Do you ever feel like the things that you are learning in school would not apply to real life? This idea is one that resonates with many teenagers in school, even if it isn’t always openly acknowledged. People do not know when they would ever use the quadratic formula or find molar mass in life. This leads to the idea that schools should teach students more practical life skills to prepare them for life after school. Without these required skills, people end up feeling lost or confused about how to support themselves after they graduate. I think that high schools should include more life skills classes to help students prepare for their future.
Real-life skills help students with feeling confident about being independent. After students graduate, there is a huge jump in their lifestyles. Students go from having their parents paying for food, cooking meals, providing a place to stay, and supporting all of your ideas and passions for you. Without learning how to do simple things like budgeting, cooking, how to pay taxes and manage your own place, students will graduate and not be confident. This wrecks their attitude and takes their mind off their goals and jobs. If school would teach kids the basics of just how to file taxes, how to cook cheap and healthy meals, and how to manage their money and house, it would lead to a much more confident and independent generation.
The second reason that schools should teach more real-life skills is because these skills apply to 100% of students. Schools teach you the basics of many different career options, for example, science and math courses are for kids who want to pursue a career in the engineering or healthcare field. This means that most of the courses offered are for a certain group of students while real-life skill courses apply to every single student. Everyone is going to graduate and need to provide for themselves. This is a good reason to prioritize these classes. But this is not the only reason schools should teach students more useful skills for life.
My third and final reason that schools need to teach more life skills is because students will be more involved and respectful in class. In classes where students don’t think what they are learning applies to them, they are more inclined to doze off or not pay attention to the teacher. But when students feel that what they are learning will apply to them in real life, they are likely to be interested and stay present in class.
In conclusion, schools are doing a good job educating students for careers but they do not prepare students enough for the real world after they graduate. Schools should teach students more real-life skills because they increase future confidence and independence, real-life skills apply to every single student, and when teaching these skills, students will be more involved than normal. I think that teaching these skills would prepare students better for their future, and that’s why they are necessary.
