By Alex Lutz, guest writer.
Although high school educates students and teaches them the quadratic formula, photosynthesis, and how to do a Type 3 writing, high school doesn’t quite give us the necessary tools for the real world. Most high school students don’t know how to file their taxes or save money properly, setting them up for failure after they graduate. It is necessary for students to know this in order to be successful in the future and not put themselves in debt from not properly paying off their credit card debt. When students are first out of high school, they are eager to start their life and become independent, little do they know what is ahead of them.
For those who plan to go to college after high school they won’t know how to take out a loan and how to pay it back afterwards. This causes them to fall into debt and could result in them having to drop out of college because they simply don’t know how to manage their money effectively. High school doesn’t teach students the importance of balancing a checkbook; this allows them to know how much money they are allowed to spend on what they want as well as what is necessary.
According to National Center for Statistics, “about 3.3 million students are expected to graduate in the 2015-16 school year.”
This statistic shows that there are millions of students that will be graduating yet have no idea what to do in the real world unless their parents teach them. The public school system should teach more real life application classes, such as college readiness, and personal finance. KPS does offer these classes to their students, but not all schools do. In order to prepare students for college as well as the ACT/SAT these classes are a necessary asset for students. Without these classes students will be unaware of what to expect for the ACT/SAT which determines what college they get accepted into or rejected from. No student wants to get rejected from their desired college because they didn’t understand the importance of the test or didn’t take it seriously. School systems needs to be improved to allow students to have success in their future after high school.
According to the website Associate’s Degree, “Results from a 2008 study show that over 9,000 schools have already started using distance learning as a tool for their students.”
This study stresses the importance of Advanced Placement classes being offered at schools to allow students to get the college level learning they need to adapt to in the near future. AP classes put students in a classroom with students that want to achieve more and what to learn how to prepare for college classes. Distance learning allows the teacher to teach the class the material but also allows them to gather the necessary information themselves to obtain the desired result, an A. Through this, more students are prepared for how professors will teach, but they still won’t be quite sure how to deal with money or how to interact with people at work and maintain a career.
“Many High Schools are underfunded resulting in less opportunities for students to succeed,” according to the online source Associate’s Degrees.
If high schools can get properly funded they can hire more teachers to teach the necessary classes that are beneficial to the students futures. Then, the Students can be taught the basic skills for the real world.