I ask our VIP readers for a favor, and do you fine folks ever deliver.
On Monday I wrote an article about the personal finance class at New York City’s Stuyvesant High School, a magnet school for gifted STEM students. The class is a huge hit, with a waiting list to get in — and students even finding spare floorspace just to sit in on lessons they won’t receive any credit for learning.
I had a couple of theories about why that might be. The first was that a non-woke class on anything must have some intrinsic appeal to kids tired of spoon-fed BS. The second is a craving for real-world, practical knowledge.
Mostly though, the story got me wondering what other classes might get high school kids so excited about learning, and I asked you, our VIP readers, to leave suggestions in the comments section.
Let me share some of the best and most interesting with you here today.
Gopher recommended classes on “How to budget and live within it. How to plan meals, how to cook meals, how to type on a keyboard, simple business law, life skills.” All good suggestions. I’d add that the budgeting class should come in between Algebra I and Algebra II, to give students an idea of why they have to take math classes. That’s an argument I’ve had ad infinitum with an older son, now in his junior year of high school. Gopher has given me an idea for some extracurricular lessons he should take.
Here’s Kmich’s suggestion:
Critical thinking. In high school, we had 2 newspapers, the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press. Each day we would read the editorial sections of each paper, usually at that time they were quite diverse. One liberal and one conservative, what followed was debate. It gave you clarity of thought.
The most important element in critical thinking lessons might be teaching kids to discern the difference between facts (some people are poor) and opinion (so we should have a massive welfare state). Apparently, the inability to tell the difference is a real problem for Millennials and Zoomers. Or as KatStance put it, “How to determine when someone is altering the truth to fit their narrative and how it is used in everyday life. How to ask questions to see their bias and how to respond.”
On the flip side, one anonymous reader noted that Oregon used to have a compulsory personal finance class but dropped the requirement in the ’90s “so students could take more college prep classes. And they wonder why students sign up for student loans for ridiculous amounts.”
Indeed.
Exclusively for our VIPs: Florida Man Friday: You’ll Facepalm at What He Did with the $5 Million He Stole
Slightly off-topic, but when I brought up this subject with my Right Angle compadres, Scott Ott and Bill Whittle during Tuesday’s taping, Scott suggested schools teach salesmanship. Not so they can get jobs in sales, necessarily, but to give them the skills and confidence to sell themselves and to prospective employers, loan officers, even potential spouses. Brilliant.
A reader with the handle Chairman of the Bored did the hard work of coming up with almost an entire high school’s worth of classes:
I don’t know if these would all be separate classes, but I can divide into two camps the things that more kids need to learn.
The first is called “How to Adult”
In it, you teach:
– Personal finance
– Basic microeconomics (because macro is mostly BS)
– Logic
– Cooking
– Sewing
– Basic plumbing
– Basic carpentry
– Basic electrical
– Basic auto maintenanceThe second one is called “How to American”
In it you teach:
– The Constitution
– Civics
– Federalism
– Real US history
– Basic firearms training
– Debate
Sign me up!
So broadly speaking, your suggestions broke down into two categories: Practical skills and critical thinking. Arm a 17-year-old with the skills to think for himself or herself and to do things they can see and feel… and I’m not sure there’s much that can stand in their way.
And isn’t that what education is supposed to do?
I’ll wrap this up with two more brief items.
The first is this off-the-wall but totally correct suggestion from Finicky Fat Guy who wants to bring back dodge ball. “It teaches humility, resilience, fortitude,” he wrote. “The lessons of dodge ball are endless. Lest you think that I loved the game, I sucked at dodge ball.”
The second is a big thanks to everyone who contributed. If I didn’t mention you in today’s column, it isn’t because I didn’t read or enjoy your contribution — there was just so much good stuff that I had to do some serious culling. But your efforts mean more than I can properly explain.
Thank you.
