BY ALEXIS HOSTETTER

As we near the end of the semester, it will be time to say goodbye to our seniors and for our seniors to say goodbye to Truman. So let’s talk about the downfall of life after graduation.

In Contemporary World Issues, we had a socratic seminar where we discussed issues with the school system, one of which being they don’t prepare us for the real world. A graduation requirement is Freshman Academy and Personal Finance, but what is the relevance of that topic for freshmen as opposed to juniors/seniors? Freshman year we were all forced into Freshman Academy classes with a Personal Finance semester. The class taught us how to draft your resume, different career types, how to write a check, and budgeting. At least, those are all I can remember. Even within those topics, I’m sure there’s only one thing I remember.

An anonymous source attests that she doesn’t really remember anything from Personal Finance. She thinks that we should have a personal finance class almost every year of high school with the installation of an independent living class. Even thinking about living on her own scares her because school doesn’t accurately prepare us for that. Most of it is just growing up and forcing that mentality into you when it should be something we learn at school as well. 

Another source believes it will affect her later on. Lily Fordham is fortunate enough to have parents that have passed information down to her, but there are many things she still doesn’t know that we should have learned in Freshman Academy. While her Freshman Academy was cut short due to COVID, she doesn’t know how insurance or getting her credit score up would work, and to be truthful I can barely remember the unit as well. A suggestion she has on the topic is giving a more in-depth course on modern banking technology, covering insurance, taxes and loans.

A majority of the conversation throughout our discussion in Contemporary World Issues was about the lack of development and aid they offer for people who plan to go into the workforce straight out of high school. A lot of it is just preparing us for college or the military, but that simply isn’t for everybody. It’s the same way that I may want to spend an afternoon drawing and watching movies, but someone else may want to go out with friends.  Neither choice is “wrong” but they are definitely different.

Another issue is the chain of command. When something goes wrong, they tell you to talk to your counselor. While it almost always helps, how does that accurately prepare us for a job where there is no counselor? They don’t teach us to deal with our issues, and it’s not exactly like you can go to your boss and complain when a customer is being rude. See what I’m getting at?

When I was applying for my first job, I didn’t know how to fill out a resume, considering the course I took was just under 3 years prior. When I got the job, I had to sign up for a bank account. This included choosing a bank, and choosing a card plan, but as a senior I couldn’t remember anything I should have learned in personal finance. I wasn’t even sure if we did learn that. As a freshman our minds are all on the shift from middle school to high school and the reality of it all. As we progress through the years, we begin worrying less about what others think and more about how we can provide for ourselves looking forward in the future.

Does high school accurately prepare us for life after high school, or is it setting us up for a systematic downfall?