High school is the bridge everyone must cross from awkward tween to adulthood. Classes get more difficult, teachers become stricter, homework piles up and students are supposed to use these four years to figure out what they want to do in the future.
Through all of this, our high schools fail to teach us certain basic “adult” skills that would actually be useful to us.
For the record, I loved my high school experience. I had great teachers who I generally really liked and got to know. I took some awesome classes and learned so much.
However, there are a few things that I think I should have learned in high school but didn’t.
1. Taxes
Honestly, I still have no idea how to do my taxes and I’ve been working since my junior year of high school. I’ve heard that they aren’t too hard or time-consuming. So why weren’t taxes a chapter in our math textbooks? We all (hopefully) are going to have jobs at some point and many students probably already did at the time, yet this essential skill was forgotten in our curriculums.
2. Changing a tire
Again, I still don’t know how to do this. My high school, like many others, had driver’s ed. But apparently learning something that could keep you from being stranded in the middle of nowhere is not necessary. Here’s hoping I never get stuck with a flat tire because I will not know how to fix it.
3. Applying for literally anything
In our world, you have to apply for education, jobs, internships, scholarships, loans, credit cards, passports and a wide variety of other very important things. Never once, though, did my high school give me the opportunity to learn about the application process or what certain things on an application mean. Yes, applications vary from job to job, scholarship to scholarship, etc. But, there are certain, very standard, pieces of information that students should be made aware of before they actually have to go fill one out.
4. Voting
Though many of my teachers encouraged us to register to vote when we turned 18, no one actually told us how it works. The process of voting is so important and we are always told to be “good citizens” by getting out and voting. The fact that high school taught us how to register but not how voting works is equivalent to giving us a car but not teaching us how to drive it. We know it’s important and something we should do, but have no idea exactly how to do it.
5. Networking
To get ahead in this world, knowing people is everything. Meeting important, relevant people and leaving a good impression on them is so helpful in getting jobs, internships and promotions. Creating connections that can further your career is one of the most useful skills to have. To say nothing of the fact that elevator speeches are essential at job fairs and creating career portfolios makes you look better to a potential employer, high schools seem to barely touch on professional job search tips.
Again, I have the most respect for my high school teachers. A few of them are some of the most intelligent, helpful people I’ve ever met. They helped me become the person I am today. Still, I think the school system in general needs to take a look at what it isn’t teaching its students. We could use some curricula that focus on creating informed, professional citizens who know how to change a tire.
But at least we all learned that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
