Street Smarts 101 by Brook

Street Smarts 101 by Brook - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

How many times have we said, "if only I could teach this class, I would do this...?" It's so easy to fantasize how we would be as teachers until we are placed in front of a class full of students like ourselves. If the roles were reversed, and I could teach any academic class, I would teach Family and Consumer Science.
Family and Consumer Science is described as the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community. The field deals with the relationship between individuals, families, and communities and the enviornment in which they live. In simple terms, it teaches about life and how to survive.
Although we all need to know how to add and subtract, how to spell, how to tell the difference between a simple and compound sentence, how to read and the history of our nation, none of this prepares us for the everyday obstacles we are presented with on a daily basis. We are in a sense protected and sheltered in a world of daily education and guidence while we are in the confines and comfort of the school "womb". However, it is when we walk off that stage on graduation day, that we are blindsided by the high beam headlights of adult life. From one day to the next in a moment of 24 hours, we morph from young adult to full blown adult. For this reason, I think it should be required that all students take Family and Consumer Science as a class and I would love to teach it.
I would begin by telling them to "wake up and smell the roses". In some of their cases, the roses would be dead because they forgot to water them. It should be explained to students that life isn't fair and you are not entitled to anything. You must work for what you get and sometimes you work, and don't get what you worked for. Here are just a few thing I would teach in my class:
* That just because you have a debit card, it doesn't mean there is money in your account.
*That the little red light that comes on in your car, means you can't continue to drive without putting gas in your car.
*You must wash your own clothes, because buying new underware everytime you can't find any gets really expensive.
*Food does not magically appear or grow in your refrigerator, you have to actually grocery shop and it requires money.
*Electricity, gas, water, cable and internet do not just magically come with a home when you move in, your parents actually pay for that stuff.
*When your cell phone won't make a call or send a text, it is not because you need to upgrade, you probably didn't pay the bill.
*You can go to jail for not paying taxes.
We have all heard the term "street smarts", I believe the culture we live in requires, or better yet demands a better knowledge of life skills that are not being taught in our schools. I would teach this class because it is a tool that will better equip students to put on their sunglasses when they step off that stage into the blinding lights of life.