Why Life Skills Should Be Taught In School

Why Life Skills Should Be Taught In School

Bella Kieran       B1

America is not as smart of a country as the world makes it out to be. This may seem false but when looking at the intelligence of other countries, the rates are not even close to comparable.

For example, in the New York Times it reads “Each year, nearly one in four American teenagers drops out of high school. Twenty other countries now have higher high-school graduation rates.” The unemployment rate in America is much higher than many countries too. Learning more life skills in school may benefit employment rates, aid individual development, and help social lives. 

The United States has an insanely high rate of unemployed workers. The population is approximately 327.2 million. If about 4.4% of this population in unemployed, this means that there are about 74.3 million people left without jobs just in America alone.

By learning more life skill related topics in school, it may decrease this number by a lot. Instead of teaching students about what the square root of nine is, they should learn how to work with other people and keep themselves inline. Many jobs require people to work together to solve problems or creating something. Also keeping some inline will help them be able to focus to work on trying to get a job.

Individual development is an important factor. Most high schools do not offer financial aid programs to students. A study shows that “odds are your children will graduate from high school without being taught basic money lessons, including how to create a budget or write a check.” Only 13 out of 50 states require a financial class in school. A poll was taken and over 80% of students would rather learn how to be able to manage their money then to learn about factoring. Also, how will these young adults learn to survive if they can not pay their bills correctly? Teaching this simple topic may decline debt problems. Life would become much more simple for new adults. It could also help prevent homelessness. Many of the homeless are out on the street begging for money because they did not originally deal with money the proper way.

As the years go on, more and more people are starting to become anti-social. Many, especially the younger generation, get anxiety answering the phone or door. They usually do not answer because they do not want to talk to anyone. They would rather be sitting in their room watching Netflix. Fewer people are going outside and playing with their friends. Technology has started taking over the country causing the younger people to want to stay inside all day. Teaching kids talking to new people in school may help with their social skills. It may cause them to be able to get into their dream school or job. Public speaking is a huge fear of citizens. They become scared to talk in front of professional people because they may feel like they are going to be judged for every word they say. If they are learned to speak in front of others then they will have no problem adapting to interviews. They will be less nervous which will actually cause them to speak better. Giving presentations in front of the class and doing mini interviews with each other will create these skills. 

In the end, it is important to teach students more about life skills then the basic things that are taught today. It will increase the country’s employment rate because people will actually know how to be able to work individually and with others. It will also help individuals how to be more independent financially.

Citizens will be able to know how to deal with money and they will not  end up wasting it on something that wont help them in life. Lastly, it will also create more social ties between people. More people will be able to survive out in the real world being able to talk to people in person. All in all, learning more social skills in school should be required more than the basics we learn today.

“The Importance of Life Skills.” Why Are Life Skills Important?, 2018, www.macmillanenglish.com/life-skills/why-are-life-skills-important/.

“COUNTRY COMPARISON :: UNEMPLOYMENT RATE.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 2017, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2129rank.html.

Bortz, Daniel. “Why Most High Schoolers Don't Know How to Manage Their Money.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 9 Oct. 2012, money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2012/10/09/why-most-high-schoolers-dont-know-how-to-manage-their-money.