Let us be real honest with ourselves: our educational system isn’t that great. Teachers do the best they can given the tools they are given and the rules they must enforce for their own career to continue. However the tools and rules and being made and allocated by politicians who have never set foot inside of a classroom, and the budgets keep becoming smaller. This leads to a population of students, over-tested and mentally-exhausted, going into our colleges and workforces with very little life school, but hey, at least they know that Columbus founded the Americas, right (ensuing large sigh)? Now, some schools are awesome, and teach some of these valuable skills that I am about to list, but the broad base of American educational does not see these resources provided to them. These are 12 things I wish I had learned before I graduated high school.

1. Taxes

I do not know how to do my taxes. I do not know many people my age who know how to do their taxes. If they do, it is because they have already had a job or their parents taught them how to. Taxes, while not difficult to do for most people, is not an innate ability. For people who struggle with math, like myself, it can be a challenge to figure out what is needed on the form and not. Teaching a basic course in how to do taxes would make students more invested in helping their country, and could help students across many different social groups see what to expect with the benefits of those taxes.

2. Sewing

This is not a class meant for just women. Everybody should be able to provide something beneficial to a family unit, and sewing is immensely useful. Broken backpacks, sloppy dolls, and closing wounds in severe emergencies are all activities someone could do if they knew how to sew. In addition, it is very useful when you can craft someone a gift when you are running low on cash.

3. Mechanics

Many schools I have heard have this class, but not across a wide range of them, and they are very limited. Learning the different parts of your motor vehicle would be immensely useful in an age where cars are becoming more and more complicated and diverse. Teaching students how to fix basic problems in their mom’s minivan to their bikes to a motorcycle is a skill that that person could use for the rest of their lives. In addition, mechanics could get tax write-offs for helping teach these classes and perhaps open a repair shop within the school, as some I heard do.

4. Basic Survival

Basic Survival is meant in a very broad sense of a term. Students should learn how to identify dangerous plants, find clean water, and build a shelter in case of an emergency. They should also learned where to find food banks, what the steps to get a food stamp is, and how to stay safe when walking down an empty street alone. The world is going to throw our generations a lot of curveballs, and they should be able to feel confident walking around in it.

5. Electrical Work and Technology

Our society is now dominated by our technology. From television, to cell phones, to appliances, to headphones, we are surrounded by electricity. And most people do not know how it works in an applicable sense. Teaching students how the everyday items they use are made and function, as well as ways to look out for scams, will help them succeed as consumers in the American Market.

6. Cooking

I know an unbelievable about of people who do not know how to cook anything but top ramen and spaghetti when they go to college. And it is very sad. A lot of my friends became unhealthy and drained because they were living off of dorm food and chips, unable to cook for themselves other than whatever their parents were able to. Schools should teach the benefit of eating healthy, and show kids how to make healthy and delicious food from a wide range of cultures. This way, students can be healthier and perhaps the obesity rates in the US could decline.

7. Plumbing

Here is a common person’s understanding of plumbing: water comes out of the hole in the wall when I turn on a switch. Most people do not understand the concept of water pressure, how to see if the water in the area you are living in is safe to drink, or what to do when everything is breaking and everything is wet. Understanding what to do in plumbing emergencies as well as diagnosing the problem would save a lot of students trouble when they buy their first apartments or they live in a different area from home.

8. Budgeting

I was blessed to have a family that taught me how to make and keep to a budget, but many people my age do not. They do not understand how to allocate funds to fun things as well as necessities in an organized fashion. Some additions to learning to budget would be how to look for specials, where to get coupons, and when to buy big ticket items.

9. Human Rights

In a society where many citizens are not feeling protected by the police or their government, it is time that we are able to teach our students where they fall in the line of the law. They should learn a basic history of how laws are made, and how they have changed since our country’s history, from Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Act and today, so they can walk confidently in their spaces.

10. Self Defense

It is hard to say what form self-defense should be taught in, but honestly any program is better than what we have today. Women have a one in five chance and men a one in 16 chance of being sexually assaulted when they are in college. Students should be taught the definitions of rape so that they know exactly what it is when they see it, as well as violent assault laws. Then, they should be taught how to defend themselves in a legal sense, as well as a life-and-death sense, so that they can protect themselves at all costs. It is a disservice for us to put our children in danger.

11. Farming

I grew up in a urban suburbia in a large city, however, I also live in a country with a bountiful amount of food available. Learning how to grow my own food, as well as understanding where it comes from, its true educational experience to people of all backgrounds. There are so many subsets of this field that could be taught to students so that they could become more health conscious and appreciative of the food they receive, and learn how lucky they are to be able to farm in our country.

12. Basic Medicine and CPR

There are a number of different accident that these student may face throughout their life, and preparing students how to save themselves and others should be an obvious thing to do. How to make emergency casts, when to move someone if they are injured but you don’t know how, and more would help health care professionals when they arrive on scene.

There is currently not a budget in our public school to even get updated history textbooks to every student in our country. So how are we going to be able to make these opportunities available to our children? That’s where the voting public has a chance to do better. When we are all able to make changes to the system, our representatives should reflect those wishes, no if’s or buts about it.