I never learned how to do my taxes in high school. I was never taught to properly budget my money, just that living on my own would be expensive. I was never taught how to apply for insurance, just to not run with scissors. Education is an important part of anyone’s life, but that can’t be the only thing young adults are armed with once they are thrown into the world of adulting.

My belief is that our generation needs to let the real world shape us and teach us its lessons. We need to learn what it is like to have to work to pay our rent. We need to learn how to change a tire when we’re on the side of a road on our way home from work. I have seen too many people living with no ambitions, no one motivating them, and they don’t better themselves. They don’t want to face the real world because it’s scary and they like the safe nest they’ve been nestled in their whole life.

I believe that it’s beyond this nest that we nestle ourselves in, that the real lessons from the world are hidden. We owe it to ourselves to understand the people beyond our borders. What they value, what they believe what makes their nations tick. We deserve to experience these cultures, not just learn about them but experience them.

There is a list of lessons beyond the classroom, and more importantly there is a world of lessons beyond the cosy home we have made for ourselves in this country. These lessons can be waiting right down the street from your houses or thousands of miles away, but it is my belief that we owe it to ourselves to learn these lesson. Then again that’s just my belief.