Essential Subjects
Some subjects taught in schools are apparently essential, such as reading, writing, and basic math. You need to know how to read signs, fill out job applications, and count money to survive in this world. Then of course you acquire the essential social skills over the course of your studious childhood in addition to learning about other areas of academics which add to making us better and more knowledgeable individuals along the way.
This is all well and good, but I have wondered why there are certain subjects that are overlooked and neither covered in grade school nor in college, but yet are seemingly equally important “in real life.”
I’ll give you an example. At 22, my K-8 skill set got me through filling out a job application, while my college education landed me a job, but I knew nothing about what a 401K plan was or how to manage it. I’d say planning for retirement is very important. What I would have given at the moment I had to allocate my paycheck contribution to have been offered a class in Investing 101 prior to graduation. It would have been so helpful to know the difference between an IRA and a money market account. I would have loved to have learned something useful so I could have determined if I was saving enough money, or if I was delving into my paycheck too much and wouldn’t be able to make my rent payment. For me, and many, it’s a craps shoot right out of college to know if you are making financial sense.
Along the same lines, I wish colleges would offer courses in balancing checkbooks, and making a realistic monthly budget, allowing for unexpected expenses along the way. It would have been incredibly enlightening to know that if I wanted to save for a vacation or buy a new car there was a way I could do that without dabbling in the dark. I guess I learned the hard way because at the time, I had run up credit card debt, like many twenty-somethings unintentionally do, when they think that their limited income has unlimited potential.
Then there’s the whole medical insurance mess. One could spend days learning the difference between HMOs, PPOs, POSs, and the shades of gray in between. It would have been worth my college tuition to have the terms and plans explained to me in common English, without any bias from an insurance company so I had the confidence I was selecting the best plan I could afford when the time came for my situation.
In this economy, another valuable lesson would be what to do when you lose a job. This course could encompass everything from how to file for unemployment, what’s COBRA all about and can you afford it, to conducting a successful job search. When you’re living in the moment of panic as your financial situation crumbles, you’re not exactly thinking logically and it would provide a great source of comfort to know that you do have a Plan B.
Then, there are the more practical day-to-day problems which could be conquered with some classes. How about offering Laundry 101? Seriously! Sooner or later most people move out on their own. Depending on what chores you had growing up, or if in fact you had any, you may or may not have learned that whites are separated from darks, or the true meaning of fabric softener. There is a portion of the population that is severely laundry challenged and they literally pay for it by the pound. It is certainly making dry cleaners very happy on the financial end of things.
I once dated someone who even brought his dirty socks and underwear to the laundromat down the street to have them figure out what to do with it. Cleaning clothes is becoming an endangered art, which, is not something most parents are actively teaching their children anymore. Shocking, I know.
Filing a tax return is something else that’s been overlooked. We all have to do it. Many of us, due to the intricate tax laws do have to hire professionals to do the digit dirty work. But I tell you, coming out of college, my financial situation was not all that complex; and looking back now, I probably could have saved myself some cash and done my taxes myself. My proposal is that this be part of the series of “What to do with your money now that you made it: 102”, in a school near you.
There are a myriad of methods which if taught as part of a curriculum could be proven just as useful as trigonometry if not more. I’m all for critical thinking, but what about critical stinking? A course in how to change a dirty diaper might really come to your rescue one day. Sewing a button on in seconds? Making a bed like a pro? Boiling Water Isn’t All that Hard, and Cooking: More than the Microwave, can all be on my agenda for education of a generation. Oh, here’s a course suggestion: How to Vote. Seriously! As evidenced by some elections in recent years, ballots can be a bit confusing. If we want people to exercise their right to vote, how about teaching them how to do it properly?
Common sense can’t be taught; but common skills can. I just wish they would be!
CJ
11:36 am on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Our High School provided a course in basic finances. Where we learned about home banking, budgets, life / auto & health insurance.
Now mind you It's great our health class provided basic nutrition and sexual information, but... I wish they had given us a better heads up on how our body ages and what we should expect and how to plan for those changes in our 40 and above years.
Laura Madsen
12:53 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
That's great that your high school recognized that there is a lot of value in teaching people about life basics like banking, budgeting, and insurance. I think there are a lot of curriculum cuts now because school districts are taking a closer look at budgets. Many times non-core curricula are the first to be cut when it comes to making tough financial decisions. Hillsborough even put the kabosh on the foreign language program in recent years because of lack of funding. However, thankfully, this fall, it will be reinstated.
Mike
12:54 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012
Personal Finance (2.5 credits = 1 semester) is now required for graduation in NJ. This can be a stand-alone course or part of another course. It's more useful with older students who have a clue about work experience, etc. Sadly, this stuff USED to be taught at home - parents would show kids how to write a check, etc., but in too many households, either the parents choose not to do any of this or they're irresponsible and actually teach the kids the wrong things (e.g., charge everything).
To wit: A teacher friend told me a story of a student who said that if you buy a bunch of stuff and lose your job and cannot pay for it, the gum'mint should pick up the tab because, and I quote, "They got all the money!" THAT, my Patch friends, was taught at home, and that student's teachers have an uphill battle to correct that perception.
http://www.state.nj.us/education/news/2009/0220req.htm
Laura Madsen
1:46 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012
Mike, I completely agree with your observations. Yes, these things used to be taught at home.
God help us all if the government starts picking up the tab for overspending on credit. Teachers now have uphill battles on many levels.
Steve
5:03 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
I had a basic life skills class in high school that was required. We talked about banking, checking and balancing a check book, making a budget, filling out a job application, etc. We also had Home economics classes, back then the girls were required to take more then the boys, while the boys had to take shop class. Not sure how it is today. They should have a classes like that. However they teach you how to read, write and do math. So you should be able to go to a free public library and read about retirement accounts, how to prepare your taxes, how to invest, heath insurance, etc. Toady you just have to know how to use the Internet and search for information.
In college you can choose to take what classes you want.
Laura Madsen
5:17 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Sure, people can Google information or go to their public libraries and learn. But when you're in school, you rarely have the time to research subjects outside of the realm of homework. At least that was my experience. Also, I'm not really sure how many kids would think on their own to research these basic skills concepts in the first place. Schools develop a push curriculum in most situations, rather than rely on children to suggest what they would like to learn about. Sometimes they can't even express clearly what they would like to learn about, you know? So I don't think it would occur to them to figure out the "how to" part until later in life....when it would have been better to get the skills early on.
I went to Rutgers, and based on the courses offered there at the time I attended, plus the courses offered at other colleges I was considering at the time, not one school offered anything specific enough on the topics that I mentioned. They offered general economics classes, but nothing that related to my personal situation. They offered accounting classes, but nothing that focused on the personal income tax return until you reached a higher level of course offerings and completed pre-requisites. If you were an engineering or pharmacy student, you just didn't have the room in your schedule to take the finance courses. It would have been great if they offered something useful and comparable on the general level.
Laura Madsen
5:20 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
And I have never seen courses in retirement planning or how to pick a medical insurance plan yet on the high school or college level. I've only seen seminars offered later in life if you sought them out on your own.
Steve
10:00 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
I think by the time you get to college you should have these skills. Unless you were very advanced and skipped grades you are for the most part an adult when you go to college. Home-ec was taught in the lower grades when I went to school but it was gender biased. I also think basic home home and auto repair should be taught. I elected to take some shop classes and again it was all boys when i took them. Most of the focus is for kids to elect to take academics and not life skills classes.
As for things like 401k, heath insurance, any employer I had gave out information on the plans. There was even talk about legislation that would have employers automatically enroll their employees in plans and it would be up to the employee to op out. In the end i think people need to be more self reliant and read up about these things on their own and not put the full burden on the education system. I don't think my tax dollars should be going to teach someone how to do a simple task like laundry, that is not going to make our country competitive in this day and age.
...
Laura Madsen
10:39 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
"Most of the focus is for kids to elect to take academics and not life skills classes." - I completely agree and think that life skills are important too.
Although my examples of cooking, sewing, and doing laundry may not make this country more economically competitive, we would have a lot more self-reliant people who don't have the expectation others should do things for them all of the time. I don't always measure the worth of my ideas in dollars and cents. :) That's just me, though.
Harold Levin
7:16 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
I have heard that Governor Livingston HS in Berkeley Heights offers a course that deals with budget and finance. Perhaps we would not need all of the budget cuts if we raised a generation which better new how to spend money!
Laura Madsen
7:58 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
That's really great that they offer a course like that there, Harold! And true, right? Money management is never a bad skill!
Nichole L
7:58 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
In the district where I teach, students are required to take a course in finance and financial planning to graduate. It covers a lot of what you mention. However, a lot of what you discuss should be taught at home, no? I learned from my parents how to accomplish pretty much all of that. Most of your topics aren't enough subject matter to encompass an entire course. These are things that parents should be preparing their kids for, not schools. If not, then what are the parents doing?
Laura Madsen
8:06 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Nichole, I totally agree that some of the things I had mentioned like cooking basics, or doing laundry would not be enough alone to make up a single course for an entire year. But maybe, some of those hands-on survival skills can be combined into a modern version of a home-ec class. It may sound silly at first, but just last week a friend's boyfriend, who is in his 30s mind you, and recently moved out on his own, called her and asked her in all seriousness how to do laundry. When he lived at home his father did his laundry for him and never showed him what to do! I have a few relatives who had parents who never showed them how to turn on an oven or stove and sadly, they rely on microwave meals, ordering out, and restaurants for 90% of their eating. I have other friends that when a button falls off of a jacket, they really don't have a clue how to sew it back on and take it to the cleaners for mending.These are grown-ups in their 30s and 40s. From what I gather, their parents did everything for them when they were kids and never took the time to show them some of these things, which is shocking to me.
Ed Horch
9:39 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Parents are human, too, and have their strengths and weaknesses. My mother taught me how to keep a clean house. My father taught me how to fix just about anything. Both of them instilled in me an insatiable curiosity about everything, and an ethic to do every job well. OTOH, neither of them knew the first thing about managing money. We were not poor by any means, but they treated money as though we were living hand-to-mouth. Literally everything I know about money management I learned from my in-laws. I could certainly have used a few classes beyond balancing a check book and filling out a 1040-EZ.
Laura Madsen
9:45 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Hi Ed, I agree, not every parent can do everything. That's just how life is. None of us are perfect. Which is why even if someone already knew how to do a certain something, it still wouldn't be a bad idea for a school or college to reinforce that learning again.
Steve
10:05 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Laura, your friend may want to consider finding a new boyfriend unless she wants to play mom. Calling your girlfriend to ask how to do laundry in your 30s and even more so he could have just Googled sends up some red flags ;-)
Laura Madsen
10:40 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Steve, good advice!
Jo
8:26 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
I'm over 70, and come from a generation that WAS taught basic housekeeping skills at home. The rest of my knowledge needs come from critical thinking and a willingness to learn, over a lifetime. Getting an "education" isn't just for getting a job (which has a good chance of becoming outsourced or extinct). To me, it's to prepare oneself to live a good life, which includes continuous learning.
Laura Madsen
8:36 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
I agree Jo. Continuous learning is key. But I do think that some things need to be learned early on in life to maximize the benefits from those skills. Let's just say that you don't think 401Ks or retirement plans are important when you're 22 and you get that first job and don't start putting any money into it. 10 years go by and then you have a conversation with a spouse or friend and it spurs you to re-think your decision about your future finances. Even if you went right out and took a class or seminar in financial planning, you have already missed out on a decade of saving money and generating interest and dividends which can put you at a real financial disadvantage later in life.
Curt Carnes
9:14 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
How about a course that seriously teaches our country’s history, The Declaration of Independence, and our Constitutions both Federal and State.
Our rights as citizens should be emphasized, along with the sovereignty rights of the States. The people teaching it MUST do so with out allowing their personal feelings (conservative, liberal, whatever) to enter or taint the true picture.
Just as a side. I wonder if a student who had just studied the 4th amendment, would willing go off like a sheep for a RDT, or might they dig their heels in and say NO - I am an American Citizen and the 4th amendment protects me from unreasonable and unwarranted searches, you MUST show me a warrant signed by a judge explaining the Due Process and reason for this search, before I’ll Submit!
BTW, under Christie's desire to pay teachers on merit. I think the teacher of the student above should get a GREAT raise. Clearly, they taught that student well!
Laura Madsen
9:45 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Interesting idea, Curt. But I don't know how we can take the opinions and feelings out of people. :)
Steve
9:48 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
I had a lot of American history classes, it would have been great to to have had more focus on the Constitutions, both Federal and State.
Curt Carnes
10:13 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Laura,
I have to disagree. and while I was in college back then, I was taught the many different POV on social economies writen by the likes of Adam Smith to Karl Marx to Ayn Rand, and I can’t ever remember any professors conjecturing on which was better, or worse!
Also, I’ve never really seen personal opinion slip into any mathematical, or physics class.
Teachers are professionals and can teach without allowing their personal views to overshadow the lesson. In fact I say if they do overshadow --- Fire them, for they are not teaching they are politicizing their points of view on “young” impressible minds.
Terry Bond
10:09 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
As of this year's high school sophomore class it is now a requirement for graduation from a New Jersey high school to take a course in financial literacy, http://janj.org/programs/financial_literacy_requirements.
While I agree that kids going off on their own need to know basic life skills, even if the parents try to teach them about budgeting and such, they may not want to listen. They don't always like being told how they should be handling THEIR money. I'm afraid it's something that they may just need to learn the hard way on their own. You can try to teach them, but if often falls on deaf ears.
And as far as teaching these skills in college, not everyone goes to college, so I think high school is a better place to try to teach this.
Laura Madsen
10:44 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
That's great Terry that as of 2009 the state has implemented that requirement! I didn't know! Well, needless to say I graduated high school way before 2009, so I was one who missed the boat!
I agree with you that high school is a better place to learn these skills, too. Sometimes that's the last level of education completed for some people, and others may choose to attend vocational, technical, or arts schools or even enroll in the military. And in college, unless they made life skills classes part of the mandatory general requirements, it would still be up to the student to select the courses they felt were important to their education.
FourScore
10:14 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
"Just as a side. I wonder if a student who had just studied the 4th amendment, would willing go off like a sheep for a RDT, or might they dig their heels in and say NO - I am an American Citizen and the 4th amendment protects me from unreasonable and unwarranted searches, you MUST show me a warrant signed by a judge explaining the Due Process and reason for this search, before I’ll Submit!"
If the student said that to someone in Homeland Security, they would probably be whisked away and end up in a cell at Gitmo.
LCB@home
10:19 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Yes - my child is entering Ridge High School and personal finance is a required class now. Take a look at the extensive offerings at RHS if you haven't - it is pretty impressive. I have to say, however, that we have been talking finance with our kids since elementary school. Good book for graduating seniors or college students who are not versed in personal finance is The Wall Street Guide to Understanding Personal Finance. I always include it with our gifts for graduates....
Laura Madsen
10:50 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
I love how some parents like you are pro-active in teaching their children certain things. It's great that Ridge High School has such a broad curriculum too.
I guess I still feel that more than just basic finance should be offered at the high school level, though, because some parents, for whatever the reason, may not have the time, desire, knowledge, or even have lived long enough in this country to teach their own children about things like medical insurance, voting, or other more hands-on skills.
Now that I think about it, I would have loved to have taken a basic handyman course back in high school. Assembling things you buy: like bicycles and bookcases, or fixing a door that's not set right on a hinge is not my forte. I don't even think I can repaint a room the right way! LOL
DXJ
10:20 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012
God forbid! This is the mantra of modern liberalism: you are too stupid to take care of your own children, so we will tell you how to do it. Not only that, we will make you pay us to tell you how to raise your children, whether you like it or not!
Seriously, you think it's perfectly proper to spend other people's money to teach your kid basic life skills they should be learning at home? Meanwhile the U.S. ranks (in those "apparently" required subjects) 25th in math, 17th in science and 14th in reading.
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-07/teens-in-u-s-rank-25th-on-math-test-trail-in-science-reading.html
Laura Madsen
7:59 am on Friday, May 18, 2012
Hi DXJ, Thanks for commenting. You made me smile - I think this was the first time anyone ever called me a liberal. LOL Usually people classify me as conservative. I guess I must truly have some contrasting viewpoints depending on the subject. That's ok. I don't think I need to align all of my ideas on one side of the fence of the other.
That said, I see what you're saying, too. I don't like too much government interference when it comes to telling me how to raise my kids, or what I should feed them, and I've written other blogs to that effect. But schools have been around for centuries and they do educate our children in various subject areas - some of which we could teach them about ourselves, and some of which we could not.
When I went to high school, my town's tax dollars did fund the teaching of basic life skills that many thought should be taught at home - basic carpentry, sewing, cooking, etc.. But what happens when that doesn't happen at home? I think it was useful to be able to learn these skills someplace rather than not at all.
Rankings have come to mean less to me as I get older. I've seen people graduate number one in their class not be able to hold down a stable job in a bad economy. To companies, it doesn't matter if you were the best reader, or a mathematician - if they're laying people off, you're going to lose your job too....and you'll still have dirty socks just like everyone else - unless you know how to wash them. :)
Prentiss Gray
6:35 am on Friday, May 18, 2012
Laura, what a great piece. Thoughtful, evocative and very nicely put together. There was a time when "home economics" was a required course, it's time to bring back an expanded version of that curriculum (and not just for girls). I'm pretty sure it's not breaking any laws to use the schools we have to properly prepare our children for the real world. Calculus may be important, but I don't think I've ever even seen a quadratic equation (algebra II?) since high school, dirty socks I see everyday.
Laura Madsen
7:50 am on Friday, May 18, 2012
Thanks Prentiss Gray. You really understood what I was trying to say (as I look over at 3 piles of laundry in my basement that I need to get to today - and I do know how to handle because my mother thankfully did teach me how). :) As I go through my mental list of things I need to accomplish today, nope, (x+y) to the 2nd power is not one of them. Your comment was lovely to wake up to.
Harold Levin
9:53 am on Friday, May 18, 2012
Laura, You got me thinking about my days at Somerville HS in the '70's..My US History teacher taught us about the formation of the FDIC and actually incorporated how to read a bank statement and balance a checkbook into the lesson! Home Economics was strictly for girls except for a semester course call Chef Skills which was only for the guys and was impossible to get into because it was so popular!
Laura Madsen
9:59 am on Friday, May 18, 2012
What a cool course: "Chef Skills" - I can see why it would be so popular! I'd bet it would be just as popular now-a-days if it were offered in high school. And men are some of the best chefs, so I definitely think courses should be open to all!
Mike
1:00 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012
At the HS level, things like retirement saving is very abstract and distant for most students. I know in my 20s I couldn't imagine retirement! Hopefully, though, the seed is planted and conversations at home and at work add to it. What's harder to teach isn't the math of savings and compounding; it's the personal responsibility and discipline to save, budget, etc. That's more of a character thing that I think is most influenced by what parents/guardians model at home. I have relatives who borrow like mad and live on the edge, sacrificing dental work for tickets to sporting events (Screw tomorrow! Today's all that counts!), and I have other family members who are the opposite.
What "they" need to do is make PS3/Xbox games where you can financial annihilate others on your way to global domination.
Laura Madsen
1:44 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012
Mike, that is SUCH an innovative and practical idea. Seriously! Kids love video games and if they didn't know they were learning something while playing it, and were having fun at the same time, what a mainstream success it would be!