5 Things that should be taught in schools

When parents send their children to school, what are they thinking? What do they want their child to learn? Just the subjects; maths, science, English? Or something else? These days, parents always look for schools that encourage extracurricular activities, sports, public speaking, and music, and the schools also have so much more.

I remember I had 3 languages, maths, science, social science, physical education, drawing, and crafts classes throughout my schooldays. And in college, just the subjects and rarely some cultural programs. Nothing more, nothing less. Also, the higher the degree, the lesser the extracurriculars! As I moved from college to graduation to post-graduation, I felt like I was moving away from life and moving closer to the lifeless subjects.

I am not saying we shouldn’t study science, commerce, economy etc, but how much of it have you applied in your REAL LIFE till today? A survey conducted in the USA says the average Americans use only 37% of what they learn in school! Has any of the maths equations helped you navigate through a financial crisis? Has any psychology lesson helped you to look after your mental health? Has anything that you learned in school or college helped you to ask a girl/boy out, to say no, to handle failures, to maintain work-life balance, to build a healthy relationship or friendship? I am sure; the answer is no here.

Education helps us to gain knowledge in many areas and enables us to earn a living, there is no doubt in that. But is that enough to lead a happy life? Are career, money, success solely responsible for a good life? I don’t think so. There has been a lot of research on how humans feel happy and it says money can bring you happiness only up to a certain level, whereas researches have always shown that good relationships are the base of long-lasting happiness. So, is it not important to teach about building good relationships and other skills required for happiness?

Now let’s see what are some life skills that need to be taught in schools but aren’t.

1. Taking care of mental health-

Few years ago, people didn’t even admit that there’s mental health. Talking about anxiety, depression was taboo. Only ‘mental’ people sought therapy or took medicine for mental problems. Fortunately, society has changed a bit despite that, the surveys show an increasing depression rate in the US and worldwide. According to the data, 20% of teens suffer from depression before reaching adulthood and 70% of the adults don't receive treatment for mental health issues.

Can we improve this by including mental health in the school curriculum? Absolutely yes!

Schools should teach what is mental health, what are different mental health issues one can face in life, how to take care of mental health, and especially, talking about mental health is NOT uncool.

How will this help? -

This lets everyone openly share their mental health struggles with their parents, teachers and friends from a very young age. Children and especially teenagers will better navigate the peer pressure, societal pressure, never-ending competition and anxiety. If not, they will at least be open to seek help.

2. Sex education-

Another taboo subject! I cannot stress enough the importance of sex education in India. I am from a small town and I remember, our teacher in 7th standard just sleep-walked through the chapter ‘reproductive organs’!

After the internet exploded the world, every information is just a click away, but also are

misinformations. Do you think it’s safe for the teenagers to learn about sex from porn and movies? I don’t think so. So, it is better if sex education and the concept of consent is included in school curriculum and taught scientifically.

How will this help?-

As strange as it might sound, this might reduce sexual offenses, because you know the concept of sex is really twisted when someone learns it from porns. Some researches show with examples, how porn might be fueling rape culture. So, if our youth gets sex education from proper sources, they might be more aware and mindful while managing their teenage hormones. Our girls can avoid accidental pregnancies and the trauma caused by it.

3. Time-management-

We all have only 24 hours in a day. But some people get 10 things done in a day and some only 2. Why is it? Because the productive people learned how to manage their time somehow, some time by themselves. Yeah that’s the problem, we have to learn time management on our own.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if schools could teach how to manage our time? How to make a to-do list, how many tasks should be there on your to-do list, how to prioritise the tasks, how to allot a time to them, how to focus well so that we actually get them done? No one ever taught me these and I had to learn at the age of 25.

How will this help?-

I believe teaching about time management in schools will reduce stress and anxiety in students and will help produce more successful people in this world.

4. Basic cooking-

Irrespective of the gender. Schools never talk about cooking, when food is our BASIC necessity. In India, parents teach their daughters about cooking from a very young age. Because she has to cook for her husband and his family later. But in some homes, boys are not even allowed to enter the kitchen, because anyway his wife would cook for him, why does he have to learn anything in the kitchen?

I strongly feel school curriculum should include basic cooking skills as a subject. Everyone should know how to make a basic dal, roti, rice. Teachers can even make it interesting to the students by giving simple projects and homeworks to prepare simple dishes at home and share it with the class.

How will this help?-

Most important change would be our youth realizing that cooking is not a woman’s job.

Boys and men will not depend on their wives and mothers for everyday food and they will offer help in the kitchen. This will be a wonderful growth towards gender equality.

5. Investing and budgeting-

As I mentioned before, no maths equation will teach you handle your finances or how to become rich. The sad thing is, schools teach us how to earn, but they don’t teach how to save and invest. And without saving, all your hard work to earn money is a waste.

I haven’t invested any of my money till today, because I don’t know how to and I don’t have the time to learn about it. But what if I was taught the basics of investing and budgeting in school? Till now I would’ve multiplied my money by several folds (okay, that’s just a joke), at least I would’ve got SOMETHING by investing.

How will this help?-

I know people who don’t know how to do a monthly budgeting, they just spend all their money and be broke by the end of the month. And I’m talking about people earning in lakhs in a month. The basic lessons of budgeting and investing will definitely help us to take care of our hard-earned money, save it and use it cautiously.

If you ask me, there are many other life skills that must be taught in schools, like, maintaining a work-life balance, relationship lessons, gender equality, handling failures, first-aid, basic home repairing and maintenance etc.

What are the skills that you learned on your own and think it’d have been wonderful if it was taught in your school? Add the skills to this list and let me know in the comments.