My high school experience was probably similar to those of many other teenagers across the United States. Spending six to seven hours in school, Monday through Friday, for 180 days each year definitely taught me a lot. As I enter my second semester of my junior year, however, I’ve learned that many of the classes we took in high school were lacking important life lessons. Here are a few of the most important things that my four years in high school did not teach me:

1. Money Management

Money management is one of the most noticeable things that high school does not teach us. Especially as a college student, if you have never experienced living on your own, life without the constant support from parents is difficult. High school doesn’t teach us the concept of saving money. No one tells us how expensive the real world is when you are a full time student without a job. Managing our money is difficult when we are constantly being introduced to more and more college expenses, such as textbooks.

2. Holding Quality Conversations

Quality conversation is something that today’s society lacks. We are so often distracted by everything surrounding us that we find it hard to pay attention to others. Especially the most recent generation, technology gets in the way of holding more personal conversation. High school never taught us the importance of having good conversation and making real life connections. Instead, we hold our conversations via cell phones or the Internet. This not only creates communication deficiencies, but it also ruins the basic skill of forming personal conversation.

3. Balancing Time

Time management is a major concern for many people across the world. College students especially have a hard time balancing their time due to the chaos that surrounds them. Adolescents are constantly on the go and have a tremendous amount of things to get done. The inability to balance time ultimately damages the quality of work that actually does get done, as well as increases stress levels.

4. Keeping Good Health

Health. It seems like something so simple and out of our control. In all reality, keeping up good health is incredibly in our control. Eating healthy, exercising frequently, and maintaining good sleep patterns are just a few of the many ways to promote good health. Health classes in high school were very basic and, for many students, an unimportant mandatory course. While the course taught about many basic health concerns, it did not teach about how important good health is. Not only that, but good health does not always mean just physical health, it also deals with mental health. Mental health is extremely important to focus on because of how common mental health issues are. Nearly everyone in the world has to handle stress or anxiety at some point in his or her lives, and the more the topic is discussed, the better we will be able to deal with such situations and be able to maintain good overall physical and mental health.

5. Traveling

High school very rarely encourages the idea of traveling. I have learned, however, that traveling is an important part of life, because it teaches us so much about our world and even can teach us a few things about ourselves. Traveling is an experience that teaches us to get out of our comfort zone, develop a cultural understanding, and even helps us form relationships with people we would not normally meet. In my experience, high school never stressed the many opportunities traveling brings.

6. Finding a Career

In high school, we are told that we have so much time to decide what we want to do. High school focuses on the basic core courses that educators feel we need to learn about. The main focus on this level of schooling is to get students to college. The problem, however, is that when students finally reach college, they are unprepared and do not know what they want to do after college. Finding a career is one of the most challenging processes we will ever go through, and high school hardly ever addresses or supports us in this process.

7. Understanding Relationships

Throughout life, creating and maintaining relationships is very difficult. In the past few years, I have learned that people will always come and go. There are very few people who will stick by your side forever, but when you find those people, hold them close. Those are the people who are truly there for you, in the good times and in the bad. High school is a time that confuses this idea. We make friends with the people we spend time with every day, but most of the time, in the end, we go our separate ways. While this may be upsetting, it is a natural part of life, and high school confuses the strong relationships in our lives with those that are temporary.

8. Following Your Dreams

It may sound cliché, but everyone has dreams. Whether they may be small or large, it is important to set them and try to reach them. Dreams are something to look forward to in life. Without them, people struggle to find a place for themselves in the world.

9. Valuing Yourself

By far, the most important thing I have learned is to truly value myself. What this means is to be self-aware and stand up for what you believe in. This is so important, because in today’s society, adolescents often get wrapped up in what other people think. Staying true to oneself is difficult, but it is important to never change for anyone.