School Subjects Should Serve Students

By Tyler Wheatley, Staff Reporter

IGNACIO ESPIGARES/STL Architects

High school students are constantly told that their high school years can be the best years of their lives or the worst. These years are usually the most important in terms of development. It is a time when students turn into young adults.

Yet, these students are barely taught about topics that are necessary to know as adults. Students should be taught more adult-like topics to better prepare them for the real world.

Faculties have attempted to improve their study plans to better prepare students for life after high school, yet it’s not enough. Some schools have electives that go more in depth about financing, but they still don’t go over a lot of important topics.

High schoolers are getting closer to being adults each year and they want to be treated as such. Students want to talk about topics such as mental health, survival skills, relationship values, and more.

With everything going on in the world now seems like a better time than ever to go over these topics.

“High School was…probably the most important years because that’s where you’re supposed to learn stuff to get you ready for life and the real world and yet it feels like they don’t do that,” UC Irvine freshman Nicole Wang said. “Even before quarantine we just sat in class and focused more on turning in assignments instead of learning. We learned useless stuff that won’t really help us in the future unless you choose a very specific career choice.”

In 2019, a survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities determined that only 55% of high school students felt prepared to enter the real world. High school teaches students important real world skills such as critical thinking, teamwork, punctuality, and more, but it could do more for the students.

Over the last decade, mental health issues have significantly increased in young adults. This could be reduced if schools put more time and effort into teaching students about mental illnesses and how to deal with them instead of letting students feel alone.

Many students feel like they can get more support online from strangers than they do in school with people they see everyday.

“At school I feel so alone but online I have a bunch of friends that I feel like I can genuinely talk to,” senior Martha Martinez said. “But, they all live in different states and it sucks that I don’t have people like them here.”

Students should be ready to enter the real world after high school. Schools need to teach these young adults about more important life topics instead of just math and career specific electives.