More students than ever are questioning what life will be like beyond school. This would seem like a bad thing, and it is. These students have no plans for the future, they have no idea what to do when they grow up. This is why mandatory life classes should be instated.

A survey from Everfi reveals that 83% of American students want financial education in schools. They are disappointed, however, upon learning that only four states out of 50 mandate such classes. Further upon that study, more than a quarter of those same students say they don’t know how to handle themselves financially. When a young person wants to become an adult, they must know how to attain financial stability as well as have a long-standing plan for income and outcome. Schools teach us none of this.

While young adults are struggling doesn’t make sense, schools are teaching us that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. I believe that science is necessary, with many movements sprouting up claiming that the science we have found isn’t correct. Such movements such as the Anti-vaxxers and the Flat Earth Society could have been stopped if they were properly educated. Science should still be mandatory, and I don’t advise against it. But there needs to be more priority on living skills, more than such classes as geology.

They have attempted to teach us these subjects, though. I remember that in 5th grade they had us study stocks and the stock market. While I understand stocks now, that class was very unclear as to what stocks actually are. At the time, I couldn’t understand what they were and I wasn’t interested. Things like this should be taught in such life classes. Things like this, if taught in late middle school and high school, could be very influential in a young person’s life.

There are many subjects that should be taught in these life classes. Money management, time management, stocks, and the stock market, homeownership, and taxes are a few that come to mind. These skills are things kids like me struggle with. As a kid with ADHD, it’s hard to manage my time wisely, and I put things off or lose track of time constantly. In 2019, around 10% of kids had ADHD. This may sound small, but that’s millions of children. Classes like these could be the world to kids like us, ADHD or non-ADHD alike.

With the ever-growing population, there’s going to be some questions. We’ll have to ask our parents how to do tax returns. We’ll have to learn how to buy a house off the internet. We have to learn all of these skills, and we have so little time to do it. These classes would be able to teach us the skills we need to know while applying to the general population of children. We have around four to seven years to get the education we need for our entire life, and we need to spend that time wisely. These classes could let us be able to survive in this current economy, without having to pay for higher education. We have to learn now before we all go into crippling debt for the rest of our lives.