Adulting; it's not really a word, but yet it is something that we all are fairly familiar with. It is also something that pretty much no one knows how to do properly. I, personally, like to blame high school for this. They spend four years teaching us about all sorts of random facts, but not what we need to learn. Then they expect us all to go to college or straight into a career and think that we'll know exactly what to do. How can you expect me to be independent, when a few months ago I had to get permission to use the restroom?
So here are a few things that every high schools should teach, that will ACTUALLY prepare us for adulting.
1. Taxes
Now I know that these seem like a common sense thing that schools should teach, right? Well no... My school didn't, and I know a lot of my friends didn't go to a school that taught them either. I didn't learn how to do my taxes until I went onto TurboTax and they had a little walk through. Now I know most of you reading this will say "Well have their parents teach them." But in all actuality a lot of people's parents will just do their taxes for them, or they go to "the guy/girl" to have them done for them. Schools need to teach what the heck a W2 is, how to properly input all of the information, and how to make sure that you're claiming all of the right things, that way you're not going to get in trouble with your friendly neighborhood IRS.
2. Mortgage
Every parent will appreciate this class because even though they love their kids very much, they don't want them to stay at home forever. Moving out and buying your own home is something that is definitely a huge milestone in anyone's life, but you kind of have to know how to go about that process. It's something as simple as informing us as to where to go to start the process. How to get the process started. What are the prerequisites that are needed to start the entire show. These are just simple things that can go a long way.
3. Credit
Now this sounds like something that everyone needs and should understand, because everyone should have it and understand it. But we're never really told how to grow/improve our credit. All we're told is that "If you have good credit, you can do a lot of things with no worries." Thanks? What is good credit? How do I get my credit started in the first place? What's the best type of credit card for me to start out with? How do I even get a credit card? All of these things are important things can be explained in a simple class, and it can go a long way in life.
These are very big things to try and learn in a school and a lot of people will argue "Well you don't need to learn that now, you learn that stuff as you grow up." And that mentality is what is wrong with the world. Not teaching us and allowing us to "learn" as we grow up is why there are so many college kids in immense debt. It's why there are people that are struggling day to day because they never knew how to properly handle things in their life. Teaching these classes may seem like something that is a hassle, but simply adding these into a normal curriculum will solve many problems in the future for the kids.
