Does school really help you for your future?
A handful of many young adults want a successful future with zero regrets.
I, on the other hand, accept the fact that it is what it is, and take whatever life decides to throw at me.
In my two, almost-three completed years in high school, the education I received as an individual will not prepare me adequately for my future.
Yes, I do know that’s pretty harsh to say. But to sum it up, based on all the things I learned in school, tells me nothing about how to set up or what to expect from my future.
There may be one or two classes that the topic may have came on. But, nevertheless, I can’t tell another individual that high school can help prepare you for your future.
High school did not help me learn the importance of being an adult. It may have taught me some characteristic skills, but high school never taught me what I might come across or how to transition to the adult life, how to pay taxes or buy a house, and how the things that we learn in school even apply to us in our future.
To start off, the education that I receive in high school will not prepare me adequately for the future, the reason being that school does not help me prepare to be an adult. An example from my time in high school so far is in my freshmen year, where I asked, “How do you pay taxes?” The teacher did not really answer my question, but only told me not to worry about it yet.
I do realize that I just only started high school and shouldn’t be worrying about growing up, but it still is good to at least learn. I just do not understand why I couldn’t learn something that will happen to me in the future. That moment in my high-school life was the first time I knew school wasn’t going to help me really prepare me for my future.
To continue, another reason why I say that the education I’ve been getting from high school will not prepare me for the future is because I don’t see how the thing we have been learning will even apply to us later in life. For example, we learn to write essays, use the Pythagorean theorem, and dissect a sheep’s eye. Indeed, I do know that the things we learn may help us in a job we might take part in. But students don’t get the information we need to really be an adult.
In conclusion, I as a high-school student do not believe that school helps me for my future, for the reasons being it did not help me learn the importance of being an adult, how to pay taxes or buy a house, and how the things that we learn in school even apply to us in our future.
High school needs to be more educating on how to be an adult and successful in life rather than trying to just learn a topic in school to pass and graduate.
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Deyshia Kenney is a high-school student and Kalaheo resident.
Those are good concerns Deyshia. What are you most interested in first? Math, science, English, history. There is always something you might be interested in. I see. I do vouch with your teacher. How do you pay taxes? I agree. I feel that way too. How do I pay taxes? Good questions. Sometimes experiences need to be felt and gone through to know. But that is not where the money is at. Knowledge in your field of choice. What do you like? Do you like English? Journalism? There must be something you like. For me, I like computers. So I decline anyone trying to find out if it was me. I’m a busy person. Declining that I typed a comment in, gives me great reward. Especially if it applies and it helped that person. Because most times, that person is not with me by commenting on a person such as yourself. That is life. I’m smarter on this area of thoughts and ideas.
So, what do you like? Choose a field, then apply yourself to doing it. And don’t worry too much about the little details like paying taxes. This is not important. What is important is you liking a job and making some money. That is important. And you enjoying doing something.
Hi Deyshia, and thanks for your guest editorial. I am sorry that your education is not meeting your needs. I agree that Hawaii public education does not properly prepare many students for the real world, especially those with curiosity like your own. Please let me make some suggestions:
1) If you family can afford it or you can get a scholarship, get into a better school like Island School.
2) If your family can afford it, get a personal tutor steeped in real life and spend some time with him or her.
3) Get a part-time after school and summer job which acquaints you with new opportunities for learning. Maybe as an assistant in a real estate office?
4) Write a petition to circulate among like-minded students and parents and present to to the Department of Education. Then, when they do or say nothing except to pat your head, present your petition to the County Council and the State Legislature and the pressmasking for their help in reforming the system to be more effective.
5) Failing all that, run for student body president and when you campaign, emphasize your concerns to those in the DOE who will listen.
6) Failing that, organize a strike among like-kind, like-minded students. Power to the people!
Public education does not prepare many students for the real world. Really. The only difference there is between private schools and public schools is that public schools drink Popov vodka and the private students drink Stollies . When it comes to an education the parents involvement in their children’s school is the most important factor when it comes to what the children will get out of that education. Education is not handed to anyone, it’s all there you must go after it. When my kids were in school here and I would go to a PTA meeting and only 15 parents showed up tells me that it’s the lack of parent involvement that is creating the attitude that we are hearing here. School is the foundation that creates the adults we become and like everything you go after it or loose out.
Is it really the educational system’s job to prepare you for life in the “real world”? I submit that your parents should be primarily responsible for that task. Why can’t they teach you about taxes, checking accounts, renting vs. purchasing a home, how credit cards work, how to buy a house and finance it, etc. Wouldn’t they be in a better position to teach you real life lessons so that you can transition to adulthood? Your parents are probably not equipped to teach you algebra or physics but can surely show you how to pay an electric bill. Maybe you are barking up the wrong tree here.
You joking, right? Have you seen half the parents out there? Maybe they “should” but they don’t.
Yup. I’d have to agree with you. I’ve seen principals and school teachers go above and beyond for their students. From giving them rides to and from school, to making sure they were fed and supplied with the basic necessities. Even going as far as taking money from their pocket for expenses that go towards helping a child that they have no biological ties to. So often people expect teachers to do the work that the parent should be overseeing.
James is 100% right. School is about supplying the student with information & skills that they can not get at home. It is the family’s responsibility to teach the practical skills that **start** the journey into being a functional adult. Shunting the family’s responsibility off into the education system could be done … does anybody mind having school extend to 15 or 16 years? Or to require that all students live on campus – not at home – for a quarter of the education requirement, and have the families / taxpayers fund it?
Some of the curriculum from middle school on does need to be reevaluated. But some of the practical skills that DK points out used to be approached from middle school on, and have been replaced by “social values” education. There are many practical skills that can *not* be taught in the form of classes in school because the number of those skills is enormous and one size does not “fit all”.
When I was in the 9th grade we learned in a class called Personal Finance how to write checks, pay bills and to use a bank account etc,etc…Now the schools don’t even offer such classes! I weep for the future….
That. But I doubt that your politicians on Kauai are writing the important checks to run a county. They’re all strange. Who ever heard of advertisement in politics by way of I played for UH football in 1977? Stupid are them. I’m with the business community. Hi, “So you’re so an so.” “You don’t make any income as a county councilmen. “ Then I walk away to meet someone else. That’s me.
RG (?) – what on earth are you trying to say with this?
“Stupid are them. I’m with the business community. Hi, “So you’re so an so.” “You don’t make any income as a county councilmen. “ Then I walk away to meet someone else. That’s me.”
Is it about what Deyshia wrote? Is it related to “your” post at 1:26 – or is that somebody else using the same name?
I whole heartily agree with this student. High school should be teach banking, money management, filling college applications or trade school, how to write a resume’, even nutrition to avoid tooth loss and diabetes.
We no longer need to focus on the “classics” unless the students are really interested.
When you get to higher education you can take classes for that.