Courses That High School Should Have

In high school we have to take certain courses like math, science and English.  These are all somewhat important (except for science in my business minded brain, I never use anything I learnt in science.)  However, there are a lot of courses that we aren't forced to take, or that aren't even offered that probably should be.

It seems that high school is more about preparation for post-secondary education than it is for life in general.  And while that is important, many people either don't go on to post-secondary education, or they do but they still don't know some of life's basics.  So here are some courses that I think should be mandatory in high school.

Personal Finance
This course would teach you how to budget.  It could include portions on mortgages and loans so that students understand these things earlier.  It's so easy for people to get into trouble early on because they don't know how to budget and save their money.

Accounting
I may be biased here, but I think that everyone should take accounting.  Accounting relates to any job that you will ever do.  Even though you may not have to actually input the numbers yourself, I can't tell you how many times at work I have to deal with people in other departments who don't understand that I can't just issue a cheque and not put it towards an expense account.  Or they don't understand the difference between a balance sheet item and an income statement item.  And don't even get me started on the lack of understanding of amortization....end rant.

Home Ec
This wasn't offered in my school, I'm not sure if it's offered anywhere anymore.  I understand that women can now go to university and have careers, but where do we learn to sew these days?  Some things are just important skills to have.

Typing
Do schools have this?  I know my school didn't when I was there.  I taught myself how to type with a program at home.  These days though everybody should know how to type properly.  None of this two finger stuff should be going on, I don't care how fast you are at it.

Personal Fitness and Nutrition
Now my high school did offer food and nutrition as well as gym classes of course.  I hated gym.  I am not an athlete and so the thought of playing basketball and soccer for a period every day was terrifying.  However, I'm now somewhat of a gym rat.  Being able to work out and promoting fitness is completely different than playing sports.  I think that high schools should have a course that is purely fitness.  There could be sections on gym workouts, circuit training, aerobics, and then basic nutritional information.  I actually feel that this should be an option in grade 9 that can be taken instead of the basic gym class.  For all those kids out there who hate sports like me.

What are some courses that you think should be mandatory?

Back to School, Back to School

To prove to dad that I'm not a fool....

I'm not actually heading back to school, just more of this online course stuff.  I had a week off there where I wasn't working on a course.  Actually it wasn't even a week, it was Wednesday to Sunday.  But now I'm back at it.  My course doesn't actually start until September, but I always get so behind, so I'm trying to start early.

This is the Tax Act that I will be studying for the next three months. 

If that doesn't scream excitement, I don't know what does.