I believe it is extremely important to teach today’s youth about real life situations they will encounter. Many kids today don’t know a lot about the real world and what it takes to be successful. I think high schools should teach these kids things they can actually apply to their own lives. For instance, I believe there should be a class which teaches students how to interview, write a resume, apply for credit cards, learn about loans( student loans, car,home, business), how to file taxes, open checking/savings accounts, retirements plans, etc.
I’m currently in the process of developing a plan which goes beyond the average Economics class. Hopefully I can encourage people to teach this generation a little more about the “real world”.
Sooo, what do you guys think? Good plan? Or just a waste of time? I’m interested in your thoughts and I’d love any new ideas!
Well from my own personal experience, I didn’t have this information available at my school. Some teachers did have guest speakers come in and talk to us about interviewing and things like that, but you can’t really teach kids just by having someone talk about it for an hour so they can forget the next day.
Also, many kids don’t have parents or anyone to help them with these types of things. Yes it may be controversial, but we kind find ways to make it work such as consent forms and things like that. It’s not like we’d be forcing them to apply for credit, just informing them.
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Is not also a parent’s responsibility to prepare their children for the real world?
Why shouldnt that be the purview of the family>?
and lots of luck trying to get curriculum passed where you actually explain to teens how to apply for a credit card – thats a controversial topic for sure.
as to much of the rest – please research your state standards – you may find that they are already written into any business or finance classes. Here is one example I found in california:
“3.6 Know important strategies for self-promotion in the hiring process, such as job applications, résumé writing, interviewing skills, and preparation of a portfolio.”
Check with your district to see if the class definition is already set for what you want to do – often districts do not put resources into such a class as it is not taken by the majority of students – so they leave it up to teachers to propose and only offer it when they have the manpower to offer it as an elective – since it will not be one of the A-G requirements.
In my state, there is a Business Ed class called “Personal and Business Finance” that teaches exactly that. One principal told me that kids don’t sign up for it. He has business teachers that don’t have enough classes to teach & he has to find something else for them to do. Sad.
I’m with you, though; I would love to see some mandatory Consumer Economics type of class taught. A few kids learn it at home. Too many don’t.