Is school preparing us for the real-life future?  A lot of people have different opinions and a ton of things to say about this topic, but speaking as a senior student, I feel that school is not teaching us all the skills we need to know for the real world, but rather just what they are required to say.

I’m not saying that grade school is completely useless, but there should be subjects and more classes that are required to teach students about the life that awaits them as adults, and how to manage in the world we live in. Everyone is going to grow up whether they want to or not. To me, school is teaching us to prepare for our jobs far more than it is preparing us for our lives in general. 

I think if they paid more attention to both aspects, students would benefit more from school and be able to live a happy life. Students should be leaving school understanding how to handle certain situations and how to move on the best way possible, but instead, we only teach kids how to memorize. 

The education system really sucks because it’s outdated, we have been using the same methods from many years ago, and it’s beginning to show terrible results for school and for life after school. 

School fails to teach practical life skills and prioritize memory skills and getting good test scores over teaching kids how to be creative. Doing that is not preparing kids for the modern world, and 

It needs to change. 

Surely schools can teach some stuff you need to know about the job you want and how much money you will earn, but what happens when you do get that money? Schools should also focus on helping students understand how to manage their money, avoid bankruptcy, stay out of debt, and retire at an early age, ultimately leading to a happy life. 

After asking junior Ni’ani Morales, Do you feel that school is preparing you for real life after school? She responded with “Yes & no, like dual enrollment allows for me to have less classes in college so i can graduate faster and start my career and like other opportunities like AICE but it’s also a no because they don’t teach some things that would be helpful in real life finance things like budgeting or how schools used to have home ec that teach you basic skills.”

After asking sophomore Maliha Gordon, Do you feel that school is preparing you for real life after school? She responded with “I feel like the school does a good and bad job with preparing me for real, like only classes that are actually useful are personal finance to prepare me for my financial literacy when I get older and start paying bills, buying a house, and a car. And English, because I feel being well spoken can get a person very far, and is a necessity if I want to pursue a professional career.”

It’s sad that despite the many years of school that we go through, it doesn’t teach us how to overcome life issues and emotional challenges. 

School should be about teaching kids how to go about life, not just about the basic subjects like math, English, and science. We need to be better!