We Need More Real-World Classes in High Schools

 By: Shanique Pringle

High schools should incorporate more real-world classes into their curriculums to help better prepare students for life outside of school. Traditional subjects are needed, but they don’t quite supply students with the skills needed to take on everyday challenges. Classes like personal finance, civic engagement, and digital literacy can help students to manage their money, citizenship, and online presence with logic and responsibility. By offering these skills, schools can make sure that graduates not only have academic knowledge but also the ability to navigate the challenging and complex aspects of adult life with confidence.

Financial Literacy

    According to the South Carolina Department of Education, just last school year (2023-2024) it was made mandatory that students who attend high school in South Carolina take a personal finance class in order to graduate. While this may have been implemented to help students be ready for life outside of school and help them understand how to manage money in a responsible manner, the class isn’t quite enough. The course is only a semester long which isn’t long enough to cover everything a young adult should know about finances and budgeting when going into the real world. It should be a yearlong course and cover all the basics of finance which should include but not be limited to, knowing how to buy a house or car, filing taxes, opening a bank account, creating a budget, understanding credit scores, saving for retirement, and understanding insurance policies. Many students graduate high school and don’t know how to do their taxes or even open a bank account, which is kind of sad. While parents could take the initiative to teach their children these skills, school is supposed to be a place of learning and prepare students for the real world so it should do just that. Not only that but if students are required to be at school 8 hours a day every weekday, they should be learning something that can be applied to their everyday life upon graduation.

   According to an article written by Hanna Horvath “most people (88%) graduating high school today say they’re unprepared to handle money and 60% of Americans can’t pass a basic financial literacy test”. Financial literacy is a very important understanding to have for high school graduates as they transition into adulthood and face increasing financial responsibilities. Having a clear understanding of personal finance supplies young adults with the skills needed to make informed, logical, and intelligent decisions about budgeting, saving, investing, and managing debt, ultimately leading to improved financial well-being and may even help avoid poor credit scores in younger people and or overall. 

Civic Engagement

   While we do have mandatory government classes, we need a class that focuses solely on voting and civic life (civic engagement). The class could be half a semester, not long but still there and important. To go into a little more detail the class would be mainly about encouraging students to vote, explaining how and why, reminding them of the rights as well as the responsibilities of a citizen, and encouraging them to advocate for change. I believe the probable reason that this class doesn’t exist currently is because many could see it as controversial or inappropriate believing that because the proper way to vote is being discussed politics would be included too, but that would not be the case. It would be strictly about educating students and encouraging them to participate in the community, letting them know that their vote as well as their voice matters. Political views wouldn’t need to be shared or even allowed. This would be very beneficial and more than likely result in more young people voting and caring about what is going on in the world around them simply because of the fact that they have been educated on the difference they can make.

   Digital literacy is very important, especially in this day and age, the online presence within the younger generations is strong. While schools do have computer science classes, they only focus on the basics of operating a computer efficiently, proper typing techniques, and how to send professional emails/letters. A digital literacy class would teach students about the internet encouraging them to think twice about what they post, helping them understand the online risks and taking steps to protect themselves in the digital world. Furthermore, it would teach them how to identify misinformation being that there are a lot of scammers on the internet. Overall digital literacy would give students the ability to use different technologies and programs safely and smartly, better their judgement, and produce and communicate information digitally. We use technology for a large portion of our daily life and it’s important that children/teens know how to operate technology, programs, and different apps in an efficient and mindful manner.