresented their educational history on their CV, 28 per cent lied about their education to their manager, and one-quarter did it to try and impress someone they were flirting with.

Despite feeling low about their knowledge gaps, four in 10 adults felt they would be better at learning now than when they were in education.

And one in five had gone back into education as adults, while the same amount have considered it – but never actually got round to re-entering the world of academia.

More than one in three would prefer to do adult learning as a remote online course, but 27 per cent would prefer classroom learning.

However, feeling "too old" was stopping 43 per cent from going back into formal education.

It also emerged four in 10 parents got most of their technological knowledge from children, despite feeling it was something they should already know.

Forty-eight per cent of adults said they had technology in their house they did not fully understand, including heating systems, TV boxes and sound systems.

The major ten topics British people wish they knew more about:

1. Languages

2. History

3. Technology

4. IT

5. Economics/finance

6. Geography

7. Maths

8. Cooking

9. Physiology/the human body

10. Nature

11. Politics

12. Electronics

13. Music

14. Chemistry

15. Biology

SWNS