The future of education by Anna-Kate

The future of education by Anna-Kate - July 2022 Scholarship Essay

My experience in the New Zealand and American school system has shown me what we lack to teach to students. In education, there is a lot I hope will change happen to create a smarter and stronger generation. The most prevalent and important modifications that are needed to prepare kids to face the world are mental health and financial literacy.

I am not the first nor will I be the last to advocate for mental health to be a part of the school curriculum. The Royal society of public health found that social media sights increased feelings of depression, anxiety, and loneliness in teenagers (Status of mind, 2017). When you add the burdens faced in and out of school, it creates an environment that discourages learning, creativity, or development. The changes I hope to see specifically in mental health are with having a class specifically for it and school counselors that are independent of the school. With even just one class a week where students are taught healthy coping mechanisms and what actions and behaviors can be put in place starting at a young age so that they can grow up and be prepared to face tough situations. Otherwise, you end up with adults who don't know how to healthily cope with stress, anxiety, and rejection, leading to much more damage and much more work to learn those habits. As mentioned earlier as well schools should have counselors who are independent of the school to help counsel students, this should be a contract won by a therapy business, to provide the best services to the students.

Financial literacy is another change that is instrumental to the success not only of the next generation but also of our future economy. Money guides most of our decisions as adults whether we like it or not, and we should be able to equip our youth with the ability to make the right decision in the future, so they don't end up with student loan debt with no idea how to get out of it like 46 percent of millennials right now (Munnell & Hou, 2018). With companies getting rid of pensions inflation increasing dramatically it is important to teach kids how to provide for themselves. Without the right tools taught to them, they won't be able to have a real future. We should allow the opportunity for them to grow up and be able to follow their passions and dreams and move to the places they want to live and travel to those they've always wanted to be. More than 50 percent of Americans are unhappy in their jobs and can't afford to leave (Kelly, 2019). This is not the environment that should willingly be put onto the future generation, and we should work to avoid this tragic scenario at all costs.

With the right tools and practices put into place, I hope to be able to see this change put into place in the next ten years. The school children of today and the future deserve this change.

References
Kelly, J. (2019, October 25). More than half of U.S workers are unhappy. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2019/10/25/more-than-half-of-us-workers-are-unhappy-in-their-jobs-heres-why-and-what-needs-to-be-done-now/?sh=4aa544d92024
Munnell, A., & Hou, W. (2018). Will Millennials be ready for retirement? Boston: Trustees of Boston College.
(2017). Status of mind. London: Royal Society for Public Health.