My Curriculum Wish List

As a grade 11 student, I am saddened by the fact that all mandatory courses taught in our curriculum are academic. English, math, and science are all academic, with each having their own, smaller sections to extend our knowledge. I understand that academics are important in life. Academic knowledge will help me get into my favourite university and apply to my dream job. However, how am I supposed to apply to a job if I don’t even have basic interview skills? The curriculum is able to cover the academics perfectly but when it comes to life skills, we are taught nothing.

There are so many things that can be taught to us in school that will help us in our lives. So, I have created a wish list of four subjects that I think students should be taught in school.

1. How To Be Financially Responsible

This is something that I really wish we were taught in school. It seems so basic but it can help people out of many difficult situations. This class can cover budgeting, savings, taxes, and so much more. Being financially responsible can help so many young adults adjust to the real world. For example, I have recently started working, which will eventually lead to receiving a paycheque. Since I have to start paying my own phone bill, I will have to budget my pay so that I’ll have enough money for my bill and some to put into savings as well. A helpful tip that I have seen online is to “save your hundreds and last your twenties.” For example, if your payment is $385.00, you will save the $300.00 and then try to last the $85.00. However, this won’t work for everyone and will change in different situations. Another important thing that we could learn from these classes is how to file our taxes. Being financially responsible is an important part of life and it should definitely be taught in school.

2. The Basics about Credit and Student Loans

Good credit versus bad credit. What’s good and what’s bad? How will I pay off my student loans? What should I do? These are common questions that rattle my brain, especially since I am going to post-secondary in a few years. We should be taught and made to understand how to deal with these things in school. Credit and student loans tie in with being financially responsible but in a whole different way. For example, my eighth-grade teacher told me that she still hasn’t been able to pay off her student loans and she’s been teaching for many years. These things stick with us and we should be able to handle them properly. Knowing the basics can really help many people.

 3. Mental Health

Our health is extremely important—whether it be physical, emotional, or mental—and we should know how to cope with the good and bad. Our mental health is so very important, yet very few people realize its value. It’s brushed aside as something that will heal over time; however, this isn’t always the case. Your mental health is just as important as that physics test that you might have coming up. The importance of mental health is something I was only taught this year in my sociology, anthropology, and psychology class. It should be taught to everyone. As we grow older, I believe there will be more people who suffer from mental illnesses due to the fact that we aren’t taught how to recognize and cope with these things. In life, being mentally healthy can help us with so many things no matter how small they seem. Mental health should be an important part of our curriculum.

 4. Proper Interview Etiquette

From experience, I can say that an interview is not as easy as it seems. There are so many little things that you have to be aware of to properly execute a job interview. For example, you should always bring extra copies of your resume and cover letter to your interview, you should always ask one relevant question when asked if you have any questions, and you should always dress appropriately for the interview. All of these things were taught to me in my current co-op class;  however, I think that there should be a separate class whose sole purpose is to teach the skills required to enter the working world. For students in high school, this class can greatly help those who are out looking for part time jobs. 

Knowing these things can help us be successful in the future. In my opinion, there should always be some sort of balance in everything that we are a part of or do.

School is one of the main things that should be balanced with equal teachings of academics and real-world skills.

Some people say that this kind of stuff should be taught at home by parents because school is a learning environment for academics. Well, not everything can be taught to us by parents, just how not every subject can be taught to us by one teacher. These little things are what will help us get far in life and I strongly believe that we should be taught this kind of stuff in our curriculum at school.