What they should teach you at school.

The high school teaching methodology has existed for years and whilst there are constantly improvements being made to what is taught – there are always subjects that pop up that make me question priorities. We have all experienced when we were in school learning calculus and algebra and even things like chemisty and thought things like: "I will never ever use this again after we are tested." Now this will obviously vary depending on if someone was to go into a mathematics or science field, but for the vast majority of the population this simply isn’t the case. However when our kids leave school there are so many subjects that I feel could be more useful.

Why aren’t our kids taught basic financial knowledge? Doesn’t matter how much education leads to better jobs if they don’t know what to do with their money when they get it! Basics in saving, investing, wealth creation and budgeting are left to the parents but it would be more useful learning this than how to find the diameter of a circle.

Why aren’t our kids taught our legal rights? What we have the right to do if pulled over by police, basic contract law, what to look for in terms and conditions and our basic liberties are rarely spelled out to us. Most of the time our parents don’t even know to be able to teach their children. If they have it’s generally because they have learnt from bad mistakes that would never have happened if they had a basic grasp from school.

What about things such as basic manners? Etiquette? What about basic sales skills – in almost every job sales skills will be needed and yet they are never mentioned in school. An argument has been made that you wont need sales skills unless you go into sales? The same argument could be made for calculus. In any case being able to sell is needed in any job that requires human interaction as it is the process of getting people to see things your way and do what you want them to do.

I’m not necessarily saying we should completely scrub advanced maths and science from school as I feel there is some benefit and also gets the brain thinking in a different way. I am just saying that in addition to these subjects I feel there are others that would be just as beneficial if not more. Financial theory, Basic legal rights and Sales Skills 101 would make for some great classes for our kids to learn before entering the real world.