You're sitting in class and think, "When will I ever need to know this later in life?" This thought has gone through my head daily for the past 13 years. If you're thinking you will never use the information being thrown at you in school, you are probably right.
Besides learning that most classes are filled with mindless busy work, I don't think I have retained any information in high school that has helped me in daily life. Well, besides all that calculus.
The education system in America consists of sitting in the most uncomfortable classroom desks known to mankind (I think they plan it that way) and teachers drilling information that goes in one ear and out the other.
Bottom line, most of grade school does not teach students anything useful for our future careers.
School and education should be beneficial, easily available and actually achieve the purpose of education: to create more skilled workers.
Right now, grade school is a waste of time and needs to be changed to better prepare students for specific career goals.
The solution: transforming the current school system into a system that resembles trade schools.
Trade schools are institutions that teach primarily job-specific skills. The curriculum includes little academic general education, while the practical skills of each trade are stressed.
What will we need to know after our education is over? Socializing skills, time management, how to deal with people, taking care of families and children, paying taxes and of course non-stop bills. Why are we not being prepared to handle these common occurrences in school?
Forget five subject courses; a trade school system replacing our current system is the practical way to educate students.
Social skills and confidence are both crucial for our well-being and can aid us in many aspects of life. Kids need to be taught these skills early on. Classes that emphasize social skills and educate children about self-esteem are crucial. Even classes teaching teens about relationships are important, so we would not act like morons in both romantic and friendly situations.
How the heck do we deal with taxes? First of all, what are taxes and why are we not being taught this crucial information in classrooms? For having to deal with taxes every year for the rest of our lives, it seems that schools should be the first place to help us out but they are not.
Maintaining a positive, healthy lifestyle needs to be taught in schools as well. Easy exercising techniques and proper eating habits are lessons to take throughout life. Schools need to go beyond physical education classes and actually motivate kids to internalize these habits.
How about a class that teaches students everything they already know about their university? We could require freshmen to take it and call it ASU 101!
You would think colleges would be on right track. At ASU you pick your major and usually take relevant classes to train you for that field. You would think once you reach a university, irrelevant classes would disappear, but they don't, especially at the freshman and sophomore level.
What really gives someone the best knowledge? Not sitting in class copying down notes from the professor's latest boring lecture, but actually doing the career. Ideally, students could take classes for two hours a day then apply these skills and learn from experience in a job or internship.
School needs to give students opportunities daily to experience learning through an actual job instead of classrooms.
Don't you feel like our education system is against us instead of helping us? Why aren't they providing us with the knowledge and skills we actually need to know in life like how to do our taxes or how to handle personal issues?
Our school system should be one that supports us and tries to make us better socially educated citizens, not just professional B.S.-ers.
Reach the reporter at: lamisak@asu.edu.
