High school is becoming a hoarders TV show episode with all the classes we don’t need.

There are plenty of classes that students take every day that don’t benefit them in a long run and classes that schools simply push to the side. The school stresses that we need to be prepared for college but what about the rest of our lives?

Recently I made an article addressing the need for driver’s ed in school. While that still stands there are other classes that need to be present in all schools. There are also plenty of classes that we do have that aren’t mandatory and should be.

First we need to speak on the classes that should and need to be mandatory. Nutrition,Culinary,   Personal Finance, Accounting, and Auto are just some classes that every single person should have to take. This regardless of future career interest.

There is not one time in our adult life where we won’t need to know any of those topics.

People across the states stress how nutritional value is going down the drain as the years go on. Weight is becoming uncontrollable and not just for those with weight issues. Kids aren’t learning what foods they should be eating. Culinary and nutrition should be taught in the same class. Teens need to learn how to make their food along with what foods are good. They aren’t even learning how depending on your body type, one food that seems great for one person could be the worst food for them. My 600lbs life is not a gag show, it’s a visual of our future if the weight increase doesn’t go down. According to CBS News people are gaining 15 more pounds and aren’t getting any taller. This is hazardous for people of all races living in America.

Culinary and nutrition should be taught in the same class.

When we leave high school and even in high school we need to know how to take care of our money. Budgeting, crediting, and debiting, desperately need to be learned. Personal finance teaches you this but along with those taxes and insurance should be added to the class. Many teens avoid this class because they feel like they budget well enough to survive. Also some avoid the class because they have the wrong impression on what the criteria is.  Patrick J. Kiger makes very valid points on why people lose money in his article linked below. Titled How much money do people accidentally throw away every year?

Along with personal finance students also need to know about accounting. They go hand and hand is should be on everyone’s schedule.

Another major class is Auto. Too many people are getting stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire, not knowing what to do. Changing a tire is not that hard to do but teens lack the knowledge. Not only flat tires but things like oil changes, air conditioning, brakes, and transmissions checks might as well be unheard of. You want to be as close as possible to knowing what’s wrong with your car before you go in for a fix. Lots of adults lose money because they went in to fix something that they could have done themselves. Even if it’s just for the basics, taking the class is beneficial.

Now that we spoke on a few of the classes that should be mandatory, we need to touch on classes that aren’t in all schools. These are classes that aren’t budgeted on by schools and should be.

Survival skills isn’t typically a class people would think to have. Although it may seem strange it would be a very positive impact on our lives. This class could be anywhere from Negotiating to starting a fire like stone ages. Of course people know not to go to questionable places alone or to run off with people you don’t know. The range for this class would hit base on almost all bad things that could happen in life. Linked below is one of many ways this class could go to help prepare students for the worst of rainy days.

Going along with survival skills, there should be a first aid class. Not every dreams to be a nurse or doctor but it could be life saving that people have the knowledge of  things like CPR or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. There are many situations where a person would need to know this. CPR is now a necessary class that all Kansas high school students must learn. This new addition was added around a year ago but doesn’t mean that is shouldn’t be in necessary in all states.  Especially if that person is a injury prone teen. Not everyone knows that a burn needs to breathe or that Tylenol and Ibuprofen only brings down the symptoms of a fever but can’t ever cure the underlying problem.

All of these classes along with just getting through a school year can be stressful. Having a stress management class is one that will be beneficial throughout life. With how many negative coping mechanisms teenagers and adults have this class is vital. Teenagers today have the same level of anxiety as mental insane asylum patients in the 1950’s. If today was back then, more than half of each high school student body would be taken in for evaluation and announced as crazy. Although this isn’t today, there should be no reason for our stress levels to be as high as they are. This class should be given and should be mandatory for mental and physical safety of teens.

 Truly helpful and mandatory should be the only purpose to high school classes. Students don’t need a filler class that may help with the next class they’ll have. We need classes that will have our backs for the rest of our lives.

Sources

https://thebestschools.org/magazine/15-subjects-mandatory-arent/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-weight-gain-since-1980s-startling/

https://money.howstuffworks.com/how-much-money-accidentally-throw-away.htm

https://learn.org/articles/What_Will_I_Learn_in_an_Automotive_Mechanics_Course.html

https://88tactical.com/training-courses-omaha/basic-survival-skills/

https://www.rd.com/health/wellness/doctors-important-medical-tips/

https://adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics