What should kids be learning about at school? We ask 5 prominent women about their favourite subject.

Jane Caro – Author, social commentator and speaker.

Jane Caro (Image via Twitter)

Answer: Lunchtime and recess

That is when I learnt the most about mucking in with other people, who I liked, who I didn’t and who didn’t like me. I learnt how to deal with difficulty and how to survive rejection. I learnt how to have fun, how to organise, how to delegate and - eventually - how to share. I learnt how to gossip, flirt, joke and how to co-operate so that everyone had fun. I learnt how to subvert authority, bond with my peers and test my mettle. I learnt what I was good at and what I was hopeless at. I learnt what was hurtful to me and why I also should not hurt others. I learnt about power, heirachy, cliques, shifting allegiances, diplomacy, warfare and celebration. I learnt about loss when good friends moved schools. I learnt about making friends, keeping friends and relationships in general.

I have never learnt more before or since.

Julia Baird - Journalist, broadcaster and author (currently writing a book about Queen Victoria).

Answer: History

I am deeply biased on this, but indulge me for a moment.

I believe the most important subject is history; it stokes the imagination, encourages empathy, makes us understand the folly - and glory - of our own and past times - it teaches us that enlightenment and progress are possible but tortuously difficult and often centuries in the making.

That the human brain is pliable, unpredictable and magnificent. That we are as capable of unfathomable horrors as we are of astonishing sacrifice. History is not just what happens in parliament and on battlefields, but also in pantries, in bedrooms and bathrooms, in the minds of people who pass you on the street... it's everywhere, everything all at once.

In this way history encompasses all the other subjects - it teaches you about great literature and where it springs from, about the great discoveries in mathematics and science, the centuries of boom and bust that have informed economic theory ..... History is infinite. I love it.

Jamila Rizvi - Writer and presenter

Answer: Connect the dots