- While I firmly believe in a well rounded education (BU is a liberal arts college afterall), I think high schools need to do a better job at helping students identify what they want to do with their lives. You're pretty much expected to know what you want to do with your life on your first day of college, if not before hand. What career you want to pursue after college can shape if you go to college, what college you attend, and (if it is a university) which section of a college you attend. If we aren't exposing the youth to a variety of options, how can they decide what is the path for them? And in turn, which is the best program for them?
- More finance classes in high school. Lets face it - whether they enter the work force directly from high school, or they go to college with its ever rising costs and the newfound independence, I believe high school students should be required to take some personal finance class.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
I've been ready reading a lot of posts/having a lot of discussions with people about our country's education system. While I don't really want to get into a whole political post about it (although I'm sure I will eventually), I do want to share a few brief thoughts on the concept.
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I actually kinda disagree with the "what do you want to do" idea in high school. Schools in Texas have started having "academies" which is like a university having colleges. In 9th grade students pick from a few broad choices like "health sciences" or "language arts." One the one hand, fairly broad so not too hard to pick. On the other hand, most of these kids have never had a health or health science class and "language arts" has meant basic literature classes. How can a 14 year old determine yet what they want to do before they are exposed? I'd be more in favor of requiring kids to take career exploratory classes before graduation. Maybe senior year you get exposed to "health scince careers" as a semester elective. But 14 in my book is just too young to pick a path.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I 110% agree with finance classes! Interest rates, down payments, basic budgeting would all do our country a world of good. I wonder if our economic crises would be less awful had we all learned that credit cards can eat you for lunch or that you really shouldn't spend more than you have.
Cheryl - we're on the same page with the exploratory classes before graduation. I don't think kids should be forced into "tracks" that early in life, but having the opportunity to take electives in a variety of subjects.
ReplyDeleteThat type of thing is one of the few things my high school did well. We had a wide variety of electives that you could take - everything from criminal justice, art/design, computer/tech, even mass comm/radio broadcasting. I think giving students the opportunity to take a semester or yearly elective in a field could help expose them to the options.
Of course, all of the general education core classes should still be required.