25 Life Lessons That Really Ought to Be Taught in School
Sigh, if only school prepared us for living in the real world.
If quadratic equations helped us manage our finances or European history helped us choose a spouse, just imagine how good we’d be at life!
Sadly, much of what we learn in school, while designed to give us a broad understanding of the world and everything in it, only served us until exam time and then poof! It was gone. I know this because helping my 5th grade son with his homework is way more challenging than it ought it be.
Most of us have had to learn life’s lessons the hard way, and while I’m not exactly sure that’s a bad thing, I do believe our educational system could teach us how to be better grownups.
Wouldn’t you have liked to be taught the dangers of credit cards or how to negotiate a starting salary? I know I would have.
Let’s take a look at 25 solid life lessons they really ought to teach in school, because we’ve all gotta grow up sometime.
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Practical self defense
Every man, woman, and child needs to know how to protect themselves in the event of a personal attack.
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Learning to fail
Failure is a necessary part of life and future success. Learning to fail isn't about accepting defeat but rather, learning from our mistakes and trying again.
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How to sell yourself
There's a fine line between self-confidence and cockiness. Effectively exhibiting self-worth and sincerity takes practice.
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Free thinking
There's what we've been told and what we've been taught, and then there’s how we really feel about it. If we could learn the value of our independent thinking, we’d no longer be afraid to dream.
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Etiquette
I'm not talking serious Emily Post stuff here, just the basics. We should all know how to conduct ourselves personally and professionally.
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How to say no and mean it
Learning how to say no and mean it doesn’t come easily for a lot of us. If only we were taught how to effectively decline without apology.
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Personal organization
The transition from living with your parents and their basement/attic/garage into a teeny tiny apartment with a roommate takes practice in the art of personal organization. We need to know what to keep, what to toss, and how to organize our personal space for maximum efficiency.
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Interviewing skills
If you don't know how to answer, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" or "What are your weaknesses?" you're not alone. Teaching our kids the art of the interview will give them the best chance to succeed in their professional endeavors.
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The dangers of credit cards
Credit card companies easily lure broke college students with the avialability of "free money". Before getting caught in the web of high interest rates, young adults need to learn how credit cards work and the lasting negative impact of living on borrowed money.
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How to work as a team
The ability to work together to achieve a shared goal is vital to professional success. Together we can do great things.
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How to change a tire
As a matter of basic safety, every driver should know how to change a tire. Don’t wait until you’re faced with a flat after dark in a place without cell reception to try and figure it out.
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How to balance a checkbook
Unless you have unlimited funds in your bank account, you're going to need how to balance your checkbook. Overdraft protection be damned.
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Problem solving
Not all of us are master problem solvers. Some of us run and hide while others crumble under the pressure. Learning strategies for effective problem solving would help take the emotion out of tough situations and yield positive solutions.
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How to talk to strangers
Never underestimate the value of effective communication with strangers. Our ability to speak with confidence and clarity is the hallmark of our future professional success.
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How to cook
Because man cannot (or should not) live on ramen noodles alone, we need to know how to cook for ourselves and follow a recipe.
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The importance of a back-up plan
We all know, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." The question is, what are we going to do about it? Our ability to creatively think on our feet will serve us well both personally and professionally.
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When and how to ask for help
The smartest people ask for help before real mistakes get made. Never allow foolish pride to stand in the way of personal and professional success.
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How to self-advocate
From advocating for our health to your principles, we could all use strategies on how to navigate through bureaucracy and be heard.
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How to save money
In every life a little rain must fall. Are you saving for your rainy day? No matter the size of our paycheck, the discipline and know-how of saving will help secure our financial independence.
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Critical thinking
Sometimes logic rules emotion, other times we need to listen to our gut. May critical thinking offer us the wisdom to know the difference.
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Multitasking
With expectations and pressures mounting at new and frightening levels, we’ve never been busier as a society. In order to work smarter and not harder, we need to be able to do more in less time by way of multitasking.
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How to budget
Our kids need to understand that their quality of life will dramatically decrease when they move out on their own because it's supposed to. The question is, are our children prepared for the transition of living within modest means? Learning how to create a budget and live within it is key.
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Negotiation skills
How do you negotiate a salary or even a better hotel rate? Tips and tricks of the negotiation trade will have you wheeling and dealing in all walks of life.
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Time management
With time as our most precious resource, tools for time management will teach us how to prioritize and do more in less time.
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How to read a nutrition label
We owe it to our health to be aware of what's in the food we eat. If we are to make healthy choices about moderation and recommended values, we need to know how to interpret a nutrition label.
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What else should be taught in school? Sound off!
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Just for the sake of argument .. what’s our job as parents then? Shouldn’t some/most/all of the “life stuff” fall as our responsibility?
Absolutely. I believe all of this is our responsibility to enforce and then some. Unfortunately a lot of kids don’t have parents to teach and enforce this stuff. If school is intended to help us in the real world, I’d rather do away with some of the Trivial Pursuit fluff in favor of stuff with practical relevance.
Yeah- most of that stuff is the responsibility of the parent. They tax me to death and gripe they still can’t get all the academics in- they’d better not siphon off time for this type of curricula. I send my kids to be taught academics. I parent them at home, TYVM.
Then let it be an elective. My daughter needs ALL of her credits available for real academics- 4 units each of Math, English, Science, Social Studies, Fine Arts, & Foreign Language- most all of which will be either Honors or AP.
Why should she be short-changed of a good education that challenges her to the fullest of her abilities due to other parents’ failures to teach her basic life skills when I can, have, am, and will be covering all of your above-mentioned bases?
Goddess, no one’s saying give up the academics. Obviously academics matter, but a class in life skills wouldn’t hurt. Better yet, if there was a way to implement life skills into academics, the course material would be just that more relevant. For those of us parents who do and/or will teach these life skills, our kids can only benefit from additional practice in school, right?
As long as it’s an elective and my children can opt for genuine academics instead and not be required to give up valuable credits for things like “selling yourself in an interview” or “how to change a tire”. Those are needs that should be met by parents. iIf a school has the extra resources to make them electives, fine. But I don’t know about, but here, we need use those funds for gifted programs, new technology, building new schools to replace the decrepit, etc. And we are pretty much all taxed out.
I teach in a “welfare-to-work” program in which we teach adults many of these concepts, including: how to interview, personal organization, critical thinking, how to have a plan B, time management and much more…. It breaks my heart to see adults not have these fundamental skills that are essential to thriving in our society. If young adults learned this in school, we wouldn’t have so many people on public assistance programs.
I did learn most of that stuff in school…and at home. I guess my parents love me or something
In addition to these things being taught at home, they’ re taught in Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, church groups, Boys and Girl’s clubs and in some academic classes. It isn’t the school’s responsibility to raise a child and there is a lot to teach just to help us keep up with the rest of the world. But parents do need to make sure their kids are in worthwhile pursuits outside of the classroom instead of being parked in front of the TV or video games. Kids also need chores at home. and they need to spend time with parents doing these things with their parents.
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