So, you're now entering adulthood and realize you really have no clue about how the world works. You have questions, sometimes you get answers, but other times you're left wondering why you never figured any of this out sooner. Just why, through 12 years of required education and most likely at least another four more years of some kind of schooling, did we never learn certain things? I'm a recent graduate who is not only paying off student debt but is having a hard time job searching and working on trying to figure out what I need for a place of my own. And to be honest, I'm pretty confused. And I'm not the only one.
Many young adults entering or leaving college feel that they are not prepared for the "real world." A majority of college kids don't know how to cook their own food, those who graduated are having a tough time finding employers, making resumes, and finding a professional outfit, and many more feel that they simply don't know what they should, whether it's political issues, taking out a loan, renting an apartment, or how to take actual care of ourselves with self-help.
I do believe that certain topics should've been at least brought up to us one time in high school, maybe even through a class or after-hours activities, like a home-ed pop-up class. For these reasons and more, I feel like my education has failed me and left me to fend for myself on my own, without knowing what is truly right or wrong, whether I've made a mistake on the interest of my loans, or if I have enough money to afford utilities.
Instead of knowing that the mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell, here are some things I wished I learned instead.
1. Taxes
What are they? Why do we pay them? How do we pay them? Other than logging into TurboTax to file the year's taxes, we really don't know much about them. We pay them, we file taxes, and repeat, without really knowing why.
2. Having time management skills
The balancing of work, school, social lives, homework, and chores is pretty hard without a planner or set daily schedule. Even with these things, our lives can get pretty out of hand without decent time management skills. Although this is one we majorly learn on our own, any direction would've been nice before some of us realize we overdid ourselves.
3. Getting a job
Cover letters, resumes, picking out a professional outfit, and job searching, in general, are all things we never figured out about in high school. I personally thought my resume was pretty good for doing it on my own, yet a counselor said it was total garbage and only after guiding me did it finally end up "okay." For those who don't have access to career services, getting a decent job may be difficult.
4. Insurance
I know I need it for multiple things, but what the heck even is it? What things do I need insurance for? How much is insurance? How do I get insurance once I'm on my own? Something that can either make you or break you is insurance, whether it's health insurance that doesn't cover all your medical expenses when you thought it did, or getting ripped off on car insurance, sometimes I wished I learned anything about it a little sooner.
5. Taking out a loan
Especially student loans, I wish someone had taught me how to take out a loan, what interest rate is acceptable, and what it's gonna be like when I'm gonna have to pay it back. Almost every student that goes to college will end up with student loans, and most of the time they won't understand a thing about them.
6. Networking properly
A situation of practice and learn, but without any direction at all, how are any of us suppose to know? There's certain body language to take up, particular questions and conversation starters, both I had never thought about before someone told me a few tricks. And the old slide them a business card? Never even thought of it for just a student with some information on it.
7. Making meals
The joke of college students stocking up on cups of noodles isn't really a joke. Most college kids either don't have time to cook, don't know how to cook, or simply can't afford it. Any kind of home-ec classes, this may not have been such a problem. We don't have the time to learn now, we could've in a class.
8. Fixing things that need fixing
To be fair with this one, you can pretty much learn anything through a YouTube video. Yet there are some kids that don't even know how to screw in a light bulb, fix a door, or any other household issue.
9. Budgeting
Too many of us have no idea how to budget. There are attempts, but sometimes these things simply end in failure or miscalculation when you suddenly need an extra tank of gas you didn't account for, or if there's an out-of-pocket emergency.
10. Dealing with mental health issues
Self-care is important and yet most of us ignore our own mental health. Many of us don't know what to do when our friends are depressed, having anxiety attacks, or dealing with trauma. In fact, we don't even know how to handle ourselves in these situations! Never mind actually helping our friends with them.
11. Taking care of physical health
Some of us can, and some of us can't. My gym class in high school made me walk a track daily without really giving us any kind of advice on how to stay healthy, how to be healthy when we don't have time, and how to eat right in situations that aren't ideal (like, the freshman 15?).
12. Mortgages
Seriously, what the heck is it? How does it work? Can I afford one? What happens if I can't? Are there other ways?
13. Necessary items for houses and apartments
Finding a place to live is hard enough, but what about knowing what you need? Like Utilities? Heat, electric, water, internet, cable, etc. Which of these can I get rid of and how much are they per month? On top of that, how do I know if I'm being screwed by the landlord or not?
14. Credit and debt
Two major things that make up our lives are credit and debt. What happens when your score is too low? How high does your score have to be? What happens if you miss a payment? Sometimes we only learn by doing, but this is one of the situations where making a mistake can be costly.
15. Keeping up with current events
Now that we have the internet and everything else at the touch of our fingertips, knowing current events isn't too hard in this day in age. However, in high school, I had no idea what was happening in my very own country. We discussed history, not the present, and even now I probably don't know everything about what wars we've been in and anything else.
16. Buying a car
Discussion on whether you should buy a used car or if you can afford financing would've been a great one in figuring out what's best for you.
17. Anything about starting a family
Sex-ed taught me to simply "not do it," but what about when I actually want to start a family? How much is it per doctor visit? How much is it to give birth? How much is it to raise a child? Seriously!
18. Understanding political issues
Going back to the current events point, now it's a little easier to understand political issues (especially in this age) but a lot of us are unfamiliar with older ones that come up now. Even today's issues, many don't understand the economic cost behind this or that or understand why someone feels a certain way.
19. Anything about stocks
Selling, trading, the stock market? I haven't met a single person in my age group that knows anything about stocks, nor will ever try to invest with them
20. Basic first aid
Honestly, would've been pretty nice to learn in school what to do if someone gets into a car accident, chokes, or needs CPR. It wasn't required to know in high school, but maybe it should've been because not many really know what to do in an emergency situation...
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Some of these things were simply meant to learn on our own, but a point in any direction at all would've been nice. Even if we do learn some things by ourselves, how sure are we that they are right? And if we make a mistake, how bad is it gonna hurt us?
