Bear Grylls has accused schools of failing to give children “an edge in life”, arguing that “so much of education” is boring.
The Chief Scout and TV survival expert, who is a father of three, said traditional education was “falling short”.
“It’s never been a tougher time for young people than right now,” said the old Etonian, 48, who is famed for his Born Survivor and other adventure series.
“There’s more anxiety, more pressure, more uncertainty than ever before. The world is ever faster, ever more competitive.
“So much of education, even life skills education, is often so boring. And I think so much school education ill equips students and young people for the real battles of life, the sort of skills that really matter in life rooted in attitudes, relationships, and skills and knowledge.”
Grylls, who was educated at Ludgrove School and Eton College, where the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex were also pupils, said school underfunding was partly to blame.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter about his new TV series Becoming Xtraordinary - which is based on his personal development business BecomingX - he said his goal was to “demystify success” for youngsters and give them “real-life tools and skills”.
He added: “Through BecomingX, we see thousands of schools, and it’s not their fault. They’re busy, they’re underpaid, understaffed and run off their feet. It’s other people’s job to create cutting-edge content with brilliant people that are going to speak a language young people understand.
“Because it is a tough time in the world, families are uncertain. There are a lot of things that they are scared about. But for talking about how you overcome those moments in life that give you uncertainty, that make you scared, the family plays a big part.
“You never hear that taught in schools. We’re really trying to do something to counter so much negative stuff for young people on social media to have examples of what it means to be a good human being, how to treat people and the values you grew up with. School doesn’t have time in the curriculum, sadly, tragically, to teach some of this stuff.”
The former soldier’s new 10-part series, which debuted on the Da Vinci network in the US last month, features Hollywood stars, sporting figures, and Nobel laureates discussing their journeys to success.
Julia Roberts, Channing Tatum, Courteney Cox and Roger Federer are among those who have taken part.
“I’ve been so lucky in my job to have incredible access to brilliant people, and brilliant people have often had battles and battles and battles behind them,” added Grylls, who was appointed Chief Scout in 2009.
“I’ve never met a strong person who’s had an easy past. It’s often that through hundreds of failures we get our successes, and BecomingX wanted to demystify that to actually sit down with some of these superstars, whether it’s Roger Federer or Julia Roberts, or the veterans or Nobel Prize winners or presidents and actually give them time.
“It’s not just a three-minute chat show answer, but you get under the skin of what was it like. What were the hard times and struggles? And what helped you get ahead at crunch moments?
“The partnership for this TV series is brilliant and a chance to reach millions of young people with something that’s designed purely to empower and equip them with something that school isn’t providing and that they desperately need if they’re going to get an edge in life.”