The Basics by Joseph

The Basics by Joseph - August 2015 Scholarship Essay

The American High School curriculum hosts a diverse variety of subjects. If you ask an American what they learned in high school, he or she will most likely respond with math, science, history, english, foreign language, and a few electives sprinkled here and there. These are all great subjects that are vital towards educational development but what about a subject that prepares students for leaving academia? What I would like to see taught in american high schools is a subject that deals with basic challenges people face outside of academia.

One class of the subject deals with personal finance. Managing money is an incredibly vital skill that few high school classes touch on. Subjects involving credit, investments, stocks and bonds, loans, purchase of assets, paying taxes, and planing retirement are financial challenges everyone must face. Not only are these challenges universally experienced by Americans, they could lead to severe outcomes like debt and bankruptcy if handled improperly.

The other class of the subject deals with employment and career path. Part of this class would focus on what career options that are available for each degree. I feel many high school students only understand the broad strokes of each field and that presenting career options to students could encourage them to pursue a field they knew little about or switch from a field pursuit they found out didn't fit them. The other part of the class would be how to locate opportunities. This part of the class would focus on filling out resumes, going to job interviews, and how to advance in one career.

In conclusion, I feel as if this subject would be fundamentally different from other subjects taught in American high school. Other subjects increase ones knowledge in order to progress in academia. This subject will prepare students for leaving academia so that they can find a platform in the world to express the knowledge he or she acquired through the other subjects. The reason this subject would be beneficial to add to the American high school curriculum is that the transition from student to the workforce is one of the more challenging transitions one must make in his or her life