When am I ever going to actually use this?

This question asked by students has been asked for years — and for good reason. Students often sit in class trying to wrap their heads around complex fraction problems, significant dates in history, and a multitude of scientific equations, a large amount of which will never be applied in their future. So why don’t they learn “useful” information?

Let’s start with this. More than one-third of working Americans have nothing saved for retirement, according to MM.net, and the average American household has over $15,000 in credit card debt. Personal finance classes should be a required class to take in high school. It’s important to know how to handle one’s money, especially nowadays when unemployment rates are quite low. Teaching personal finance should be an essential class, seeing as it is a skill that almost everyone will utilize in their life.

Not learning about taxes seems to be the concern of most high school students nowadays, and it’s no wonder why. Adults often have to pay people to do their taxes; what if, instead of having to pay for someone to do it because you don’t know how to, you can just do it yourself with confidence? Taxes are guaranteed to be part of everyone’s life, the Pythagorean theorem is not.

Another important thing to know is sexual education. Sexual education is taught at school, but in a whitewashed way; subjects such as consent should be covered, and more in-depth lessons about how to be safe during sex should also be taught. Sex is going to be a part of most people’s lives as they get older believe it or not, and they deserve to be as prepared as possible.

It’s understandable why basic subjects like English, math, and science are taught — they’re essential skills that will be more than likely applied later on in life when people go on and get a job. Even so, on top of learning these subjects, schools should be able to offer other skills that will teach skills that will definitely be used in one’s life.

Students shouldn’t have to sit and wonder if they will ever apply what they learn. Additionally, adults shouldn’t have to sit and wonder how much easier their life would be if they had learned about personal financing, taxes or any other essential life skill in high school. Schools should, in addition to the basic academic subjects, offer more life skills.