What really makes the world go round?

Is it a five on an AP test, or 4.0 on a high school transcript?

The answer to the above questions is a simple no.

More and more society is realizing that graduating seniors are not ready for life itself.

Although every graduating class is becoming increasingly academically prepared for higher education, many are not prepared for the everyday tasks that life throws at them.

Responsibilities such as doing laundry, changing a car’s oil, and balancing a checkbook have truly become a lost art.

Informed citizens should have basic banking skills, as well as a general knowledge of the world economy, neither of which are truly addressed.

What has caused this to happen? Some would say it is the lack of effort put in by parents to teach their kids these everyday skills. But this is not entirely the case.

Some of the blame falls to our nation’s school system. A substantial amount of emphasis has been placed on academic preparation, but many schools have failed to supply students with life skills that really matter.

The lack of effort put in by the education system to teach basic life lessons is appalling, and is an issue that needs to be addressed.

The solution to this growing problem is simple: students should be required to take a class in which they learn basic life skills.

All students are required to take certain classes, such as math and science. Among these classes is the mandatory health course for freshman. In this class, students learn important health and safety lessons about drugs and sexual activity.

What if, among these topics, the schools added a unit about basic life skills?

They could learn all the basic responsibilities of running a household and leading an organized lifestyle.

If this is not a favorable notion, then there is another viable solution that could be implemented. Currently, Cal High offers a class dedicated to teaching life skills.

This class teaches skills like banking, buying a car, career research, writing a cover letter and resume, parenting, and how to do your taxes. It is a great class but is currently listed as an elective.

If Cal would list this as a mandatory course, then all students would receive this amazing preparation for the real world.

Regardless of how the school system does it, they need to spend  more time preparing their students to live in the real world.