Most graduates will probably say that they didn’t use high school curriculum past college. In fact, many adults don’t remember much at all. As Oliver Harte of the Huffington Post says in the article Does the High School Curriculum in the U.S. Actually Prepare Students for the Real World, “People only retain the majority of information taught…for a couple of days.”
“High school did not prepare me for life or college very well,” a UVU student Alessandra Camargo said
While this may be a slight exaggeration, the jist of it is that in the real world calculous is not most people’s everyday math, science flies way over their heads, history resorts to *that one person who did that one thing*, writing is kept at a minimum, and EVERYTHING can be googled. Unless you choose a profession in one of those specialties, deep knowledge in those subjects aren’t required.
Many of those who were interviewed expressed their wishes to be taught time more about finance, time management, cleaning, home and child care, etc. However, just because the high school curriculum may be more or less unnecessary, it doesn’t mean that the overall experience is.
High school is in fact a place of growth. It is a primary source of crucial life lessons and skills; talents develop, children begin to discover what they like, who they are, and what kind of person they want to be.
One of the Orem High math teachers, Mr. Coxson, once explained to students who asked him if they would use what they were learning during class in everyday life, that though many of them might not need to find the cosine of an angle or solve for x in the future, the things you learn in highschool prepare your brain to problem solve and think through situations on your own.
Jenny Kammerman, a high school and college graduate, said,” [High school] totally helped! Learning how to do new things, learning to work with other people…In life you will always have someone who makes you crazy (i.e. a boss, co-worker, a teacher, a family member) and you need to learn how to be successful despite how much they annoy or how unreasonable they seem. Having a difficult teacher helps you learn that skill.”
Another graduate and former teacher, Halle Prina, explained, “ High school definitely helped me find myself-my personality, interests, and it helped my see what I did NOT want to do with my life.”
More adults came up with a list of other skills they learned throughout their high school career such as: listening, routine, respect, accountability, confidence, hard work, communication, critical thinking, and how to support their own opinions or facts.
So maybe fifteen years from now the tests, busy work, and random facts students cram into their heads won’t matter, but the life lessons they learn now will be something they can take with them forever.
Carly Weiss
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