During this time of lockdown and, ultimately, boredom, our minds tend to go on adventures of their own. We think about the most random things when we have nothing to do. The latest escapade my mind explored was rethinking subjects and teaching in schools. Basically, we spend 12 years of our life in school, learning common knowledge and basic skills in primary school and having it advanced in high school. We learn how to add and multiply, grammar and how to write paragraphs and more – like, in which direction North is or where our heart and lungs are situated. We learn many things that are deemed necessary and seen as important to know in life. We don’t, however, learn things that most people do not get taught at home or outside of school; things that, in my opinion, are important: Money management, university preparation, the job market, sex education, human decency and more.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we learn nothing in those twelve years. Learning how to do simple Mathematics or speak English correctly are extremely important. Learning what my finger bones are called or the different types of natural disasters that exist are pretty important too. But, I also think that there are other important things to learn, as well, which might even make school more fun. With all the Mathematics, languages and sciences, do we not think it is important to learn skills that could help us survive life outside of high school? These are basic skills that could help us survive adulthood. When we leave high school, we are thrown into a completely different world. Many would argue that it is our parents’ job to teach us these basic skills or give us this information. However, most high schoolers do not have parents who think it is necessary to teach their children these things. So, why not let us learn these skills in a place made for learning? These are a few ideas that popped into my mind when thinking about it:
- Money management
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I think this is extremely important since the world basically revolves around money. This is such a great skill to have and it could help many people stay out of debt and not make bad decisions when it comes to their finances. This class could help people with budgeting, saving, investing and even ways to start a business or help other people. This class could introduce charities as well.
- University preparations
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When we finish high school and are thrown into the real world, it can be kind of daunting. Not only are we thrust into a world where everything is different, we are also expected to do more than we were before. Change is not for everyone and adapting can be challenging. This class is obvious as it will simply help those who are preparing to go to university. Since there are certain things high schoolers do not know, and that university orientation does not fully prepare us for, this class could be very useful. Students would be told what to prepare for and not really be taught anything. For example, they would be told about the strict plagiarism rules, the big word counts for essays, the type of subjects being offered, what it entails and how much perseverance we would need to finish assignments because we do not have teachers reminding us to finish.
- The job markets
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This ties in very closely with university preperation. The problem with being in high school is that we leave with the misconception that we are going to leave school, study, graduate and then get a job. For many people in South Africa, including many other countries, this is not the case. Students will be taught that in many cases, certain fields require relocation because of the scarcity of work in their country. They need to be taught about what the job market looks like in their country and how hard the competition is in that field. This class should explore the options of what kinds of jobs you can apply for or what jobs you qualify for according to the subjects you choose to study in university, college, etc. Additionally, this class should give students options to explore if studying further is not an option or off the table.
- Sex education
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I mean, this would help many of us from going through those Google rabbit holes. This class would help a lot of students since there are so many questions about this topic that we do not necessarily want to ask our parents. That is why we usually turn to the internet. This class could have anonymous questions asked and answered, basic teaching on safe sex and the options, the consequences of unsafe sex and many more questions that we all may have, but are too embarrassed to ask.
- Human decency
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Let’s be honest, some people desperately need this class more than most. Probably being the most imperative, this class could help us with how to treat animals, how to treat the environment and most importantly, how to treat other human beings. I think this class is extremely crucial because, unfortunately, not many people have this basic skill. It would help people understand other people and to have empathy and compassion. Ideas of racism, stereotypes, sexism and classism could be explored in the human being portion and ideas of recycling, sustainability, climate change and more could be explored in the environment portion. Then, basic things should be taught about how to treat animals.
I know that most of these things are touched on in Life Orientation. However, these important ideas are not explored and discussed in depth. Instead, we learn about things that make Life Orientation class unbearable. Well, maybe it doesn’t have to be that bad?