The Importance Of Education In Education

Likewise, high school does not teach students the critical life skills in which needed to use for the rest of their lives. For example, graduates are expected to know how to manage money, negotiate, and how to communicate effectively. However, the problem is they were never taught these direct skills. Instead, they had been taught how to memorize information that would be needed for a one time test. Additionally, when these graduates reach the workforce and are expected to

The purpose of education is to prepare students for their futures with both knowledge as well as fundamental life skills. I believe students are highly capable beings who have a desire to be productively challenged. To empower students to meet and exceed high expectations set forth by the state, school, or teacher, it is imperative that educators “teach for enduring understanding through partnerships and by drawing on brain-based education, students ' multiple intelligences, and culturally appropriate curriculum innovations” (Laster and Johnson). Beyond guaranteeing students can read, write, and perform basic math functions, we should be producing graduates who are responsible individuals positively contributing to society, reliable workers, and devoted family members. Whether students receive a scholarship to attend college or go to work immediately following graduation, we must train them to conduct themselves with integrity, have an admirable work ethic, and solve challenging problems they may face throughout their lives.

There is an unambiguous flaw in today’s education system when high school seniors graduate without the common knowledge to perform necessary adult tasks. Schools need to place a higher priority on teaching life skills than on teaching useless facts. Budget cuts have taken the most beneficial information out of the school’s itinerary. When essential life lessons are left out of teacher handbooks, students are left to self teach the preeminent information that could have been taught otherwise. This results in young adults relying on trial and error; hopeful not to make a huge mistake while making potentially life altering decisions.

The American education system needs to change techniques in order to successfully prepare students for success in today’s world. American students are reportedly averaging some of the lowest test scores on the PISA test. This is mentioned in Amanda Ripley’s book the Smartest Kids in the World when it’s stated “Failure in American schools was demoralizing…American kids could not handle routine failure” (pg.72 par.4). This statement is a clear sign that the techniques used in the American education system to promote academic success in students need amending. There is definitely a change that needs to happen within the American educational system this is the only way to ensure that American students will be equipped with the tools they require

There are many life issues and affairs people have to adapt too while maturing and growing up. These could include: learning about what kind of person they aspire to be, where they have the desire to live, or what it's like to pay bills. Yet, when and where does one learn to digest all this information? Certainly not in the American education system. Research suggests that Leon Botstein's claim- rules of high school are not the rules of life and that schools need to bring more real world into them- is true and that the American educational system needs to be revised and refined.

Mari-Jane Williams (2013) beautifully articulated the importance of teaching life skills to teenagers in an article written for the Washington Post titled “Life skills all teens should have before graduating from high school.” In the article Williams writes:

Some of the goals of schooling and society in the United States are to develop students and citizens, who have high aspirations, believe in their capabilities, are hopeful they can realize their aspirations, and are optimistic about their future in general. Such characteristics are important because each leads to overall well-being (Bandura, 1977; Scheirer & Carver, 1985; Snyder et al., 1991), student achievement and higher graduation rates (Snyder et al., 2002) through a personal sense of urgency which allows them to take control of their life, challenge themselves, persevere through difficulties, and cope when obstacles arise (McBride, 2012).

Although many students feel that they are not being taught practical life skills, they have actually been learning them all of their life. For example, one of the main things a student is taught how to do is how to learn; how to manage information, how apply that information being taught, critical thinking, and if they don’t know something, how to seek out that information. Students also receive

According to Arne Duncan, 25% of U.S. high school students drop out or do not graduate on time, which is one out of every four people. In the article, “The Vision of Education Reform in the United States,” Duncan also informs that, “Almost one million students leave our schools for the streets each year.” (Duncan). The U.S. used to lead the world in college attainment but is tied for ninth now. The students themselves willingly choose to give up expanding their knowledge, which negatively affects their future. Consequently, they are unable to obtain a well-paying occupation for the price of inadequately acquiring their diploma.

In order for education to develop within schools, we need to provide students with skills and knowledge to be successful in life and to enter the 21st Century workforce

After one graduates from high school, they are thrown in to adult life. Adult life is scary, uncharted territory for most young adults. When we are thrown straight in to life without the proper life skills to conquer it, life can quickly become overwhelmingly stressful. In a 2014 study conducted of recent high school graduates, 83% of students reported some gaps in their education when asked how their high school education prepared them for life and, or, college. (Kirst) If high school students are leaving high school without skills such as basic communication, financial literacy, and social skills, we are breeding a generation of young adults who cannot properly care for themselves.

As a high school graduate I could tell you the derivative of a complex equation and how to conjugate the French word for to play in multiple tenses, but I would not be able to change a tire or balance a check book. Due to this lack of knowledge a much needed class would be “The Life Lessons No One Tells You About”. In this class students would learn the basic human skills that would propel them through the rest of their life such as how to sow a button, how to change a tire, how to balance a check book etc.

How do schools expect students to learn how to handle real-life situations if the only thing they teach has to be memorized and quizzed? The idea that schools are failing to educate students on proper life skills is one that is new to society but is now rapidly becoming noticed by many. Schools neglect to teach students real life skills and life lessons and choose to focus more on scholarly achievements.

We are taught only the necessities that are required to be able to pass numberless standardized tests. As a result of this, many students go on to live ignorant of basic life skills. Many adults assume that students know these things, when in reality they have absolutely no clue. They fail to realize that while these capabilities may be second-nature to them, students don't intuitively know these skills. Things such as communication, logic and thought process, money management, home repair, car repair, credit, cooking, gun safety, job-hunting, healthcare, self-defense, first aid, time management, and law should be taught in schools but aren't. "Though high school" . . . "[is] excellent in teaching many valuable skills, our current academic curriculum doesn’t teach many aspects necessary to succeeding and thriving in life in general, such as financial responsibilities and investments, how to think logically–retaining information and not merely temporarily memorizing information, and how to apply such abilities to real-world scenarios which are bound to occur" (20 Life Skills Not Taught In School). Due to this, many college students who are on their own trying to figure out how to manage their money end up penniless, eating Noodles in a Cup for nearly every

Every year students are graduating from high school but not all of those graduates are taking their knowledge from high school into the real world. In the real world we do taxes, we pay bills, we buy houses and cars and in school they don’t teach us how to do any of those stuff. Students are taking classes that are not necessarily going to assist them with their everyday lives as adults. These students feel unprepared for the real world because the high school curriculum focus a lot on getting you ready for the continuing education environment but they don’t focus on actually getting you prepared for what your going to be dealing with everyday in your life.