I can tell you all about the Wilmot Proviso, and how to find the cosine of 1/2. I know how to balance formulas for chemical equations, but the other day in econ I could not figure out how to do simple percentages. The sad thing is when I asked the other students at my table, none of them knew either.
It turns out only three people in a class of 27 students knew how to figure out 20% of $5,000. How could I have lived in Loudoun County, one of the top county’s in the country for education, and not know this basic life skill?
Our county is rated number 1 in the country and yet we are still sending kids on their way fluent in French yet not able to complete simple tasks. Richard Fry, a Pew economist, wrote in a recent report on young adults and debt that 45% of college students move back in with their parents after they graduate. Something tells me that knowing the day the treaty of Guadalupe hidalgo was signed couldn't have helped this. I do agree that a good majority of this information is needed to be successful, but we also need to be able to survive long enough to get there.
Parents only want what is best for their kids, we've all heard it a thousand times, but sometimes what you think is the best is not always the best. High school students are pressured and pushed to take all the AP classes possible in order to get into a good college, yet they still have to call home every weekend with questions about laundry. It seems as though some things need to be changed to better prepare us for living on our own. Students just aren't learning the basic life skills they need in order to be successful in life.
I am thrilled that Loudoun County schools are requiring a semester course in economics and personal finance in order for it's students to graduate. These are some of the courses needed in order to ensure that the students coming out of LCPS high schools will be completely successful, and not just well educated. If school boards started to add more courses that teach life skills into our curriculum, I have a good feeling all students will end up a least a little bit better off. After all if students can memorize hundreds of formulas for proofs, I think they can handle learning how to cook or sew.
- Chrys
It turns out only three people in a class of 27 students knew how to figure out 20% of $5,000. How could I have lived in Loudoun County, one of the top county’s in the country for education, and not know this basic life skill?
Our county is rated number 1 in the country and yet we are still sending kids on their way fluent in French yet not able to complete simple tasks. Richard Fry, a Pew economist, wrote in a recent report on young adults and debt that 45% of college students move back in with their parents after they graduate. Something tells me that knowing the day the treaty of Guadalupe hidalgo was signed couldn't have helped this. I do agree that a good majority of this information is needed to be successful, but we also need to be able to survive long enough to get there.
Parents only want what is best for their kids, we've all heard it a thousand times, but sometimes what you think is the best is not always the best. High school students are pressured and pushed to take all the AP classes possible in order to get into a good college, yet they still have to call home every weekend with questions about laundry. It seems as though some things need to be changed to better prepare us for living on our own. Students just aren't learning the basic life skills they need in order to be successful in life.
I am thrilled that Loudoun County schools are requiring a semester course in economics and personal finance in order for it's students to graduate. These are some of the courses needed in order to ensure that the students coming out of LCPS high schools will be completely successful, and not just well educated. If school boards started to add more courses that teach life skills into our curriculum, I have a good feeling all students will end up a least a little bit better off. After all if students can memorize hundreds of formulas for proofs, I think they can handle learning how to cook or sew.
- Chrys
This is completely true with the public school system. In less than 2 years we will all be heading off to college to start our futures, but still we are not able to master the basic skills. Like you said, knowing the cosine of 1/2 is important at this time, but it shouldn't be a focus on determining our success. Knowing finances and how to do dishes should be something we all know how to do! Granted knowing math and science are important, I feel the school system should maybe start to understand the fact that most of us will be incapable of easy things and maybe that drilling cosines and chemical equations into our brains isn't as crucial as the life skills we need to know.
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