Many students know how to solve for x or write an essay addressing different rhetorical choices an author uses, but not many can make a delicious meal or handle their finances. That is why all schools should offer cooking, finance, and basic adulting classes to their students, because these classes allow them to be better prepared for life beyond high school. In order to be best prepared for life, students should be offered the chance to take different courses that will promote home and career skills.
If my school offered different basic life courses, I would most definitely seize the opportunity and take them. This may just be me, but whenever I am home alone and making myself dinner, I always end up making pasta. It is the only thing I know how to make well. A cooking class would be an extremely helpful course because it would provide me with the simple skills needed to better prepare a meal for myself or others. Additionally, I would be interested in taking a finance or basic adulting course to feel better equipped for the real world. Basic life courses allow the student to feel more prepared to leave high school and move out of their family homes because they establish much needed self-reliance.
In the past, many schools have offered these different courses as electives, giving the students the choice rather than forcing it or not having it. This allowed students the choice to take these basic life courses, and often, when they did, they looked forward to it and made the best of the information.As time has gone on, schools have removed these programs due to budget cuts or a need to focus on higher academics. Unfortunately, this is a huge loss because, as a society, we must rethink what it means to “successfully prepare a student for their future.”
Although academics are extremely important, so are basic life skills. That said, schools should definitely focus more on basic life skills, advancing a student’s ability to cook, complete financial tasks, and become more independent as they move on to their next phase of life.