Stevens <#>

Erin Stevens

Mrs. Cramer

College Comp Pd 3

20 November 2020

Does High School Prepare You for the Real World?

High schools no longer take the time to teach important life skills. A study done shows

that teaching these life skills for the first ten to fifteen minutes of class could greatly benefit the

students. This study was done by St. Petersburg Times. While high school is a four-year period

of your life where you learn the rules of algebra and how to fix a run-on sentence, schools should

also be teaching kids important life lessons to achieve a successful future. High school simply

does not take the time to teach important life skills such as how to do taxes or money

management skills. Schools should be holding special classes concerning instruction on how to

file taxes, buy a house, and time and money management. Studies have shown that if kids learn

these important life lessons during high school, they are more likely to succeed in their post

graduate careers.

Although some schools may think creating and teaching these life skills classes would be

difficult, there are different ways schools can easily bring these classes into the classroom. In

fact, in a study done then written by St. Petersburg Times said that one of public schools’ most

difficult problems is that they still run on a system created over 180 years ago. Many schools

combine these lessons into pre-existing health or business classes. Eighty two percent of college

students said if their secondary education required higher standards the transition into college

would have been much easier. Other schools have been utilizing the “Raise Your Hand”
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program. This program allows students to individualize their own learning plans. There are three

options for this program. The first option would be a typical learning setting at the school with

college prep work. The second choice would be traditional college prep work along with a

career and tech program, and the final option would encompass typical college prep work along

with a fine arts program. By using these programs schools, would be able to make the college

transition easier for their students, along with giving their students an opportunity to be exposed

to new experiences in both fine arts and career and tech. If more schools were to utilize the

“Raise Your Hand” program, (or programs like this), students could also learn about their civic

duties such as voting, in a history class, such as voting. Being a responsible person should not

only apply to your own financial wellbeing but also to your own civic duties to the country.

While I have not turned eighteen yet, several of my classmates have and being that this is the

first that we have been exposed to a civics class, where students found themselves unaware of

the voting process. This prompted many of them to refrain from voting or to vote in ignorance.

Schools should promote the usage of these programs because of the good it could do for the

students’ futures.

Although, without these classes, it has been proven that the number of kids returning

home after or halfway through college has risen. These college dropouts now return home with

debt and no plan. Studies have shown that if these lessons are not taught in high school it is

often too late and teaching these lessons at a younger age makes the transition into adulthood

much easier on the student. If schools were not to offer these classes during a child’s high

school career it may often be too late. Without the education that these classes would bring, kids

would not know how pay bill, file taxes, buy a house, rent an apartment, and how to apply for

jobs. These are basic life skills that the high school systems should be held accountable for
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having. During the 1940’s, most kids would have to go straight into the workforce after high

school, meaning that somewhere along the lines the schools dropped these skills from their

curriculum.

Another valid reason that schools should be teaching these skills is because parents may

not be taking responsibility for teaching it at home, or parents may not know those life skills

themselves. Regardless of the reason the result is the same. Kids are not learning this. This in

turn creates a vicious cycle of parents not being able to teach their kids these important life skills.

In the long run, being able to balance a check book is just as important as passing an algebra test.

Furthermore, after leaving college kids are left with hundreds of student loan debt, and

they need to learn how to be successful in order to start paying it back. If they are unable to take

care of the basics such as, having enough money to provide for themselves and be able to start

paying back their student debt, they will never be able to get out from under it.

Additional, according to a study, 86% of high school students want to learn more about

money management. In my own experience, schools put too much emphasis of state testing for

school funding rather than shifting their attention towards classes that can strengthen student's

life skills. I found myself having no idea where to start when I had to open my own checking

account after getting a job that I had little clue how to apply for. A checking account is

imperative to learn about because you use it to pay bills and to receive your direct deposit

paycheck. Without having a checking account, the ability to become independent is near to

impossible. In my own personal experience, the only time that I have been exposed to any real-

life skills would be in my cooking class in middle school. We were taught a unit on timecards.

While I gained a basic knowledge on how you get paid for a job, I still was unaware of how to do

basic banking and how to apply fill out a job application.

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In conclusion, if schools were able to incorporate real life lessons into their pre-existing

lessons, or if schools were able to make life skills classes, after leaving high school children

would be much more successful than they would be without these lessons. Without high schools

actively participating in these classes, it is often too late for children to learn these lessons

outside of high school. Once out of high school who will be teaching these lessons. Their only

options will be to try to figure it out on their own or to stumble and fail miserably.
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Work Cited

Chen, Grace. "Are Public School Students Prepared for the 'Real World?'" Public School Review,
30 Apr. 2018, www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/are-public-school-students-prepared-
for-the-real-world. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.

G, Alessandra. "10 Lessons High School Has Taught Me." Millennials of New Jersey,
Odyssey, 20 June 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/what-high-school-has-taught-me.
Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
Guise, Steven. "How School Trains Us to Fail in the Real World." Steven Guise,
stephenguise.com/how-school-trains-us-to-fail-in-the-real-world/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
"Opinion Opinion: High School Should Be Reaching Life Skills." Fenton in Print, 17 Dec. 2018,
fentoninprint.com/17064/opinion/high-school-should-be-teaching-life-skills/. Accessed
23 Oct. 2020.
Toe, Annabelle, et al. "Teenagers Need to Learn Life Skills in High School, Because Many Aren't
Learning at Home." The Dallas Morning News [Dallas, TX],
www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2019/05/17/teenagers-need-to-learn-life-
skills-in-high-school-because-many-aren-t-learning-at-home/. Accessed 17 May 2019.