“When am I going to use calculus in my daily life?”
“Why do I need to know all of China’s dynasties?”
“When will I ever talk about mitochondria outside of school?”
Students at Ithaca High School often ask these questions out of frustration, but they raise an interesting point. Ithaca High School is a great place to learn about cellular respiration and Shakespeare. However, opportunities to learn practical life skills—like doing taxes, managing a bank account, and writing a resume—are difficult to find.
A few classes at IHS take some measures to prepare students for life after high school. For example, in Participation in Government, seniors learn that voting is a civic duty, and some classes learn how to register to vote. Driver’s Ed is one of IHS’s most practical classes: students get to spend some class time practicing on the road and developing good driving skills. Additionally, in Health class, students learn about a variety of practical subjects, including basic childcare, mental health, nutrition, and contraception.
However, IHS still lacks substantial course offerings in two main areas: financial skills and basic career preparation. If possible, IHS should consider offering semester-long electives in these two areas.
A financial skills class would focus mostly on personal finance, with topics that include how to develop a personal budget and how to do one’s taxes. This class could also include instruction on taking out loans and deciding which credit card, bank, and insurance company to choose. Although some Economics classes at IHS already have a personal finance unit, the instruction is not as in-depth as many students would like. For example, in Honors Economics, students spend less than three weeks learning about personal finance, and many topics—including investments—remain largely unexplored. Students who are interested in learning more about personal finance would benefit greatly from a financial skills class.
Another elective could focus on career preparation skills, such as writing resumes, searching for jobs, and shadowing adults in the workplace. Although students at IHS can opt into career-focused tracks through BOCES and New Visions, many students cannot make the commitment that these programs require. Additionally, these programs are often focused on a particular trade or subject, and many high school students are undecided. An elective focused on career preparation would provide students with versatile, general information that they can use in whatever field they decide to enter.
Many students at IHS agree that the current course offerings do not adequately prepare them for life as adults. In fact, out of 313 respondents to a survey conducted by The Tattler, only 5.4 percent of students “strongly agreed” that IHS has adequately prepared them for the real world. In contrast, a striking 80.6 percent of students fell somewhere between “strongly disagreeing” and being neutral.
Through the survey, students at IHS expressed significant interest in electives focused on practical skills. When asked if they would take a personal finance elective, 67.3 percent of respondents (out of 315 students) chose a 4 or a 5, indicating that they agreed or strongly agreed that they would take such an elective. Only 6.7 percent of students chose a 1 (indicating that they strongly disagreed that they would take such an elective).
The interest for a career preparation elective was even higher. When asked if they would take a class focused on career preparation, 70.7 percent students (out of 317 students) chose a 4 or 5, and only 4.4 percent chose a 1. Clearly, there is both an interest and a need for more practical course offerings at IHS.
A common argument against implementing more practical classes is that students should learn practical skills at home, from their parents or guardians. However, many students never have the opportunity to learn these skills at home. Some students have parents who are immigrants and who are unfamiliar with American procedures for paying taxes and other skills. Some students have parents who are too busy to tutor their children in money management. Some students, even if their parents could teach them, would benefit from the structure and motivation that a course at school provides. Elective classes focused on practical skills would provide valuable ways for these students to develop skills they will definitely use as adults.
Of course, this is not to say that academic classes are in any way useless or a waste of students’ time. In academic classes, students learn about subjects that can spark new interests or make them into more well-rounded individuals—and they learn how to learn. But practical skills are also important, just in a different way. Students need the additional opportunity to learn about practical skills in high school so that their high school more fully prepares them for adulthood.