By Skye Milburn
Students have often been told that our education system is setting us up for success in life after high school. However, as the world is rapidly progressing and changing, I can’t help but wonder if the system is outdated and if these classes we’re taking are useful anymore.
A lot of people I know, including myself, don’t feel as prepared for college as they would like to be. Not only college, but lots of students are also worried about being able to manage themselves without the support of their parents. A study by YouScience found that around 75% of high school graduates only felt moderately or slightly prepared to make decisions for college or their future careers. Lack of preparedness from these graduates is a sign that something needs to change in our high school education system, and we should focus more on skills students could use in the real world.
When we look at mandatory classes, such as math, science, or English, they are fundamentals and can be very useful for aspects of daily life and college preparation. In our high school courses, the curriculum tends to put an emphasis on advanced topics that may be very situational or not apply at all to future careers, which can be overwhelming for students. A student from Bryan High School located in Texas, California, wrote an article about this topic. He stated, “I know for a fact I won’t do anything with this in my life. Thousands of hours of my life have been wasted by learning things I will never use in the future.”
Along with wasteful topics, high school also tends to overlook essential life skills students will need for their future. Financial literacy, mental health awareness, and career guidance are all topics that are slightly mentioned in school, but not nearly taught enough to students.
Classes like economics taught here at Benicia High School are useful, but the course is only one semester long and students don’t fully get the financial literacy they will need when living by themselves. Mental health awareness is something that is rarely, if ever, talked about at Benicia High School. By the time students learn about mental health support, it is typically because they have mental health issues already. Learning about such a topic before it is relevant may have some preventative benefits.
The evolving job market also doesn’t help. There are many changes and innovations that are making certain career paths less and less useful. With the rise of AI and automation, many traditional jobs are either changing or disappearing. Due to these changes, Gen Z students are starting to turn to trade professions and are gaining immediate income and job stability over a four-year college degree.
This change shows that it’s important for schools to offer a more diverse variety of classes for students to choose from that would better fit people’s career paths. Class options should be more diverse because many students are left picking classes they don’t need or want just because “there weren’t any other good options.”
While high schools do offer lots of valuable knowledge, there’s a rapidly growing problem about college and career readiness that needs to be solved. If we can teach actual life skills and offer a variety of classes, students will be much more prepared for life after high school and college.
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