OPINION

The opinions published by The Match are solely those of the author, and not of the entire publication, its staff, or Collegiate School. The Match welcomes thoughtful commentary and response to our content. You can respond in the comments below, but please do so respectfully. Letters to the Editors will be published, but they are subject to revision based on content and length. Letters can be sent to match@collegiate-va.org. 

By Jackson Watkins

If education is meant to prepare us for life, why aren’t we all taught certain skills that everyone will have to utilize, regardless of their occupation? What happens when we graduate from college and are expected to buy a house or a car? What happens when we have to pay taxes? While some professions are based are continuations of specific classes, such as an anatomy class that prepares a student for studying medicine, most occupations include a variety of skills, including communication and management, which are skills usually overlooked in high school. While some current classes touch on some of these things, a class dedicated to learning about the inescapable responsibilities of adulthood would be worth trying.

School classes are typically based around five core subjects: math, science, history, English/language arts, and a world language. While these topics are important to learning and the expansion of one’s mind, there are other skills necessary in order to live life as an adult. Engineers have a deep understanding of physics and calculus, but they will have to master life skills along with everybody else. Everyone will have to pay taxes, consider buying a house or a car, and know how to manage money once they become an adult. When asked about these tasks, Celia Phillips (‘19) said, “I have no idea how to do any of that.” If students knew how to acquire and rightly pay off a loan, they might not get into trouble with debt later on. This comes into play faster than most people would like; often times, students have to borrow money in order to pay for college, leaving them with debt when they graduate. Eradicating that debt efficiently will enable those graduates to have a burden lifted from their shoulders. This would be crucial to money management, since having a steady income puts the importance of saving and investing money into perspective.

My mathematical modeling class this year touches on the brilliance of investing money for the long term. Using math, we find that exponential growth can make a small amount of money grow tenfold in a matter of fifty years, depending on how much you start with. If more young adults coming out of college knew this, they could secure themselves the benefits from retirement funds.

Cooking can be rewarding if you know how to do it. Photo credit: Eat Sip Trip.

High school graduates should be more prepared for living alone going into college. Unless making food is a hobby for you, many people do not know how to cook past toasting a bagel. Connor McCluskey (‘19) explains, “If I’m hungry, that means I’m hungry now. I don’t want the inconvenience of having to cook something.“ While you might not be cooking for yourself every day during college, you will have to once you graduate and move on in your life.

Another skill that is invaluable both in school and in life is communication. Although English courses teach communication through writing, life encounters often happen through person-to-person contact. Conversation, whether it be with just one other friend, a job interview, or public speaking, is vital to communication, and high school does not stress this enough. While Collegiate has Seniors Speeches and presentations in different classes, public speaking itself is not emphasized much in the curriculum. This lack of preparation catches most people off guard. Phillips says, “I cannot speak in public to save my life. I’m afraid I’m going to be the first person to pass out during my Senior Speech.” 

Example of a regional job fair. Photo credit: Great Lakes Bay Job Fair.

I also believe Collegiate should utilize is some type of class or seminar that displays the variety of jobs that there are in the world. As I am in the college process now, I am realizing that I don’t exactly know what a certain college major would lead to in a career. Up to now, I’ve just thought that since I excel at math and science, I should go into engineering. I am figuring out by researching that that path might not be exactly what I am looking for. If Collegiate was able to organize some type of job fair or symposium to expose students to the eventual goal after going through college, they might be inspired to pursue a more certain path.

My mother Jeanette Tyson, the creative director at The Martin Agency, says a job symposium “would be a terrific way for students to find out about jobs they had no idea existed.” This could easily be set up with the extensive alumni community that Collegiate has. Furthermore, sometimes notable professionals are brought in to speak at Collegiate, but classes themselves do not have much interaction with them. This divide between what we learn in the classroom and professional careers is one thing that can be intimidating about adulthood.

Henrico County schools offer elective classes that touch on certain life skills, but often times these courses are too brief. Since they are not required classes, some students miss out on the opportunity. A life skills class could be like the Health and Wellness classes at Collegiate, or even like Driver’s Education; required classes that are informative and useful in the real world.

While I am extremely thankful for my unmatched Collegiate education, I believe that a life skills course could enhance my knowledge past the classroom and into everyday life. I’m going to have to grow up someday, so why not get prepared now?

Featured image courtesy of lifeskillsinaction.com.