By Bianca Ruiz
The sun is shining, the end of the school year is quickly approaching, and summer plans are anxiously being made. It is a normal day at school and you shuffle through the sea of students, some who chat loudly with their friends while others sulk along. As you make your way to your next class, you and your friends look at the whiteboard, and you grow excited to pick out your classes for the upcoming year.
It is no secret that high school students must take four years of English, two years of a different language, three years of math, three years of science, two years of history, one year of a visual and performing arts class, and one year of government and economics in order to graduate high school and qualify for college applications.
However, while a majority of these classes do provide students with the necessary skills and knowledge that they will need for college and onward, the set of classes offered are often not catered to every skill that high school students will need to succeed in the future.
While the math classes that the majority of schools offer do help students in trying to find the area of a cylinder or the sample distribution of a graph, most classes do not target towards skills that are necessary to succeed in life. Though there are classes like Global Business and Finance (GBF) at Granada Hills Charter (GHC) that can help students to manage their money in trying to start a business, there are no classes at GHC that focus mainly on financial literacy in everyday life.
For example, many high school students are poorly trained in the management of personal finances. A recent study done by Temple University and the Wisconsin HOPE Lab found that 36% of college students do not have enough food to eat. This is because they are often too stressed about maintaining their grades and paying for textbooks, housing and tuition. Thus, they do not know how to manage their money so that they can afford food, a problem that could be solved by ensuring all high schools students have taken some form of a financial literacy class.
Another class that should be implemented in all schools is Driver’s Ed in conjunction to driver’s training. Yes, a few high schools such as GHC do offer Driver’s Ed after school for a few weeks, but many other schools do not, and it is not a graduation requirement as is government or economics.
Before 1990, all schools in California required/offered a driver’s ed and training class that taught a class full of students the basics of driving, and involved a trained instructor to train them in a vehicle as well. Nowadays, schools do not offer that, but it is time we change that.
As time passes, more and more car accidents involving teenagers are happening. Whether or not the fault falls onto the teenager, these accidents could potentially decrease by ensuring each student gets the same training and experience before going out onto the road.
Whether it be in the form of a class, or monthly programs held during lunch or after school, investing into more classes that students will need before they graduate and head off into the adult world can potentially prevent many students from losing homes, going bankrupt, and can possibly decrease the chances of road accidents involving teenagers.
The Plaid Press 