They Don't Teach You This In School
By FIONA MORIARTY-MCLAUGHLINAs I sit here in math class watching my teacher quickly factor polynomials on the board, hastily taking notes I don't even understand, I can't help but wonder, when will I ever need this? I mean what's the use of learning something I will never use again? This question is just one example of why schools need to redirect their curriculum and introduce life skills classes. Students who are not planning a career in math, technology, engineering or business likely won't use these specific math skills again. But they could benefit from learning personal finance and budgeting, two challenges they will face upon graduation.There are many basic life skills that Samo does not teach including how to pay taxes and how to buy a house. While some classes like English and History do offer guidance on how to interact and negotiate with people in the adult world through Socratic seminars, I believe schools should focus more of their curriculum on life skills that will be necessary and can be carried through our adult lives. Making students aware of what is ahead of them in life is part of a school's responsibility to prepare them for the next stage in their development and for a career. While we receive some of this information from our guidance counselors, I believe more of this practical instruction should be required. People say that parents should teach these subjects, but frankly they shouldn't. They pay taxes to the city for schools, and teacher's paychecks come out of these taxes, so they should be responsible for teaching this curriculum, not parents.Every April 15th millions of Americans across the United States owe their taxes, but there is not one class in high school that specializes in this. Math classes teach us how to add fractions and derive the Pythagorean theorem, but taxes are more utilized in our adult lives. I'm worried because I might not know what to do when paying my taxes and will have to rely on Yahoo! answers to complete a crucial task that may affect whether or not the IRS tracks me down for an audit. For instance, according to TurboTax you might have to pay extra taxes by April 15th even if taxes are taken out of your paycheck every week.Interacting with people and negotiating is a major factor in business. Debate club is an extracurricular activity that could help teach this, but it is not part of the required curriculum of every student and it is run by students who learn as they go. Teachers should integrate more of what is learned in debate to show students how to behave in a business situation and how to negotiate. These skills could benefit all students tremendously and put them in a position to ace job interviews because they were taught these important skills.While many Samo students will go on to college and learn important life skills there, other students will go straight to work and could benefit from being better prepared for life after high school. To get a job they need to have proper social and negotiation skills, and these skills are not taught in school. A person could be a straight A student, but they may be denied a job after high school or college because of their lack of social skills. This problem of poor social skills has become even worse with the popularity of social media causing people to rely on texts and Facebook messages instead of calling on the phone or meeting up. When I'm in college, I want to major in business and want to be properly prepared for my career. I think that preparation should start early, in high school, so we will not only be ready for a first job, but we will know how to make the most of being on our own in college.Samo does offer ROP (Regional Occupational Program) classes which specialize in individual fields such as Arts & Communication, Business & Marketing, Health Services, Industry & Technology, Public Safety and Science & Technology. They learn real world skills; and in some classes, participate in an internship. I think students should be required to take one of these classes in their senior year to properly prepare them for college, choosing their major and career.So we can put up with learning how to factor polynomials and analyze old English, but in return we should be given the chance to gain some skills that we will certainly need and and use in our lives after college. I suggest we take the basic skills learned in Freshman Seminar like individual decision making, peer presume and conflict resolution and expand them with a similar required class every year. These could include classes on financial topics and classes on negotiation and networking. For people interested in obtaining other skills necessary after school, Samo could offer elective courses on parenting, and caring for individuals who are sick, elderly or disabled.The classes exist that can prepare us for the real world and our careers, but not enough students know about them. I believe Samo needs to rework its curriculum to make more of these classes part of the requirements for graduation.