50 Things I Wish I'dBeen Taught in High School
As I prepare to leavehigh school and head into college (aka the ~real world~), I realize I'm lackingknowledge in a lot of important areas. I can recite the quadratic formula frommemory, name you 52 prepositions in the English language and write a 10-pageresearch paper, no problem. (Note: some of those are more valuable skills thanothers.) But I find I'm alarmingly undereducated when it comes to real lifeskills, and I know I'm not alone in that.
I go to a wonderful high school and theyreally do try to raise us to be intelligent, well-rounded, capablecitizens of world. Still, the current curriculum which plagues many highschools just doesn't prioritize the teaching of these life skills or leavemuch room for it.
Some argue that it's not a school's jobto deal with these issues, and while that's a valid point, we high schoolersspend 40 hours a week at these institutions we ought to be learning aboutthese things somewhere. School seems like the most logical place, but thebottom line is that I really wish I'd been taught the following things sometimein my adolescence.
1. How to show your parents you love them,even as a moody teenager.
2. How to balance school work,extracurriculars, social life, family time, time to yourself and sleep withoutburning yourself out.
3. How to communicate to your parents thatthey're doing something wrong.
4. How to reach out to a friend you're worriedabout.
5. What lessons we need to learn for ourselves and when it's okay to ask for help.
6. The value of self-love and self-care.
7. How to avoid unnecessary drama.
8. What kind of person makes a good friend.
9. What taxes are.
10. How to pay taxes (including when and howto file a tax return).
11. How to respectfully challenge authority.
12. How to search for good jobs.
13. How to take out a loan and one thatwon't leave you in massive debt.
14. When to engage in small talk and when todemand more interesting conversation.
15. The importance and benefit of unpluggingfrom media sometimes.
16. How to navigate the healthcare system.
17. How to cope with problems related tomental health because they are just as valid and worthy of attention asphysical health problems.
18. Why to vote.
19. How to vote.
20. How to network professionally.
21. Time management skills. (There's notnearly enough time devoted to this you're just thrown in without much helpand are expected to figure it out for yourself. It's really tough.)
22. How and when to authentically andsufficiently express gratitude.
23. Which meals to cook when you're on astudent or recent graduate budget (all we ever hear about is Ramen... notexactly the greatest plan health-wise).
24. Self-defense skills.
25. Handy skills - how to repair things foryourself.
26. How to present yourself in a jobinterview.
27. How to avoid giving unnecessary apologies.
28. How to figure out when you reallydo owe someone an apology.
29. How to give a good apology.
30. The difference between equity andequality.
31. How to get a passport.
32. How to evaluate a contract to see ifyou're receiving fair treatment.
33. How to determine whether or not a charityorganization is credible and worthy of donations.
34. How to ask for a raise.
35. How to check yourself to verify that youactually deserve a raise.
36. Where to go when you don't feel safe athome.
37. How to write a resume.
38. How to balance a checkbook.
39. How to budget.
40. What our rights are when interacting withthe police.
41. How to change a tire.
42. There is a difference between gas anddiesel and if you put the wrong one in, it may ruin your car (not a fun lessonto learn from experience).
43. How to deal with grief.
44. How to navigate social media outlets (asin, what not to post, how to manage cyber-bullying and how to anticipatepotential negative impact on your self-esteem).
45. How to deal with the guilt of privilege,which we all have in one way or another.
46. How to be aware of our respectiveprivilege and advantages.
47. How to confront someone who's justdoing the wrong thing (they tell us we should, but we hear a lot less about howto actually go about the process).
48. How to be less dependent on technology.
49. How to intervene when a familymember needs help.
50. How to adequately cope with stressin a healthy way. (This one really gets to me, particularly given the amount ofstress school provokes in young people.)
After high school, we'relet loose in the real world to fend for ourselves. And yes, thereis tremendous value in having to learn from experience and work your waythrough challenges as you enｃounter them. Those of us who aren't taught thesethings will probably be just fine. But it really does make an already difficultperiod of adolescence and young adulthood even tougher. Without generaleducation on these topics, we're far more likely to get ourselves into troublefinancially, socially, politically and even on day-to-day tasks and decisions.
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VOCABULARY WORDS:
1. Well-rounded (adj.) ~ comprehensivelydeveloped and well-balanced
2. Plague (v.) ~ to cause suffering orhardship
3. Figure out (phrasal verb/ informal) ~ todiscover or decide
4. Confront (v.) ~ to come up against
5. Intervene (v.) ~ to involve oneself in asituation so as to alter or hinder an action or development
6. Cope (v.) ~ to contend with difficultiesand act to overcome them
7. Let loose (v.) ~ free from restraint
8. Fend (v.) ~ to attempt to manage withoutassistance
QUESTIONS FORDISCUSSION:
1. Which of the items on the list did youlearn in high school?
2. Whose responsibility is it to teachchildren these things, the parents or the school? Why?
3. What is the one thing that you wishedyou learned in high school?
4. Why is it that practical skills are notcommonly taught in high school?
