general Do you feel school does enough adult training?

[PiratePony 8,475]

I have no idea how to pay taxes

 

It's easy.

 

 

 

Most teachers are biased one way or the other, and aren't going to give good information about the views of the party they disagree with.

 

I once saw a co-worker flat out tell the elementary school children that the dems were good and the gop were evil.

 

 

 

Opening a checking account isn't that difficult, either. All you have to do is go to a bank and tell them you'd like to open an account.

 

You can even do it online without even being at the bank!

 

 

 

How student loans work is something that is different for the type of loan you're getting and where you're going to school.

 

I think student loans and general interesting bearing loan information should be better explained, but that the school counselor's job. Or parents job. Or even the kids job, because, internet and libraries and reading. Too many kids ("kids" as I have 32 year old "kids" from my graduating class still moaning) about they never expected to pay so much interest and it's not fair and why didn't anyone explain...of course by then you could have had a job, credit card and bank account, and get a crash course in how it works from your parents...or even a bank employee. Or the internet.

 

 

 

So, what you really need is basic literacy skills. That is what they teach in school.

 

Yes, one of the main points of school!

 

 

 

When you're 35 and purchasing a home, do you really think you're going to remember anything you were taught when you were 17 or 18? I kinda doubt it.

 

You'd be surprised.

 

 

 

can't bear the thought of taking the initiative to go learn something on their own. I personally think schools should have fewer lessons structured in the form of "This is how you [do a thing]" and more in the form of "You're going to need to [do a thing]. Can you figure out how to do it?"

 

I would love this in school actually. I think problem solving is an essential skill, and that's an added benefit of reading comprehension and even math word problems, is how can you use your brain to go from A to B and solve.

 

 

 

sufficient critical thinking skills

 

 

 

You'll be able to find not just the best place to fish, but other places which may be just as good, if not better.

 

Yes. Your post is so good!

 

Also, sometimes important base issues you are taught in school, like you mentioned, carry with you and are ingrained that you can't pinpoint the moment you learned it or where. Probably in school.

 

Bravo.

Edited January 14, 2016 by PiratePony

[ARagY 1,152]

Like I said, it's for general broad knowledge of everything from basic subjects to arts. Plus reading and writing correctly is a very important skill to have in life.

 

Wouldn't say even that is taught in plenty of schools. There are poor writers everywhere.

[Comic Sans 401]

Nope. I finished school 10 years ago and I'm still non the wiser.

[cider float 2,537]

It hardly does any adult training. It works on social skills, working with others but doesn't prepare you for everything.

[PinkieatHeart 208]

I think a lot of schools could probably use more classes that help students prepare for adult life. I really can't think of anything I learned in school that's really prepared me for the real world. Except for helping me get grades and an ACT score that would help me get into college should I choose to go. (and I didn't stay, so..)

[Spanish In Physician 295]

I must be lucky. I have been able to apply several things I learned in school to real life situations. I learned how to vote, how my government works, how to read, how to do math, even the reason that walking around naked is only okay depending on the situation. Still, school doesn't teach nearly enough to apply much to the real world. They do teach some things, but I digress, they don't teach enough. We also never learn the hard facts in school. They seem to leave anything that may "hurt our feelings" out. I am a firm believer that not everybody should be able to cross the finish line and be given a first place medal. Equality is well and good, but you have to think about Quality. Its a brutal fact that some kids are better than others in different areas. And before a bleeding heart accuses me of being some kind of bigot, or a hater, or whatever, know this... I was one of those lesser kids, but I never cried because I didn't win. If I didn't win, it was because I could have done better, and let myself set a limit. As humans we can overcome our limits, but the school system is too interested in making everybody feel special. That isn't what is necessary. We need to capitalize on our strengths, and go forward from there. If you don't know you need to improve something.... how the hell can you improve it?

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

I think i would even go so far to say, that school even holds you back, then it brings you further in life.

 

If we take a class with 20 students, who all have a different way of thinking and teach them all in the same way, you're destined to fail and that's one of the major problems with todays school system, that students don't get individually.

 

Me for example. If it wasn't for me, teaching english to myself and rather go to my english lessons, where i just learned the basics of the basics, i think i would've never come to this Forum, and maybe even never have become a brony, because i never would've been able to socially interact with you, since i don't know english then and i think english has become such an important language in this day and age, that i think it would be a catastrophe if you don't learn it, because businesses in germany search more and more guys, who can speak the language mostly good.

[simba86 1,541]

How to jump start a car? Well, if you bought jumper cables, don't they come with instructions to tell you how to do it? So, what you really need is basic literacy skills. That is what they teach in school.

 

not all of them do come with instructions, and this is a skill that you really need to be taught or see it done once the right way, because if you do it wrong then you can damage the computer in your car , and sometimes batterys DO explode so you need to know how to do it the right way. keep your head turned away and kinda tucked in when you are making any connections or disconnections and wear safety glasses, because if that battery explodes then it is going to spray battery acid EVERYWHERE and the last place you want it is in your face, 

[PiratePony 8,475]

 

 

If we take a class with 20 students, who all have a different way of thinking and teach them all in the same way, you're destined to fail and that's one of the major problems with todays school system, that students don't get individually.

 

That's just not true for the most part. in the United States at least (I looked at your prof and see you're German).

 

Individualized instruction is something that is drilled into teachers from day 1 of C&I 101, to the point where they're taking it to the extreme and want us to write an individual lesson plan, per student per lesson.

 

As part of pedagogical training, you have to identify the the different styles of learning, how to adapt your teaching methods per student, adapt to ESL students, students with special needs, adhere to all IEPs and more. If anything, teachers are being worn thin with the individualized instruction, because class sizes are too big. This extensive paper trail then has to be shown to administrators as proof of your teaching, regardless of lesson retention of the students. And I was a theatre teacher! I can't imagine what it's like for the math or English teachers.

 

-PiratePony, M.Ed.

[DATA EXPUNGED 324]

Some things are best learned in the school of hard knocks. No amount of schooling can fully prepare you for whatever curveballs life throws at you. 

[Drunk Not I Am 1,070]

Hell nah. School teaches basic principles, not taxes and other essential stuff needed to independently function after leaving out on your own. 

[Rawzy 1,302]

Well, I think the best option here is for the parent to be the teacher here, hence the name. I don't think schools really focus on "adult training" all that much, although, if you are like me and you have chosen subjects like accounting, business, etc, then I guess that somewhat counts as adult training?

 

[LeonShi500 155]

Let's just say that my 3.7 GPA in high school meant absolutely nothing outside of scholarships. It didn't mean I was smart or dumb, it didn't mean I was ready for the real world, and it didn't mean that I was ready for college, regardless of what some of my upper level classes said to me.

 

The only thing I considered useful in high school were my science classes, especially my human anatomy class. Not only was it interesting, it proved to be very useful and important later on.

 

Teachers are improving, that much is definitely obvious and I've noticed that throughout my time in grade school. I have to give them credit for what they do, trying to accommodate the subject they teach for a large variety of students. I couldn't see how you could do it. It always seemed like some people were just naturally able to do certain classes better than others, as unfortunate of a reality as that is. The teachers try hard (at least, most of them do) and it seem to be unpredictable as to whether or not they'll succeed or fail to try to make every student in their class excel in the material. I don't think that the teachers are the problem, far from it, it's the subjects themselves that some people just don't know how to properly adjust to.

 

I'm sure everyone is capable of learning any subject sufficiently if they are not severely mentally impaired, but they don't understand how to shift their method of thinking over from one subject to another. I could see the intelligence in some of my fellow classmates back in high school who were struggling in math and I could tell it was possible for them to do well on math quizzes and tests, but it's unfortunate that they couldn't realize that themselves. I wish we would stop saying that teachers are always the problem for poor students when that's simply not true.

 

Sorry if I sounded a bit off-topic here. Was I?

Edited January 20, 2016 by LeonShi500

[Xylosian 140]

Nope, instead they fill your head with trivial nonsense like "what makes plants green" and the answer is chlorophyll. Why would I need to know that? Does it help me when I'm doing my tax refunds? No. However they're certain subjects that do come in handy when you're pursing a certain profession. Like geometry is great for people becoming drafters and designers, but not so much for a biologist. In my opinon 50% of what you learn in school will rarely become useful when you're on your own. It's a shame really, that's why you seek older minds from the earlier generations. Now that's knowledge that's worth the investment of your time.

Edited March 5, 2016 by SuperXylosian

[Chip Circuit 1,842]

None what so ever.

 

Most schools have a required  "Success Skills" class. What the student may expect out of this class would be learning what mortgage is, how to handle insurance, handling money, interests with banks and credit cards, economic terms and expectations, college preparation, loan understanding, scholarship leads.

 

In my experience all that class was was a sex ed class that shared why sex was dangerous and made it seem like STDs were a very common thing if you have intercourse. They also taught us how to write checks and told us what the national debt was... that's about it...

 

Public schools are more then useless in this field along with academics in most cases. 

[Stormlight 1,371]

School does not offer enough adult training for students to help them in the real world. Majority of students might not know how to do taxes, change a tire, or even fix a car. There are some important things that need to be teached before adulthood in order to get through in life.

[cider float 2,537]

The only thing that school seems to teach you is that if someone pushes you, you push back. 

[Denim&Venöm 18,483]

Oh hell no it doesn't. What a gargantuan waste of time I spent in school. I was told that if I do well, I would be a looser in life. Well, I did well in school. And I feel like a looser. Very little of what I learned has applied to day to day life. All those years being treated like a prisoner, like a criminal, same mundane BS, stuck in rooms with total strangers, being lectured down to like I was an imbecile by a teacher that didn't give a damn.  7 hours and 7 minntues a day. 5 days a week, for 36 weeks.

 

And what do I have to show for it. The Pythagorean theorem and A after E but not after C. No personal talents being honed. No basic skills for independent living. Hell, the stuff I was taught in school wasn't even taught well. I'm learning math and getting in the mood for math, but then you expect me to shift gears and effectively learn language arts? 

 

14 years. Wasted. 

Edited March 8, 2016 by Denim&Venom

[Ponies4Bronies 394]

No, you do not need to know advanced stats or calculus(more so in college... core classes are worthless) if you are not becoming an engineer. It's pointless, what they need is more financial literacy classes(like saving money, investing), life skills courses(filling out a check, insurance) and a parent course(self-explanatory) so, simply courses that prepare you for life not teach you useless stuff that has no application in the future.

 

But simple "entrance" classes that aren't advanced that might give you a taste for a college path or something you might be interested in. But making four years of a language you already speak and playing around with complex equations you won't use is pointless if you don't like it, so don't force kids to take it.

[Magic Rasin 180]

It depends on what electives you take, but mostly you learn all that stuff from your parents/life.

[Th3 Arb1tur 26]

I don't know what taxes are or how to do them but if i don't know or forget i go to jail

[Tao 7,432]

I did take something of a life lesson class on money and how to budget and stuff but I already how to do that being poor.    I think school helps you in how to act with people and different areas of conduct but I find most of what I did in school has not helped me in real life.  Your only going to learn on real life once you get into the world and how you are also raised by parents and also the friends you choose to keep.

[Kit 102]

Good question, actually.

I vaguely remember one of my English teachers being a skosh bit illiterate.

Then I remember my Math teacher; wasn't very good at his job--we were jumping around and finishing units too quickly. Maybe it was because he was in his early twenties, and wasn't that experienced on the field.

And one of my friends had this Chemistry teacher; sort of the 'annoyed easily' type. I recall her telling me he would never put forth the effort into helping her nor the other students; most teachers teach entirely way too fast for certain students; classes are usually way large (especially in high school), and teachers never quite grasp that for particular students have certain learning speeds. Me for instance, I can process things much faster than most, write an essay over the topic, and manage to get a B or higher (please note, I'm not at all, by any means, trying to brag), but if it were any form of math, my brain would be over processed, and, as a result, I would fail on a test that may be simple to some extent to my other peers. 

  Plus, they assign entirely way too much homework, and expect other students to process it as fast as the others who can actually solve the problems. then there's the No Child Left Behind thing, (here in America) and children aren't really learning anything.   Nor, do teachers really put in the effort to help students; kids have been told almost their entire school careers grades don't matter, (remember, NCLB) and once they get into high school (here in America) they haven't learned anything. Teachers are typically under-paid as well.

 

*shrug* Really also depends on what country or region; one country could not take education seriously, and the other one could rank it as top priority. Having a high-school diploma isn't enough anymore. Plus our school support-systems are absolute shit.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

In my school there are some useful classes. My Gov class and Economics class at least taught me how to fill out a tax form and the ways of voting and I have a class that helps me train for a job and how to apply for one.

 

That's it.

 

Even in the job training class, I've observed that only the kids with some sort of disability end up taking that class (I'm not even sure if anyone else is even allowed to take it). Everything else is useless. History just repeats the same information every year. Math also does the same thing. English depending on the class, can just be reading novels you don't wanna read and having to write some essay on it (it's probably ironically discouraged kids from reading for fun than helped. I know I did. I was a big reader in middle school then high school English happened and it ruined it for me). And gym forces you to compete in sports against people bigger and stronger than you and takes no consideration to your actual physical ability.

 

I feel schools should require you to take classes that will actually help you in life and make classes like math and gym which will only interest people majoring in a math or athletic field optional for those people.

[Zeal Crown 194]

So far I haven't learned much life skills. I have learned about how the political system works in my world history class (I know, should have been us history) and we've periodically been learning about current events. It kind of sucks that the stuff we really need to know is taking time out of one of my favorite class, but I'd much rather that then not know how to vote.