Why Should Schools Teach Real Life Skills? by Parnika Thakare

Why Should Schools Teach Real Life Skills?

—Parnika Thakare

Most of our childhood\teenage years are spent in school learning how to write essays,

memorize formulas, and take tests — but somehow, I still don’t know how to do things like

file taxes, build a credit score, or even understand how insurance works. And I am pretty

sure I’m not the only one. A lot of us feel totally unprepared for the real world, and it’s

frustrating. I thought Schools are supposed to prepare us for life, right? So why aren’t we

being taught the stuff we’ll actually need to use every day?

Think about it — once we graduate, we’re expected to make big decisions about college,

money, jobs, and more. But no one teaches us how to handle those things. We’re told to “be

responsible,” but we’re not really shown how. If schools included classes on budgeting,

cooking, time management, or even how to handle stress in real life, it would make such a

huge difference. We’d feel more ready — and honestly, way less anxious about what comes

next.

The truth is, not everyone’s going to use calculus or chemistry formulas later on, but

everyone is going to have to deal with bills, jobs, and just being an adult. Learning real-life

skills in school would actually make things feel more useful and connected to our future. It’s

not about replacing academic stuff — it’s about adding things that matter just as much.

Because we’re not just students... we’re people who are about to grow up and live real lives.