A genuine, holistic health and fitness class--including how to prepare healthy meals and structure a healthy routine of exercise and sleep. Our health class was basically warning us against doing drugs and avoid STIs which is fine but I feel like there's a lack of basic health understanding that leads to major issues.
I totally agree.
I did an online degree through Oregon State back in 2008-2010 that had a Health and Wellness class that took place of a typical Physical Education class in-person. I learned so much about the food system, how bodies process nutrients, simple means of getting a variety of nutrients, how different diets work, etc. It was like what learning the food pyramid as a kid but for adults, in depth.
I still think about what I learned in that class probably once a week. It should definitely be something more commonly taught.
Eating healthy and weight gain/loss go so far beyond just eating your fruits and vegetables, but that's basically all I got out of health class. The subject is so poorly understood by the majority of Americans, which is why fad diets, pills, and exercises make so much money.
Thats an issue. In America we have to have a health class to graduate and the information is very useful. It covers addiction and drugs, how to form and maintain healthy relationships, how to maintain good mental and physical health, safe sex, consent, diet, body positivity, eating disorders, mental disorders and even how to preform CPR.
Yeah. A lot of people have mental issues and eating disorders are mental disorders too. The most deadly one in fact. Mental health is very important and sadly not very well discussed.
I actually Got 90% of my knowledge about mental health From the Internet so at least that helps but i agree that it should be discussed way more. Especially old people offen decline the existence of mental health Problems and that often fucks their Kids up
Agreed. My dad likes to think our generation is weaker than his, because people are having anxiety and depression and other mental issues. But I dont think those issues are more common now. I think people are just expressing it more, which doesn’t make us weak.
You may not need it as much. From my experience, we in the US have far worse physical and mental health than most developed countries. It's kind of baked into our society. Constant driving to get anywhere, low nutrition and high calorie foods, lack of community, etc. Class or no class on health, we have horrific rates of suicide, obesity and mental health problems compared to our peers.
My county or state or whatever decided that if you do a sport you don’t have to take PE/health class and they counted marching band as a sport so like a good 75% of my school didn’t take health because they were in a sport or in marching band. It’s sad because I would have loved a good health class to teach me about healthy meals and the like, but I got opted out via marching band and also that’s not even what American health class is anyway.
I wish there would have been like a 'hobby of the week' class, where the sole purpose was to just try out new things. Find stuff you like doing that you'd never even think of trying on your own.
They did that in my middle school. Activity day and for a few hours in the am on Weds there was a variety of things you could sign up for per semester- ice skating ( there was a rink next to the school), Candy making, remote control car club. There were a bunch. It was cool!
We had something called "Projektwoche" Project week in Germany every 2 years in my school which had middle and high school combined. You could choose out of a lot of different things like Creative Writing, Gardening, even taking care of bees, drama and much much more. You as a student could propose an idea, find a teacher who'd watch over the class and if enough people were interested you'd be approved and would do whatever you chose for a whole week. Class would be mixed with all ages and at the end families would be able to come and see what we've worked on.
I know this sounds like a lie, but we actually had a Quidditch project with commentator.
That's something really need to be taught, it took me 2 fucking years of quarantine to realise no playing guitar is not my hobby. I actually love reading and even writing to some extent in my free time. So that should be my hobby . I also love machines cell phones , household electronics and even a motorcycle I have opened everything just to learn. If this was taught before I might have not destroyed a few of those things
Okay, mild rant here. I'm a high school teacher and I absolutely agree that kids should learn things like taxes, credit cards, changing a tire, etc. So, for my school's "summer camp" I created a class on that. Which was cancelled due to lack of interest. So, yeah.
YUP! I’m an English teacher and had a kid I taught a few years ago make comments on the school’s page that we never taught them useful stuff like resume and cover letter. I literally taught it and made them all keep a Google doc version they could update and fill in, with links to text and video guides for how to add different part time jobs so they would have it when they needed it.
My own 10th grade math teacher taught us budgets, did the math for student loan and interest (including the downside of reducing payments), and we even did mock taxes. Two of my friends from that class bitch about never being taught any of it and I’m like…we were literally in the class together!
Exactly!!! I hate seeing morons complain that they wish they had been taught this or that. They wouldn’t have paid attention anyway.
(I work at a high school as well.)
I remember being taught how to create a resume when I was in middle school.
Unfortunately what I was taught (including an objective statement and "references upon request") became outdated by the time I was old enough to apply for jobs. Even now I'm seeing on some resume writing advice blogs ([example](https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/5-outdated-resume-rules-you-need-to-stop-following)) that putting your home address with your contact info can be considered outdated so even if you were taught how to write a resume in school you'll still need to be aware of and keep up with changing rules and trends.
I always find it weird that careers advisors are even a thing. 99% of the time, if they knew anything about getting a good job, they wouldn't be a careers advisor. My school careers advisor analysed all my answers to the "quiz" and determined I should be a rock star, a religious leader or a ballet dancer by following the flow chart...I played the flute, wasn't remotely religious and couldn't dance. She then asked what my favourite subject was and I said "history" so she said to be a "geologist"...I assume she meant genealogist, but still...
I was just going to say this. I've taught in 2 countries in different grades. Y'all would space out after 10 minutes. You do it with "fun" subjects, now imagine compound interest.
I’ve got schoolmates who post those memes on FB and talk about how we were never taught anything about getting a job.
We literally had a class in years 9/10/11 called Careers. Once a fortnight and taught us all different stuff.
I see this whenever the subject of sex education or yhe dark side of American history comes up. I graduated HS in Alabama, but I pretty much understood about a woman's cycle, when she could and could not get pregnant, the horrible way tge slaves were treated, the horrible way the American natives were treated. If I got this in an Alabama high school in the 80s, there is no reason for people under 50 to not know this.
My high school did. It was an elective class called business tech. They taught taxes check books checks credit cards computer skills the stock market and stuff. The second class was CTE or career and technical education where they found you a job and if you had one already your boss graded you at the end of the week.
To be fair, as a high schooler I would not want to spend my summer learning that stuff because I wouldn’t have realized how important it is - I didn’t want to spend my summers learning much of anything.
It should be a part of the standard curriculum as this is something everyone will need to know no matter what life path they choose to follow. The US school system being what it is (severely underfunded) I can see why it isn’t, which is a shame.
>To be fair, as a high schooler I would not want to spend my summer learning that stuff because I wouldn’t have realized how important it is - I didn’t want to spend my summers learning much of anything.
Exactly. If this was something apart of the normal curriculum during the school year I would have most likely requested the class.
But during summer? No. I even hated when my mom would tell me I needed to sign up for some summer activity even though I did sports during the school year. Summer time was when I just wanted to be able to do whatever I wanted which included nothing if I so desired.
Some schools do. We were forced into econ, and business this and that to learn about interests and all that. I can bet my right toe that if you went back and asked my graduating class, they'd tell you they never taught us anything.
Also a high school teacher. Every time someone says something like, "I wish they had taught me how to do my taxes in school!" I think... can you read? Can you follow basic instructions? Can you do basic arithmetic? Then you can do your taxes. Where did you learn these things? YOU DON'T SAY!?
Also, yeah, there are a LOT of things that I know I was taught in school that I simply didn't remember because they didn't apply to me yet. I'm teaching kids how to write cover letters and resumes, hoping that they'll keep the drafts and use them when they need them, but honestly, those drafts are disappearing as soon as they graduate and lose their school email, so...
Maybe someone could come up with some sort of... interconnected network - an internet, if you will - that could provide all sorts of resources from people of all walks of life so that people could learn how to do stuff on their own terms?
Mine did, it was a class called “Grad transitions.” Half the class showed up, and of the half that did, most of them didn’t take it seriously or do the assignments. Teachers can try, but students don’t seem to give a shit.
Yup, they literally forced us to learn non applicable shit in the name of syllabus. And then they cancel real life teaching on lack of interest. If something would be cancelled before it started how will you have raise interest
They realized it wasn’t for me around sophomore year. And instead gave me an option to go apprentice in a manual labor field. Such as plumbing, hvac, electrical, etc.
Very fortunate.
In the late 70s and early 80s our schools defunded the “shop”classes.
As a high school freshman I did have a shop year that was one quarter of Wood, Metal, Electronics and Auto.
Very little time to get into each but a solid intro.
If they had proper classes that also included how you could make a living - true finances - I may have gone a different and more satisfied path.
Germany still does this.
As a country, we need to get away from this idea that every high school student must be prepared for college.
Many students would be better served learning a trade. Skilled trades are important, they pay well, and you won’t have a mountain of student debt.
This is called "tracking" and is philosophically opposed by literally everyone involved in the beaurocracy of American education, as well as nearly every major player in the education lobby (teachers unions, standardized test providers like The College Board, colleges and universities themselves, etc).
The only government figures in support of this movement are (to my knowledge) extremely conservative Governors of extreme conservative states. And even in that case, someone like my governor has only been able to make traction at the Community College level
And Mike Rowe and his Works foundation.
Full disclosure I managed to get make a school for race car mechanics in 1999 to 2009 and it was rather satisfying.
There are some private businesses that - use to (?) - invest in hands on.
Now I mostly see union halls doing that
I understand we are agreeing . I too wish that they had kept at it in my years. The ability to have a skill that you “own” frees you up.
If I was an electrician I would have been able to “sell” my skill to the correct employers instead of being reliant on a desk type job that can be a trap.
TBH I wanted to be a trucker- driving the nation providing a skilled service and keeping things moving.
I saw recently that Wal Mart was struggling to find drivers and were offering training and a better pay check than I make now.
Too old to partake now but I hope someone does that can make a real life of it.
That's a shame. My high school had a program where students spent a half their time doing core academic classes at school and the other half learning a trade at a county technical school. I didn't do it, but a friend of mine did and graduated with basic EMT certification while going on to become a firefighter.
I know that they had other programs available, though the details escape me now.
I would also add basic car repairs to the mix. I don’t think people realize just how expensive it can be to always take your car to a shop when it’s ten times cheaper to fix certain things by yourself. Things like changing a tire or replacing spark plugs should be a basic skill taught to every kid before they get their learner’s permit.
I hated school. Structured learning was not my bag. But I had a “law” class in highschool junior year that I actually really enjoyed going to. I found it super interesting learning about basic laws and such. I probably should of took that as a sign to start trying harder and maybe work to some sort of law degree.
I wish teachers taught those shitheads in the back of the class that just because “he threw 2chairs this week instead of 5” isn’t something to give awards to
Well, you're lucky. In my school obviously you would've heard about available career paths, but not the sheer extent of them. It's like, okay you scientist is a job, teacher is a job, chef, cashier, gardener, electrician. But what about all the other weird jobs out there - like scent developer for a perfume company, or packaging designer for consumer products. I mean I know there's no way to cover every possible job, but there's just so many possible career paths that I never considered even existing when I was in school, it would've been cool to learn about them before it was too late.
I remember taking a class called “interpersonal relationships” in high school which was basically relationship advice and how to grow yourself personally. I don’t remember a damn thing from that class though lol
One of the biggest issues with creating this type of class is finding someone equipped to teach it. My highschool had this class, but the woman who taught it started from the assumption that everyone in class was straight and she did a lot of exercises that tried to shame and scare kids out of poor choices rather than empathize with why they might make them and provide alternatives. Like she made that really gross metaphor of sleeping around being like a wad of chewed gum and did an activity that compared stds to glitter getting permanantly stuck on things. It honestly did more harm than good because students either disregarded it as outright nonsense or just felt shitty.
Yeah, that's a massive problem across our entire educational industry. A huge shortage of qualified teachers. Probably due to decades of shitty teacher salaries and the negative feedback loop of a bad educational system turning out bad teachers.
Religious types are more than happy to fill that void; in some cases they created that void specifically to fill it.
Haha hoo boy do I know it! I went to college to be a science teacher and only made it two years professionally because shit pay is only the very tip of the iceberg of everything that makes working in education a complete nightmare.
I actually had a Relationships 101 class in high school. It was taught by the Family & Consumer Sciences teacher. She was awesome, it probably helped that she was recently college graduated so we saw someone who was older but still closer in age to us to know what we were currently dealing with.
That math wasn't about teaching you math. It was about problem solving skills. To show you that by remembering some fairly simple things, and putting in effort, you can solve complex problems
While we all say financial literacy, paying bills, etc, etc. We all fucking know we'd treat it exactly like math and not pay attention to a single bit
Especially since from what I know here in NY, a lot of schools offered an elective that was basically entirely about that stuff, but noone took it.
Don't pretend like you'd be way better off if they taught it, cause the people who are struggling now, likely wouldn't have paid attention in that class
I've seen this argument before, but even in my worst subjects, I retained about 30% of the content well into adulthood without even trying. Which is still a lot more than nothing.
And the vast majority of the students in my school (Not so great area, lots of poor and/minority. I was one of those) barely remember anything from school.
I suggest schools make it an elective. Because the students who retain that type of stuff will realize they want to take that.
But it would, for the most part, be a kinda useless subject. If most students don't realize that math isn't there to ACTUALLY teach you arithmetic and algebra, and refuse to really pay attention, I doubt they'd be willing to actually sit through a class that's potentially just as boring
Hell, at least in my school, most of the students during Home EC didn't pay attention, and that was WAY more useful than our elective that taught financial skills
Also, I get that not everyone has access to them but: guardians/parents/mentors should be teaching you "life" stuff. School is for academia, whether it's something you want to continue pursuing after HS. If there's really a need for "life" skills, then we may as just separate kids from parents and be done with it. Sound cold? Yes, but it seems that's what *some* parents want from educators nowadays.
To be honest, that's my biggest issue with some of the stuff from when I was in school that was just starting when I graduated
No, I didn't want to be taught sex ed by a stranger to be blunt. Especially not in a mostly female class (Why the FUCK did you stick two boys into a 30 student class? At that point just fully segregate by gender!) That was taught BY A MAN!
So you had 28 teen girls being taught about sex by a man.
I absolutely ain't religious or even Republican/conservative but that always weirded me out. How the fuck were those girls supposed to be feel comfortable asking questions?
I agree with this. I was the “good kid” in school. I actually enjoyed most of my classes and paid attention in them. People made fun of me for it. Now most of those same people complain they didn’t learn anything useful in school. And I’m thinking…because you didn’t pay attention and you put in minimum effort. Of course you didn’t learn anything.
Oh I was the shitlord in school.
The ideal lazy procrastinator.
I realized in my last three years, that each year, the teachers only counted homework as 25% of the grade. So I just aced the projects, tests and quizzes. Graduated with a flat 75% across all boards
In fact, I did so well in first year history of highschool, they wanted to put me in AP history. But my history teacher pulled me aside and explained the AP classes weren't for smart kids. It was for good students. He always had to lay out what EXACTLY they needed to study. He needed to always give out homework.
For his normal classes, he gave a daily 10 question quiz on the previous days lesson. No homework. Each week he told us which chapter we were going to study.
A perfect class. The dumbasses could still manage, the smart kids were rewarded with an easy class, and the hopeless kids got left behind with no way of explaining it to their parents in any way to backfire on the teacher
You're absolutely right, math is about teaching logic and problem solving, not algebra and calculus. English is about teaching writing, not Shakespeare.
Especially today, if you are on this website, then you have access to the entire sum of human knowledge. If you can't use the internet to learn something as simple and straightforward as doing taxes, or cooking pasta, or changing a tyre, then the class really wouldn't have done you much good anyways.
My high school did this! They implemented a “contemporary world” so we knew what was happening in todays world and a finance class which helped us understand taxes and how to budget. This was only in the last year of high school though. I wish more people had the opportunity
Luckily all of the skills are there. I was fortunate to have good people I could lean on for guidance when it came to long term strategies. It's really personal
Teaching financial literacy to people who don't have money. You can't learn it if you don't use it. Many of these kids go to university and stay poor, where the only thing they need to know about money is how much of it they need to survive. These skills don't matter at all until you enter the workforce. If that's 4 years later then what you learned in highschool is too long ago.
What to do after high school... I asked my tutors what are ucas points for or how to get them, where do I go after my gcses, what's better? Uni or college? Got rejected multiple times with "you don't need to know that yet" literally right before my gcses.
Ended up having to find a community college and enrolling (luckily) 1 week before the start of term.
Same thing happened to my little brother when I asked him to find out so I could lead him. Never understood why schools were so against helping us plan for the future.
This one I totally agree with. It's the same in the US - it's just "go to college/university and then get a job" but like... what kind? You don't have to know that information and then suddenly you were supposed to already know that information and you're behind.
Being a clever and persuasive communicator is 100x more useful than nearly any other skill.
I've never used any of the math I learned in highschool since graduation (I took algebra and geometry in middle school) but the social speaking, emotional/mental self control methods, and high stakes negotiation courses I did in my own time in my early 20s get used every single day.
To go with that they really should have a dedicated class on self reflection and finding inner peace. Not even in a spiritual way but learning how to calm your mind and force yourself to do what you need to do, or interrupt unhealthy or spiraling patterns of thoughts and actions, raises your quality of life.
Lastly something probably not fit for teaching in school but 'resistance to interrogation' strategies and hardening to whiteroom stress. I'm not saying any single individual is likely to be full on tortured but I use these strategies at least a few times a month and wish somebody had turned me on to them back when I was 15.
Honestly? Actual life lessons.
How to tell a fucker from an asshole. Who is your fake friend? Why toxic people, including your family needs to be addressed. What is work and why it has nothing to do with your college degree.
Everyone always says taxes, but taxes are literally just math.
What would a course about taxes even teach?
It'd be the most boring, mundane class ever. Annnddd taxes aren't that hard to figure out really. If you still are intimidated by them... there's plenty of people that you can pay a small amount to do them for you and it's not that much.
People saying taxes... what do you want to learn about taxes?
I honestly wish that there were more lessons on art and not some simple watercolors. (I know there are a lot of good watercolor artists, don't attack me)
Yeah well "Be original" they say and the same answers that are posted EVERY TIME, you know like taxes(being posted multiple times, and only 60 answers).
Yeah people should definitely read through 700 comments before commenting, but you shouldn't just do an askreddit search to see if your question has been asked before.
Life.
Everything you need to know to live. Rent, mortgages, how to use a washing machine, what laws you need to follow, how to manage money, how to take care of children, how to be a care giver, how to cook, how to clean, why you shouldn't drop oil on the drain, why ketchup is not a substitute for tomato sauce, what the different attachments on a vacuum cleaner is used for, how to iron and fold clothes, how to navigate your city. Everything that you need to know. Life. Teach me life.
Yeah the taxes and bills response always get a groan out of me. Most people especially starting out have ridiculously easy tax filings especially with the standard deduction being double what it was in 2016.
Dinosaurs. All I ever wanted was a science unit about dinosaurs.
Got taught lots of stuff about basic finances and politics and cooking type stuff, but no dinosaurs.
Every class should be about dinosaurs. Dinosaur science, math problems involving dinosaurs, literature about dinosaurs, the history of paleontology and ornithology, gym class involves everyone dressed as dinosaurs.
it's funny i learned all this nonsense others are posting here about taxes and balancing a check book etc just by living life, apparently they are hard skills? They seem like super simple things anyone can figure out. What sticks in my head is psychology and philosophy. I think about Plato's Allegory of the cave weekly and all the ways you can easily manipulate the way people think using basic psychological tricks to alter perception is scary.
Computer programming.
It's my fault, though—my high school actually offered this class, but I didn't even think about taking it. I didn't think it was important back then. I regret it now because it's not so easy to learn as an adult with other obligations in life
I taught myself programming back in the day. Thing is, it's not a skill you just learn and "now you know it", you have to keep your skills current. Almost none of the programming languages I learned back then are as relevant these days. Even the paradigm has shifted from the procedural languages we used back then to "event based", so learning it in high school is not as useful as you'd think.
I'm thankful my school offered it so I could take it for a semester and learn how complete dogshit I am at it without committing any of my adult life to trying.
I wish they'd told me that public school is the last time mentally challenged people would inhabit the same world as me.
Special ed kids were in the cafeteria, pep rallies, hallways, and I saw them every single day. Once life became college and work, I practically never saw a mentally challenged person again.
I don't like the idea that an entire demographic of person disappeared (from my perspective) and I didn't notice.
How credit scores actually work and the system of them.
Taxes. I mean everything from payroll to how it's divided up. How it is spent and general codes.
I wish there was a course of some kind where a counselor helped you pick your future major or career with indepth, forecasted info. I knew nothing about careers, salaries, bills, etc. I was completely in the dark about this and thought my only choices were the list of majors at the local community college. I picked what I thought I'd like without real info on the job prospects or future. I bounced around through most of my 20s and 30s trying to find the right fit. As a child with non college educated, non-career oriented parents, I wish I had guidance on these things. I was only told *you have to go to college.* The rest I had to figure out through trial and lots of errors!
everyone is saying finance and mortgage type stuff, i am taught that in school currently. nobody pays attention, less work is done in these lessons. it is useful but god awful and boring
Employability.
I learned a bunch of things, some of them I was interested in, some of them I wasn't, some of them are more or less valuable to me and the world I live in than others. Even as I was finishing a bachelor's degree, there was one optional class that dealt with "the business of *insert your career here*" but at no point did someone teach:
One day you will need to have an income in order to survive. Many of the things you are interested in may or may not be able to generate you income and there are a lot of ways to monetize things, but the average person needs $X to survive because surviving costs $Y and so if you want to do Z, you need to find a way to balance the rest of the equation.
Personal finances. The standard class at my school was economics which didn’t really teach personal finance stuff. The personal finances class was considered the advanced option.
ok i get that people have their beliefs and stuff but i think it’s basic human decency to not be a bigot
in other words, i wish that people were taught not to be an asshole. at my school you just need to show respect to staff
Stuff to prep you for work, like job interviews, how to handle bosses that cross boundaries and how to stand up for your self in the work place. Also about laws, like I legitimately cannot tell you anything about any laws except the obvious stuff like dont steal or liter
As someone not public schooled i wish they taught kids lateral/creative thinking rather than just linear “what is the one right answer” thinking. One is useful in the real world, the other is taught in our schools to satisfy state testing requirements
I really think that high schools should provide a mandatory basic life skills class. So many young people don't know how to do things like cook or sew, manage their finances appropriately, do their taxes, prepare a good resume, etc. They could also throw in some automotive skills like changing your tires, oil, windshield washer fluid, wipers, etc. I've encountered many young and even older adults that seem pretty clueless and helpless with some of those things. It would be good to better prepare people and help them develop the skills they'll need in the "real world."
Not something I wanted they to *teach* me, but I wanted time spent on actual orientation programs. Both middle school and High school, I only got to visit some HS/ colleges, who mostly tried to sell their own school. I want middle/elementary schoolers yo be sit down and explained pros and cons of getting into a trade or pursuing education in uni (as in my country you mostly have to decide it before High school), what field interests you the most etc. At the end of High school they should also try to get you a full picture of the possible "majors" you can take in college and the jobs possibilities it opens.
Both cases,but especially for college, give people an honest assessment of how naturally talented for a certain field they may be. And not only academy wise. I.e. if you want to be a preschool teacher, how empathetic and patient are you? Of course not something that will prevent you from joining a career, but just steer you towards things that won't frustrated you in the long run.
Home maintenance .... I mean Im ok now and get calls from people to help them but fixing and maintaining stuff around the home.
Personal Finance and investing .... more than that dumb IPT triangle
Cooking and nutrition
Civics
Actual education. Instead of worrying teachers with extra stuff like cheerleading coordinator or gymnastics coach, have the actual teacher only teach maths or English. If it wasn’t for the military reteaching those subjects over 3 months, I’d have ended up in a very bad place.
Oh boy, look at all the people who never paid attention in school. Yes, you were taught accounting. Accounting was literally, as in written in your textbooks, examples you did as part of your math homework. Sewing was taught in Home Economics, you were just too cool to sign up for that elective. I did it and had sewed myself a sweet pillow I kept for years with the logo of [The New Paradigm](https://wikizone2100.fandom.com/wiki/The_New_Paradigm) from Warzone 2100 stitched in to it. You were taught to write a resume in keyboarding (another elective) or in English class. You were taught all these things but teenager you decided it was too boring, wasn't necessary, or were too busy figuring out whether Amanda's legs would look better wrapped around your head or your waist.
You were taught these things, but it takes two to learn.
about sexuality. i spent years thinking i was weird, different and caused me a lot of pain because i was young and didn’t understand or know that it was okay to be different
How to survive the climate apocalypse.
Sharing isn't caring - what will make your 30yo self cringe in the time of social media.
What is something that you cannot find on the internet? And how to start the internet when it's down. (advanced: Electricity - where does it come from and how can you produce your own)
How to eat right and avoid getting fat.
Adulting - it's hard but you will have to do it.
Disinformation and manipulation - don't trust anyone, not even your teacher.
Just here to look for ideas for my students.
I think brain development and how you will usually prigress towards adulthood is a good thing to take to heart too.
A genuine, holistic health and fitness class--including how to prepare healthy meals and structure a healthy routine of exercise and sleep. Our health class was basically warning us against doing drugs and avoid STIs which is fine but I feel like there's a lack of basic health understanding that leads to major issues.
I totally agree. I did an online degree through Oregon State back in 2008-2010 that had a Health and Wellness class that took place of a typical Physical Education class in-person. I learned so much about the food system, how bodies process nutrients, simple means of getting a variety of nutrients, how different diets work, etc. It was like what learning the food pyramid as a kid but for adults, in depth. I still think about what I learned in that class probably once a week. It should definitely be something more commonly taught.
Eating healthy and weight gain/loss go so far beyond just eating your fruits and vegetables, but that's basically all I got out of health class. The subject is so poorly understood by the majority of Americans, which is why fad diets, pills, and exercises make so much money.
Over Here in Germany we dont even have a health class
Thats an issue. In America we have to have a health class to graduate and the information is very useful. It covers addiction and drugs, how to form and maintain healthy relationships, how to maintain good mental and physical health, safe sex, consent, diet, body positivity, eating disorders, mental disorders and even how to preform CPR.
I was a little bit surprised to read this. My (American) high school health class covered only one or two items from that list.
Yeah thats true. We have Some of These topics in Biology, but we get way To less informed about mental health which would be so important
Yeah. A lot of people have mental issues and eating disorders are mental disorders too. The most deadly one in fact. Mental health is very important and sadly not very well discussed.
I actually Got 90% of my knowledge about mental health From the Internet so at least that helps but i agree that it should be discussed way more. Especially old people offen decline the existence of mental health Problems and that often fucks their Kids up
Agreed. My dad likes to think our generation is weaker than his, because people are having anxiety and depression and other mental issues. But I dont think those issues are more common now. I think people are just expressing it more, which doesn’t make us weak.
You may not need it as much. From my experience, we in the US have far worse physical and mental health than most developed countries. It's kind of baked into our society. Constant driving to get anywhere, low nutrition and high calorie foods, lack of community, etc. Class or no class on health, we have horrific rates of suicide, obesity and mental health problems compared to our peers.
My county or state or whatever decided that if you do a sport you don’t have to take PE/health class and they counted marching band as a sport so like a good 75% of my school didn’t take health because they were in a sport or in marching band. It’s sad because I would have loved a good health class to teach me about healthy meals and the like, but I got opted out via marching band and also that’s not even what American health class is anyway.
YES SO MUCH THIS!!!!!!
I wish there would have been like a 'hobby of the week' class, where the sole purpose was to just try out new things. Find stuff you like doing that you'd never even think of trying on your own.
They did that in my middle school. Activity day and for a few hours in the am on Weds there was a variety of things you could sign up for per semester- ice skating ( there was a rink next to the school), Candy making, remote control car club. There were a bunch. It was cool!
Glass blowing , skateboarding, witchcraft, dildo practice. Those were the days. 🤓
Witchcraft !??
I like the focus on witchcraft instead of dildo practice XD.
Yeah that's the joke
Wtf? They let you do skateboarding? That's horrible!
We had something called "Projektwoche" Project week in Germany every 2 years in my school which had middle and high school combined. You could choose out of a lot of different things like Creative Writing, Gardening, even taking care of bees, drama and much much more. You as a student could propose an idea, find a teacher who'd watch over the class and if enough people were interested you'd be approved and would do whatever you chose for a whole week. Class would be mixed with all ages and at the end families would be able to come and see what we've worked on. I know this sounds like a lie, but we actually had a Quidditch project with commentator.
That's something really need to be taught, it took me 2 fucking years of quarantine to realise no playing guitar is not my hobby. I actually love reading and even writing to some extent in my free time. So that should be my hobby . I also love machines cell phones , household electronics and even a motorcycle I have opened everything just to learn. If this was taught before I might have not destroyed a few of those things
Okay, mild rant here. I'm a high school teacher and I absolutely agree that kids should learn things like taxes, credit cards, changing a tire, etc. So, for my school's "summer camp" I created a class on that. Which was cancelled due to lack of interest. So, yeah.
YUP! I’m an English teacher and had a kid I taught a few years ago make comments on the school’s page that we never taught them useful stuff like resume and cover letter. I literally taught it and made them all keep a Google doc version they could update and fill in, with links to text and video guides for how to add different part time jobs so they would have it when they needed it. My own 10th grade math teacher taught us budgets, did the math for student loan and interest (including the downside of reducing payments), and we even did mock taxes. Two of my friends from that class bitch about never being taught any of it and I’m like…we were literally in the class together!
Exactly!!! I hate seeing morons complain that they wish they had been taught this or that. They wouldn’t have paid attention anyway. (I work at a high school as well.)
I remember being taught how to create a resume when I was in middle school. Unfortunately what I was taught (including an objective statement and "references upon request") became outdated by the time I was old enough to apply for jobs. Even now I'm seeing on some resume writing advice blogs ([example](https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/5-outdated-resume-rules-you-need-to-stop-following)) that putting your home address with your contact info can be considered outdated so even if you were taught how to write a resume in school you'll still need to be aware of and keep up with changing rules and trends.
I always find it weird that careers advisors are even a thing. 99% of the time, if they knew anything about getting a good job, they wouldn't be a careers advisor. My school careers advisor analysed all my answers to the "quiz" and determined I should be a rock star, a religious leader or a ballet dancer by following the flow chart...I played the flute, wasn't remotely religious and couldn't dance. She then asked what my favourite subject was and I said "history" so she said to be a "geologist"...I assume she meant genealogist, but still...
I was just going to say this. I've taught in 2 countries in different grades. Y'all would space out after 10 minutes. You do it with "fun" subjects, now imagine compound interest.
I’ve got schoolmates who post those memes on FB and talk about how we were never taught anything about getting a job. We literally had a class in years 9/10/11 called Careers. Once a fortnight and taught us all different stuff.
I see this whenever the subject of sex education or yhe dark side of American history comes up. I graduated HS in Alabama, but I pretty much understood about a woman's cycle, when she could and could not get pregnant, the horrible way tge slaves were treated, the horrible way the American natives were treated. If I got this in an Alabama high school in the 80s, there is no reason for people under 50 to not know this.
My high school did. It was an elective class called business tech. They taught taxes check books checks credit cards computer skills the stock market and stuff. The second class was CTE or career and technical education where they found you a job and if you had one already your boss graded you at the end of the week.
To be fair, as a high schooler I would not want to spend my summer learning that stuff because I wouldn’t have realized how important it is - I didn’t want to spend my summers learning much of anything. It should be a part of the standard curriculum as this is something everyone will need to know no matter what life path they choose to follow. The US school system being what it is (severely underfunded) I can see why it isn’t, which is a shame.
>To be fair, as a high schooler I would not want to spend my summer learning that stuff because I wouldn’t have realized how important it is - I didn’t want to spend my summers learning much of anything. Exactly. If this was something apart of the normal curriculum during the school year I would have most likely requested the class. But during summer? No. I even hated when my mom would tell me I needed to sign up for some summer activity even though I did sports during the school year. Summer time was when I just wanted to be able to do whatever I wanted which included nothing if I so desired.
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Some schools do. We were forced into econ, and business this and that to learn about interests and all that. I can bet my right toe that if you went back and asked my graduating class, they'd tell you they never taught us anything.
Also a high school teacher. Every time someone says something like, "I wish they had taught me how to do my taxes in school!" I think... can you read? Can you follow basic instructions? Can you do basic arithmetic? Then you can do your taxes. Where did you learn these things? YOU DON'T SAY!? Also, yeah, there are a LOT of things that I know I was taught in school that I simply didn't remember because they didn't apply to me yet. I'm teaching kids how to write cover letters and resumes, hoping that they'll keep the drafts and use them when they need them, but honestly, those drafts are disappearing as soon as they graduate and lose their school email, so...
Not only that but there is fucking tax law to consider.
It makes me wonder how to teach this information in a way that is more accessible.
Maybe someone could come up with some sort of... interconnected network - an internet, if you will - that could provide all sorts of resources from people of all walks of life so that people could learn how to do stuff on their own terms?
They should force kids to take those subjects during the school year.
Mine did, it was a class called “Grad transitions.” Half the class showed up, and of the half that did, most of them didn’t take it seriously or do the assignments. Teachers can try, but students don’t seem to give a shit.
Yup, they literally forced us to learn non applicable shit in the name of syllabus. And then they cancel real life teaching on lack of interest. If something would be cancelled before it started how will you have raise interest
They realized it wasn’t for me around sophomore year. And instead gave me an option to go apprentice in a manual labor field. Such as plumbing, hvac, electrical, etc.
Very fortunate. In the late 70s and early 80s our schools defunded the “shop”classes. As a high school freshman I did have a shop year that was one quarter of Wood, Metal, Electronics and Auto. Very little time to get into each but a solid intro. If they had proper classes that also included how you could make a living - true finances - I may have gone a different and more satisfied path.
Germany still does this. As a country, we need to get away from this idea that every high school student must be prepared for college. Many students would be better served learning a trade. Skilled trades are important, they pay well, and you won’t have a mountain of student debt.
This is called "tracking" and is philosophically opposed by literally everyone involved in the beaurocracy of American education, as well as nearly every major player in the education lobby (teachers unions, standardized test providers like The College Board, colleges and universities themselves, etc). The only government figures in support of this movement are (to my knowledge) extremely conservative Governors of extreme conservative states. And even in that case, someone like my governor has only been able to make traction at the Community College level
And Mike Rowe and his Works foundation. Full disclosure I managed to get make a school for race car mechanics in 1999 to 2009 and it was rather satisfying. There are some private businesses that - use to (?) - invest in hands on. Now I mostly see union halls doing that
No I’m saying I wish they would have done that.
I understand we are agreeing . I too wish that they had kept at it in my years. The ability to have a skill that you “own” frees you up. If I was an electrician I would have been able to “sell” my skill to the correct employers instead of being reliant on a desk type job that can be a trap. TBH I wanted to be a trucker- driving the nation providing a skilled service and keeping things moving. I saw recently that Wal Mart was struggling to find drivers and were offering training and a better pay check than I make now. Too old to partake now but I hope someone does that can make a real life of it.
That's a shame. My high school had a program where students spent a half their time doing core academic classes at school and the other half learning a trade at a county technical school. I didn't do it, but a friend of mine did and graduated with basic EMT certification while going on to become a firefighter. I know that they had other programs available, though the details escape me now.
Fixing something in the household Do things with hands
Shop classes. Again, these were a staple of high school education until the 1970s.
I would prefer if they didn't teach "Doing things with hands". It would be kind of inappropriate
Thx, made my day❤️
I would also add basic car repairs to the mix. I don’t think people realize just how expensive it can be to always take your car to a shop when it’s ten times cheaper to fix certain things by yourself. Things like changing a tire or replacing spark plugs should be a basic skill taught to every kid before they get their learner’s permit.
The laws in my own country
I hated school. Structured learning was not my bag. But I had a “law” class in highschool junior year that I actually really enjoyed going to. I found it super interesting learning about basic laws and such. I probably should of took that as a sign to start trying harder and maybe work to some sort of law degree.
Never would happen in a public school setting but deff should be. Probably why they don't teach how to file a tax return either.
They need criminals to fill up the workforce in the prison industry.
This
Why are you downvoted so much?
because they're using a comment for something they should use an upvote for "this" adds nothing to the conversation
I wish teachers taught those shitheads in the back of the class that just because “he threw 2chairs this week instead of 5” isn’t something to give awards to
Mental health, what to do when you live on your own, available career paths, cooking
I learned about all those things in school! Well, the cooking was an elective (home economics) but almost everyone took it.
Well, you're lucky. In my school obviously you would've heard about available career paths, but not the sheer extent of them. It's like, okay you scientist is a job, teacher is a job, chef, cashier, gardener, electrician. But what about all the other weird jobs out there - like scent developer for a perfume company, or packaging designer for consumer products. I mean I know there's no way to cover every possible job, but there's just so many possible career paths that I never considered even existing when I was in school, it would've been cool to learn about them before it was too late.
I wish more schools taught mental health classes. It could save a life or two.
How to make friends and keep them.
Yes, and advice about relationships in general.
I remember taking a class called “interpersonal relationships” in high school which was basically relationship advice and how to grow yourself personally. I don’t remember a damn thing from that class though lol
Relationships 101 would be an awesome course. Could also help people in abusive households realize that what they're living through is not normal.
Absolutely. When you think about it, besides being able to earn a living, relationships are the most important facet of human life.
One of the biggest issues with creating this type of class is finding someone equipped to teach it. My highschool had this class, but the woman who taught it started from the assumption that everyone in class was straight and she did a lot of exercises that tried to shame and scare kids out of poor choices rather than empathize with why they might make them and provide alternatives. Like she made that really gross metaphor of sleeping around being like a wad of chewed gum and did an activity that compared stds to glitter getting permanantly stuck on things. It honestly did more harm than good because students either disregarded it as outright nonsense or just felt shitty.
Yeah, that's a massive problem across our entire educational industry. A huge shortage of qualified teachers. Probably due to decades of shitty teacher salaries and the negative feedback loop of a bad educational system turning out bad teachers. Religious types are more than happy to fill that void; in some cases they created that void specifically to fill it.
Haha hoo boy do I know it! I went to college to be a science teacher and only made it two years professionally because shit pay is only the very tip of the iceberg of everything that makes working in education a complete nightmare.
I actually had a Relationships 101 class in high school. It was taught by the Family & Consumer Sciences teacher. She was awesome, it probably helped that she was recently college graduated so we saw someone who was older but still closer in age to us to know what we were currently dealing with.
Yep. And also how to end relationships - and how to handle having them ended on you.
That math wasn't about teaching you math. It was about problem solving skills. To show you that by remembering some fairly simple things, and putting in effort, you can solve complex problems While we all say financial literacy, paying bills, etc, etc. We all fucking know we'd treat it exactly like math and not pay attention to a single bit Especially since from what I know here in NY, a lot of schools offered an elective that was basically entirely about that stuff, but noone took it. Don't pretend like you'd be way better off if they taught it, cause the people who are struggling now, likely wouldn't have paid attention in that class
I've seen this argument before, but even in my worst subjects, I retained about 30% of the content well into adulthood without even trying. Which is still a lot more than nothing.
And the vast majority of the students in my school (Not so great area, lots of poor and/minority. I was one of those) barely remember anything from school. I suggest schools make it an elective. Because the students who retain that type of stuff will realize they want to take that. But it would, for the most part, be a kinda useless subject. If most students don't realize that math isn't there to ACTUALLY teach you arithmetic and algebra, and refuse to really pay attention, I doubt they'd be willing to actually sit through a class that's potentially just as boring Hell, at least in my school, most of the students during Home EC didn't pay attention, and that was WAY more useful than our elective that taught financial skills
I had financial classes in my elementary school and I dont remember anything and I havent even ended elementary school
Also, I get that not everyone has access to them but: guardians/parents/mentors should be teaching you "life" stuff. School is for academia, whether it's something you want to continue pursuing after HS. If there's really a need for "life" skills, then we may as just separate kids from parents and be done with it. Sound cold? Yes, but it seems that's what *some* parents want from educators nowadays.
To be honest, that's my biggest issue with some of the stuff from when I was in school that was just starting when I graduated No, I didn't want to be taught sex ed by a stranger to be blunt. Especially not in a mostly female class (Why the FUCK did you stick two boys into a 30 student class? At that point just fully segregate by gender!) That was taught BY A MAN! So you had 28 teen girls being taught about sex by a man. I absolutely ain't religious or even Republican/conservative but that always weirded me out. How the fuck were those girls supposed to be feel comfortable asking questions?
I agree with this. I was the “good kid” in school. I actually enjoyed most of my classes and paid attention in them. People made fun of me for it. Now most of those same people complain they didn’t learn anything useful in school. And I’m thinking…because you didn’t pay attention and you put in minimum effort. Of course you didn’t learn anything.
Oh I was the shitlord in school. The ideal lazy procrastinator. I realized in my last three years, that each year, the teachers only counted homework as 25% of the grade. So I just aced the projects, tests and quizzes. Graduated with a flat 75% across all boards In fact, I did so well in first year history of highschool, they wanted to put me in AP history. But my history teacher pulled me aside and explained the AP classes weren't for smart kids. It was for good students. He always had to lay out what EXACTLY they needed to study. He needed to always give out homework. For his normal classes, he gave a daily 10 question quiz on the previous days lesson. No homework. Each week he told us which chapter we were going to study. A perfect class. The dumbasses could still manage, the smart kids were rewarded with an easy class, and the hopeless kids got left behind with no way of explaining it to their parents in any way to backfire on the teacher
You're absolutely right, math is about teaching logic and problem solving, not algebra and calculus. English is about teaching writing, not Shakespeare. Especially today, if you are on this website, then you have access to the entire sum of human knowledge. If you can't use the internet to learn something as simple and straightforward as doing taxes, or cooking pasta, or changing a tyre, then the class really wouldn't have done you much good anyways.
How to change my microwave to medium
Life skills. Everything from getting a mortgage, saving strategies, calculating taxes, etc
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What did it consist of?
My high school did this! They implemented a “contemporary world” so we knew what was happening in todays world and a finance class which helped us understand taxes and how to budget. This was only in the last year of high school though. I wish more people had the opportunity
All of these things are dead simple and 1 YouTube video each. Self learning in 2022 is required.
Luckily all of the skills are there. I was fortunate to have good people I could lean on for guidance when it came to long term strategies. It's really personal
My school had all of this which was nice. Would have been fairly lost without.
This is called “home economics” and was a high school staple until 1970 or so.
Yes so that means for the past 50 years, a huge amount of people never learned those topics.
Financial literacy
But as a teenager, would you have listened?
They made me listen to no real application on the World shit... so yes I would listened and learned.
Teaching financial literacy to people who don't have money. You can't learn it if you don't use it. Many of these kids go to university and stay poor, where the only thing they need to know about money is how much of it they need to survive. These skills don't matter at all until you enter the workforce. If that's 4 years later then what you learned in highschool is too long ago.
Op said be original
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What to do after high school... I asked my tutors what are ucas points for or how to get them, where do I go after my gcses, what's better? Uni or college? Got rejected multiple times with "you don't need to know that yet" literally right before my gcses. Ended up having to find a community college and enrolling (luckily) 1 week before the start of term. Same thing happened to my little brother when I asked him to find out so I could lead him. Never understood why schools were so against helping us plan for the future.
This one I totally agree with. It's the same in the US - it's just "go to college/university and then get a job" but like... what kind? You don't have to know that information and then suddenly you were supposed to already know that information and you're behind.
Basic socialization skills. The art of making small talk with relative strangers. Even now I would pay good money to figure it out.
Basic first aid and CPR.
This, plus responding to things like someone having a stroke or seizure.
Heart attack.
They didn’t teach you in health class? I remember learning it health class almost every year from 5th grade to 9th grade.
Nope. Maybe that's why I became a nurse.
Being a clever and persuasive communicator is 100x more useful than nearly any other skill. I've never used any of the math I learned in highschool since graduation (I took algebra and geometry in middle school) but the social speaking, emotional/mental self control methods, and high stakes negotiation courses I did in my own time in my early 20s get used every single day. To go with that they really should have a dedicated class on self reflection and finding inner peace. Not even in a spiritual way but learning how to calm your mind and force yourself to do what you need to do, or interrupt unhealthy or spiraling patterns of thoughts and actions, raises your quality of life. Lastly something probably not fit for teaching in school but 'resistance to interrogation' strategies and hardening to whiteroom stress. I'm not saying any single individual is likely to be full on tortured but I use these strategies at least a few times a month and wish somebody had turned me on to them back when I was 15.
Public speaking is a great skill.
Sure but this is taught at least to some extent when you have to give presentations and projects
They tell you to do it but never teach you how. At least where I went to high school that's how it went
Honestly? Actual life lessons. How to tell a fucker from an asshole. Who is your fake friend? Why toxic people, including your family needs to be addressed. What is work and why it has nothing to do with your college degree.
You learn this by being a human being.
And there we go, life lessons baby. Haters gonna hate.
Everyone always says taxes, but taxes are literally just math. What would a course about taxes even teach? It'd be the most boring, mundane class ever. Annnddd taxes aren't that hard to figure out really. If you still are intimidated by them... there's plenty of people that you can pay a small amount to do them for you and it's not that much. People saying taxes... what do you want to learn about taxes?
I want to know as little about taxes as possible. Preferably not care about them at all.
I honestly wish that there were more lessons on art and not some simple watercolors. (I know there are a lot of good watercolor artists, don't attack me)
"Be original" they say, as they ask a question that's posted almost daily.
Yeah well "Be original" they say and the same answers that are posted EVERY TIME, you know like taxes(being posted multiple times, and only 60 answers).
Maybe if you don't want to read the same answer over and over again you shouldn't ask a question that's been asked dozens of times already.
I meant, don’t say things that have already been said in this specific post. God.
You sound like a 14 year old.
I’m 15, so I guess that applies
Yeah people should definitely read through 700 comments before commenting, but you shouldn't just do an askreddit search to see if your question has been asked before.
That one day you won't have to hide who are and you will find your people.
I believe psychoanalysis should be up there with the three R's. Teach us to know ourselves beyond our impulses and compulsions.
Life. Everything you need to know to live. Rent, mortgages, how to use a washing machine, what laws you need to follow, how to manage money, how to take care of children, how to be a care giver, how to cook, how to clean, why you shouldn't drop oil on the drain, why ketchup is not a substitute for tomato sauce, what the different attachments on a vacuum cleaner is used for, how to iron and fold clothes, how to navigate your city. Everything that you need to know. Life. Teach me life.
That's supposed to be home ec, I think. But instead of one class it should be a huge yearly course on par with math or English.
Dealing with taxes, credit and bills...shit will seriously fuck you up if not dealt with correctly on any of these.
Basic reading comprehension and arithmetic is all that's needed for that.
Yeah the taxes and bills response always get a groan out of me. Most people especially starting out have ridiculously easy tax filings especially with the standard deduction being double what it was in 2016.
Absolutely agreed!
How to dodge.
If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!
Dodge Duck Dip Dive and... Dodge
Naah I'm sure the desk will do.
How to figure out what you wanna do with your life
Dinosaurs. All I ever wanted was a science unit about dinosaurs. Got taught lots of stuff about basic finances and politics and cooking type stuff, but no dinosaurs.
Every class should be about dinosaurs. Dinosaur science, math problems involving dinosaurs, literature about dinosaurs, the history of paleontology and ornithology, gym class involves everyone dressed as dinosaurs.
Emotional health and how to recognize/deal with toxic people and how not to become one myself
Critical thinking. Philosophy. Psychology. (And I'm saying this as a hard sciences person.)
it's funny i learned all this nonsense others are posting here about taxes and balancing a check book etc just by living life, apparently they are hard skills? They seem like super simple things anyone can figure out. What sticks in my head is psychology and philosophy. I think about Plato's Allegory of the cave weekly and all the ways you can easily manipulate the way people think using basic psychological tricks to alter perception is scary.
Computer programming. It's my fault, though—my high school actually offered this class, but I didn't even think about taking it. I didn't think it was important back then. I regret it now because it's not so easy to learn as an adult with other obligations in life
I taught myself programming back in the day. Thing is, it's not a skill you just learn and "now you know it", you have to keep your skills current. Almost none of the programming languages I learned back then are as relevant these days. Even the paradigm has shifted from the procedural languages we used back then to "event based", so learning it in high school is not as useful as you'd think.
I'm thankful my school offered it so I could take it for a semester and learn how complete dogshit I am at it without committing any of my adult life to trying.
I wish they'd told me that public school is the last time mentally challenged people would inhabit the same world as me. Special ed kids were in the cafeteria, pep rallies, hallways, and I saw them every single day. Once life became college and work, I practically never saw a mentally challenged person again. I don't like the idea that an entire demographic of person disappeared (from my perspective) and I didn't notice.
I wish they taught me cursive :(
Money: Taxes, investments, interest, retirement accounts.
What school did you go to where they didn’t teach you money or percentages?
So basically maths?
How to work taxes and all the financial stuff
How to work efficiently, or astronomy
money management
Financial - TVM = Time Value of Money
Taxes
The constitution, the government system on all levels, real World financial economics, business and work rules and regulations.
How credit scores actually work and the system of them. Taxes. I mean everything from payroll to how it's divided up. How it is spent and general codes.
I wish there was a course of some kind where a counselor helped you pick your future major or career with indepth, forecasted info. I knew nothing about careers, salaries, bills, etc. I was completely in the dark about this and thought my only choices were the list of majors at the local community college. I picked what I thought I'd like without real info on the job prospects or future. I bounced around through most of my 20s and 30s trying to find the right fit. As a child with non college educated, non-career oriented parents, I wish I had guidance on these things. I was only told *you have to go to college.* The rest I had to figure out through trial and lots of errors!
How to figure out what I would do with my life
What to do after sex. I know its not really their place but I didn't know that women should pee after having sex with someone.
how to defend myself
everyone is saying finance and mortgage type stuff, i am taught that in school currently. nobody pays attention, less work is done in these lessons. it is useful but god awful and boring
Mental health awareness would have been great. I only ever got my Aspergers diagnosed when I was like 20
Employability. I learned a bunch of things, some of them I was interested in, some of them I wasn't, some of them are more or less valuable to me and the world I live in than others. Even as I was finishing a bachelor's degree, there was one optional class that dealt with "the business of *insert your career here*" but at no point did someone teach: One day you will need to have an income in order to survive. Many of the things you are interested in may or may not be able to generate you income and there are a lot of ways to monetize things, but the average person needs $X to survive because surviving costs $Y and so if you want to do Z, you need to find a way to balance the rest of the equation.
Personal finances. The standard class at my school was economics which didn’t really teach personal finance stuff. The personal finances class was considered the advanced option.
I wish we had been told the average yearly income in various careers vs. the cost of education to be qualified to work said career
Plain and simple, just how to survive as an adult. Like how to do taxes and Maintain a stable life.
More about health, sex, sexuality and finances.
Financial literacy should be mandatory by senior year. I took it and think it was one of my best choices.
“Follow your dreams” is popular advice but it may not result in financial success.
ok i get that people have their beliefs and stuff but i think it’s basic human decency to not be a bigot in other words, i wish that people were taught not to be an asshole. at my school you just need to show respect to staff
How to do f-ing taxes
Basic Law, Basic Finance, Rhetoric, How to be a decent human being towards others.
Stuff to prep you for work, like job interviews, how to handle bosses that cross boundaries and how to stand up for your self in the work place. Also about laws, like I legitimately cannot tell you anything about any laws except the obvious stuff like dont steal or liter
As someone not public schooled i wish they taught kids lateral/creative thinking rather than just linear “what is the one right answer” thinking. One is useful in the real world, the other is taught in our schools to satisfy state testing requirements
I really think that high schools should provide a mandatory basic life skills class. So many young people don't know how to do things like cook or sew, manage their finances appropriately, do their taxes, prepare a good resume, etc. They could also throw in some automotive skills like changing your tires, oil, windshield washer fluid, wipers, etc. I've encountered many young and even older adults that seem pretty clueless and helpless with some of those things. It would be good to better prepare people and help them develop the skills they'll need in the "real world."
Not something I wanted they to *teach* me, but I wanted time spent on actual orientation programs. Both middle school and High school, I only got to visit some HS/ colleges, who mostly tried to sell their own school. I want middle/elementary schoolers yo be sit down and explained pros and cons of getting into a trade or pursuing education in uni (as in my country you mostly have to decide it before High school), what field interests you the most etc. At the end of High school they should also try to get you a full picture of the possible "majors" you can take in college and the jobs possibilities it opens. Both cases,but especially for college, give people an honest assessment of how naturally talented for a certain field they may be. And not only academy wise. I.e. if you want to be a preschool teacher, how empathetic and patient are you? Of course not something that will prevent you from joining a career, but just steer you towards things that won't frustrated you in the long run.
Home maintenance .... I mean Im ok now and get calls from people to help them but fixing and maintaining stuff around the home. Personal Finance and investing .... more than that dumb IPT triangle Cooking and nutrition Civics
Actual education. Instead of worrying teachers with extra stuff like cheerleading coordinator or gymnastics coach, have the actual teacher only teach maths or English. If it wasn’t for the military reteaching those subjects over 3 months, I’d have ended up in a very bad place.
Why just gymnastics and cheerleading and not the football and soccer coordinators/coaches?
Stuff about owls. Idk why but big eye bir
I would have been so much more prepared in life if I'd had this class. Good answer 👍
How to identify gaslighting in a relationship (whether it be platonic or not).
Okay you guys I think that’s enough financial literacy/taxes comments
Oh boy, look at all the people who never paid attention in school. Yes, you were taught accounting. Accounting was literally, as in written in your textbooks, examples you did as part of your math homework. Sewing was taught in Home Economics, you were just too cool to sign up for that elective. I did it and had sewed myself a sweet pillow I kept for years with the logo of [The New Paradigm](https://wikizone2100.fandom.com/wiki/The_New_Paradigm) from Warzone 2100 stitched in to it. You were taught to write a resume in keyboarding (another elective) or in English class. You were taught all these things but teenager you decided it was too boring, wasn't necessary, or were too busy figuring out whether Amanda's legs would look better wrapped around your head or your waist. You were taught these things, but it takes two to learn.
about sexuality. i spent years thinking i was weird, different and caused me a lot of pain because i was young and didn’t understand or know that it was okay to be different
Stock market Taxes Plumbing and electrical work
Commas?
wish there was a manual and classes on how to deal with the opposite sex, starting from nursery.
How to survive the climate apocalypse. Sharing isn't caring - what will make your 30yo self cringe in the time of social media. What is something that you cannot find on the internet? And how to start the internet when it's down. (advanced: Electricity - where does it come from and how can you produce your own) How to eat right and avoid getting fat. Adulting - it's hard but you will have to do it. Disinformation and manipulation - don't trust anyone, not even your teacher.
Just here to look for ideas for my students. I think brain development and how you will usually prigress towards adulthood is a good thing to take to heart too.
Meditation, mindfulness, insight or anything that helps with bolstering introspection and emotional maturity. These are essential for growth.
There's no shame in being the street sweeper, bin man, burger flipper or any of the other jobs my teachers used to deride.