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So, what class that is not taught to everyone in high school, do you think should be taught in high school?

I have 2:

1) Driving - Maybe it's because I live in South Florida, but there's definitely an influx of different cultures that creates an unsafe driving environment.  We might all be abiding by the same laws, but we aren't all following the same rules of the road.  It's not illegal to drive slower in the left lane, but you just shouldn't do it.  It's not against the law not to check your blind spot, but you should learn to do it.  Parallel parking.  These things aren't taught on a driving test.  You drive in a parking lot and that's it.  I think that everyone should learn these things and know how to do them well.  We aren't taught how to drive.  We're tested to show that we can do the minimum, but it's certainly not safe and so much productivity is lost.  I-95 has a wreck on it just about every single day during rush hour.

2) Living Skills - Basic crap.  How to budget for your life.  How to be a smart consumer and understand what you're buying and what's important.  How to choose groceries.  How to write a resume.  Some of this stuff is taught, but it's not a mandatory class.  Everyone needs this.

Side note:  I work in a law firm.  You'd be amazed at the amount of people that can't follow simple directions.  We send over documents that need to be reviewed and signed.  People are incapable.  In certain cases, we'll send out sample letters and they'll just sign their names at the bottom.  In other cases, they will sign randomly or not all all.  Some things need to be notarized and they're sent back without.

I'm not suggesting that we specifically teach people how to review documents, but just to read/understand directions, whether it be a basic contract, reading a voting ballot, or putting together furniture from a set of plans.

They had driver's education in High School when I went. I think the trend is moving away from that being a high school taught thing. I don't really see any problems with that, it's still usually promoted through the schools, it's just not something taught by the school.

Just making a class mandatory doesn't mean that kids will be skilled in it when they graduate high school. Look at the number of kids that graduate high school today and can barely read, write and do basic math. I think if we did a better job of teaching those basics, you wouldn't need a "living skills" class so much. You'd be able to make out a budget, balance your check book, read the label on groceries and figure out which was a better buy, healthier, etc. The problem isn't that the skills aren't being taught, it's that the skills aren't being learned.

Lobbyists would kill a mandatory basic skills course that teaches budgeting. I can already see the uproar on Fox. "The government is trying to tell kids how to run their lives."

I took driver's ed in high school.

I think there should be a basic finance class. I'm amazed at how some people have no clue about managing their money. I also think sex ed should  be mandatory. It will never happen because people are terrified of sex, but I'm blown away by some of the shit I hear from young people about sex. It's a basic human function. Everyone should be educated on it.

^ Word on sex, though I've always had it taught in every school I've been in.  I heard a friend of mine say once "I heard about this girl that got pregnant because semen seeped through her bellbutton."  He was totally serious.  He was like 16.  Terrifying.

Problem Solving:
Too many people see a problem and then try to pay their way out of it.  Or sue their way out of it.

Interpersonal Relations:
How to act in society without being a total asshole.

Actually, I think that there should be some type of trade or skill taught (kinda like votech but on a much bigger scale) to everyone throughout high school. College is highly overrated. As far as I'm concerned it is the one of the biggest scams put on this country. Most people don't need college or the debt that comes with it.

^ I think you're way off, but strangely, we agree on parts of what you're saying.

For those that seek higher education in the fields that it helps, I think that college is great.  I think that all parents should try to plan for their kids to have the opportunity to go, should it fit them.
Where I think that we fail is to assume that the college track is the only track towards higher learning.

But I do think that we should encourage some kind of advanced education for everyone after high school.

There's nothing wrong with repairing A/C units for a living.  It's a job that we need and there's no reason that it be relegated to high school dropouts.  It'd be nice to see schools prepare kids who choose that path with not only the basics of that trade, but the basics of how to manage their finances, run a business, treat employees, interact with customers, etc.  It's great that kids can talk Calculus in college.  ...but it's not for everyone.

I totally agree with this one.  What good is learning all the kings of England in the 15th and 16th centuries if you can't balance a checkbook, write a resume, tie a tie, or dress for a job interview?


I have to agree here as well.  The quality of work from my students has steadily declined over the years.  Leads me to believe that their handing out high school diplomas like paper towels.

I've heard absolutely ridiculous things. I was fortunate that my parents actually explained sex, birth control, and STD's to me at an early age. So, it wasn't a mystery for me and I knew exactly what to do to keep from getting pregnant. Not everyone's parents are that forward-thinking and it's unfortunate.

I would have been pissed learning a trade in high school. I am not good at working with my hands. I think it should be a valid option though. Maybe at 16 or so, if you decide you're not headed to college start learning a trade. My friends that are plumbers, AC techs, etc. are doing great.

Isn't the basics of sex taught in Biology? I mean, I can't understand how you could learn about the reproductive system and think semen in the belly button would get you pregnant.  Let's be honest ... some people are just not smart enough to think things through.

The basics from a biological angle are taught, but that doesn't help people learn about birth control and STD's. People are dumb and need to be told outright how it all works.

Biology brushes over that stuff, once. 

I think that sex ed needs to be taught pretty regularly, alongside other general health stuff.

We had most everything that is mentioned, but none of it was mandatory. Sex Ed was part of Health, but I think kids could opt out (I don't remember anyone doing that). Diver's Ed was mandatory by the state (it has since dropped I believe) but you could take it privately over the summer if your birthday fell that way. I believe we had a "living skills" class as well. There were several trade classes as well. All of it available, but elective.

On the Sex Ed.
My 7th and 8th grade P.E. classes in Webb City,we had a week (maybe 2) where we had a sex education class.The girls went with the Girls P.E. teacher,and the Boys went with the Boy's P.E. Teacher.We didn't do our normal change into gym clothes,it was like going to math class.We had a booklet thing we went through,during that time,then our teacher* had daily Q&A's,and like myth debunking.We asked what was oral sex,can you get pregnant doing anal,all those questions the guys talked about.They did send home a note like a month before the classless started to notify parents.It was like a civics class that we were required to take. (which I also got screwed over double dosed too)

I also had it in my 9th grade health class.(I went to 2 different schools,and got a double dosed)

*It was extremely strange for me because the teacher was my girlfriend's best friend's father,and my girlfriends neighbor...

I remember having a health class, but I don't remember there being any sex ed. Likely there wasn't due to the fact that this was in a smallish town in Texas.

The correlating question of adding anything is what are you proposing subtracting?

Unless you are also proposing lengthening the school day or increasing the number of days students go to school along with the corresponding expenses that would entail for every hour you add to X you need to subtract one from Y.

So if you want to add in an hour a week of drivers ed or resume writing, what are we subtracting?  History class?  Math?  Granted we might be able to work resume writing into the English class.  But once again what are we subtracting?  Shakespeare?  A legitimate argument can be made that being able to write a resume is more important than reading King Lear, but keep in mind every addition requires a subtraction.  Plus one common complaint by teachers is that the existing time with all the interuptions for programs like an assembly for SADD etc, makes it impossible to get thru the core material.  Adding more extras will only make that worse.  My opinion is school should spend more time on the basics, (math, science, history, english) and less on the extras (cooking class, drug use preventions etc)

As for the specific with drivers ed.  Absolutely unnessessary for it to be taugh in the schools during the school day.  Florida should simply do what Mass does and require drivers ed to  get a drivers lic for young drivers.   Kids take the class after school or if they don't want to, they can continue to travel via, bus, bike, parents etc.   

My driver's ed was done through the school, but it was afterwards.

I would be ok with taking away a few basics if it prevents teen pregnancy, drug addiction, or prepares a child for actual living. Do away with Geometry or Calculus. I haven't used that shit once since I got out of school.

I use geometry several times a week as a pool player. That is actually one of the more useful math classes in everyday life.

I hate math and honestly don't use anything in my day to day life beyond basic math. Yet, I went through Calculus to get into college. I STRUGGLED through those classes and would have been better off with more English/foreign language/computers, etc since that's what I excelled in and now use on a daily basis. (Note: This might be math or History, etc. depending on the student.)

I think that geometry is important.  So is algebra.  And to an extent, basic Trig probably is, as well.

I am not anti math.  I think it's very important and I think that everyone should continue to take math all the way through high school and beyond.  I just think that there should be a point (maybe after 2 years), where you split off and one group takes advanced, more "theoretical" maths while the other group takes more applied math towards basic things (like measuring to lay tile, balance books, cut recipes, etc.)

And one thing that I forgot:

We're getting away from problem solving.  "No Child Left Behind" type programs teach towards a test and that might improve grades.  However, while is teaches information, it doesn't teach kids how to think.  I think that we should teach basic skepticism, problem solving, and logical fallacies.  Teach kids how to deduce, reason, and challenge themselves in their mode thinking.  This can be done through debate classes, theory of knowledge, puzzles, etc.  I had the fortune of taking these types of classes because of my unique schooling situation, but I fear that much of that is lost.

I'm not anti-math. I'm anti-ridiculous math that not everyone needs. I would have been far better off learning to balance books, cut recipes, etc.

Then the test are bad.  Very bad.

You can test problem solving, analytical thinking, spotting logical fallacies, deduction, etc. 

If the tests don't have questions that require those skills shame on the test writers, not the teachers.  If the skills are required on the tests, the teachers will teach those skills.   

I think that is the problem that I have with college. Hell, the first 2 years are your basic core classes which aren't needed IMO. Hell you take English and algebra in high school. Why should a person that wants a degree in something totally unrelated have to take those classes ??? It's a straight up money grab. 4 years to accomplish something that could be taken care of in a year or two. The education establishment is not the only one to blame. Large corporations are to blame for this also with their hiring practices which perpetuate this whole scam. For instance, the company that I work for requires a 4 year degree to get a department manager or supervisor position. Really, are you f'n shitting me ? Now what part of supervising 8-12 people in a department is that difficult that it requires years of unrelated classes and tens of thousands of dollars of debt ? And the irony of the whole thing is that the "educated people" that they hire to run the place, can't figure out common sense things for themselves and sit on their asses all day.

I prefer to hire people with college degrees for high level positions.  I think it shows an ability to stick to something long-term, it assumes that you have a basic set of across-the-board skills, and shows that you have initiative.  Of course, that won't be the case in every scenario, but I would say that it's true more often than not.

For college lower level stuff, I kinda disagree.  I think that those things need to be offered.  As someone who went to college, it would've been too much to skip some of those things.  However, others I think that you should be able to test out of (and if I'm not mistaken, you can on some of it.)