4 Classes That Should Be Offered in High School
Starting college, there were a lot of life skills I lacked. There were a lot of things that could have been beneficial to know when I was moving off on my own. Here are five high school classes that should be offered before throwing their students out into the real world.
1. Finance
Not like business school-level accounting or finance, but something as simple as balancing your bank account, budgeting for rent and bills, filing your taxes, and what interest does! These are all things I didn’t know how to do and had to call my mom or dad panicking at 7 a.m. when I realized I didn’t have enough money to pay rent the next day. “Hi Mom, I got straight A’s. Also, I might get evicted.”
2. Home Ec
My mom was a home ec teacher before she started teaching English. I went to a private high school that never offered me options for practical classes like this. Thankfully, because my mom was a teacher, she passed on many of these skills to me anyway – like cooking, baking, sewing, etc. I think these are really important skills for everyone (not just women) to have going into life after high school. Two things in life are certain: you will be hungry, and you will lose a button.
3. Geography
I know some schools teach this as its own class, but my high school did not – and I suffered for it. I remember doing a unit on US geography in middle school history class, but other than that, everything I’ve learned about geography is what I’ve learned on my own. I think this is a subject everyone should have working knowledge in. Knowing the geography of the US and the world will serve you well in more college courses that you’d think.
4. Health
Obviously most schools have health classes, but they definitely lack in a lot of categories. For example, SEX EDUCATION. I went to a Catholic high school, so sex ed was a huge no-no. What did that result in? Me and my classmates not knowing anything about our bodies or sexuality!!! In addition to sex ed, I think it would be important to teach high school students about having a healthy lifestyle – balancing meals, exercise, schoolwork, and stress levels throughout college!
These are only a few of the many classes that I think high schools should add to their curriculum to prepare students better for life in college and beyond. Less trig, more life skills, am I right?
Related: 7 Things You Won't Miss About High School After Graduation |