OPINION: FIXING HIGH SCHOOL

Under the immense pressure of conformity within society today, the foundation for education has continued to change. Students learn the basic skills of literature, mathematics, historical periods, and sciences. Children go through thirteen years of schooling to learn the necessities, and then they are pushed to choose a career path for the remainder of their lives.

By late high school, teens are expected to know what they desire to pursue for, ultimately, the rest of their lives. High school

OPINION: should provide students with practical skills that will guide them into

DOES HIGH making decisions towards their fu-

SCHOOL ture career path. “I feel like I’ve put all this work into

ACTUALLY a future I know nothing about,” Julia Kelley, a North Royalton High

PREPARE school student said.

FOR LIFE? How could this be changed? The simple way is to have mandatory

SCHOOLS classes that require students to actually apply the things they learn NEED A PUSH for their futures. For the majoriIN THE RIGHT ty of the time, in the core classes students are required to take, they

DIRECTION are not learning anything of directly-applicable importance. Learning about five different ways to do a

BY single math problem is not going to prepare them for their future careers. High school Student Kate Lankford working in her engi neering class, furthering her progress in her future career.

SAVEA In economic classes, students learn about taxes and how to do them, but

BRINEGAR these classes still do not teach a student everything they need to know. Most of the class is spent doing book work, and then taxes at the end with additional classes students can take to follow up with more information. Schools should offer classes that teach students exactly what they need to know, instead of making them learn about things just to satisfy the curriculum. Due to the lack of learning practical skills, students are left clueless on how to go about their futures. When high school students graduate, they are expected to go to college and choose a major based on their career. This can be a difficult decision because there has been little preparation previously. The student’s job was to get good grades and learn; but what exactly did they learn? According to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics, 80% of students in the United States change their major at least once. Can this be avoided? Once again, the simple answer: yes. If more classes were offered in high school to prepare teenagers

for future careers, there could be a drop in the percentage of changed majors. While schools try their hardest to offer as large as a variety as possible of different career paths, there still is not much offered. There are classes like wood-working or engineering, but overall there are many electives that students just choose to take for fun or simply get credits. Actual helpful electives should be offered, and if this is not possible within the school, then schools should be trying to provide more opportunities for students. For instance, if a student wants to be a veterinarian, there is no class preparation for this career path. Even with dual-enrollment between a college and a high school, veterinary medicine is not offered for students. This is only one example out of many. While it may be difficult to offer electives or classes for every single career path, High school Student Kate Lankford working in her engineering class, furthering her progress in her future career. schools should make more of an effort to try to access more career driven opportunities. There is so much potential for the schooling system in regards to this country’s future. If a change was made to the way children are taught, there would be more success evident in their future lives. More preparation and teaching of practical skills would save teenagers the humiliation of not knowing how to do things they believe they should. Along with becoming more experienced in a career of their choice, this would save young adults from spending thousands of dollars because they had no idea of what career to pursue.

WANT TO SEE YOUR NAME IN THE PAPER?

As the weather warms and sunnier days approach, there is a great opportunity coming for NRHS students. Beginning spring semester, The Royal News becomes a club. That means all students are welcome to write for the paper and have a chance to be published. Beginning in January we will meet to establish the staff. We need writers and photographers to continue this long-standing tradition of reporting news that matters to the NRHS community. Please stay tuned to the announcements for details. The Royal News: For student. By students.

Photo by Savea Brinegar