If I were queen for a day, I’d teach kids that sanity exams are the ones to pass | Ruby Wax

I don’t want children in my realm to feel like I did at school. Learning to manage emotions and navigate real life is the way to stay out of institutions in later life

As queen I would pay a visit to every school in the realm. I’d meet with the heads and say that rather than hothousing kids to get the grades, they should consider teaching them about successfully navigating real life, with classes in how to create better relationships, how to turn bullies into your best friend, and how to handle working under mind-numbing stress – or, as Hamlet called it, “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”. (He knew a thing or two about pressure.)

We get no instruction manual for these “soft” skills, we’re just thrown into the gladiatorial ring and told to survive. Those of us who just didn’t catch the drift of education were made to feel like failures and dropped by the wayside. I lacked the brains of a parrot to be able to spew back the facts for good grades. I still can’t spell, but have managed to write a bestseller and stage show. (They don’t teach you how to plug yourself at school, but as you can see I learned anyway.)

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