Helpful Learning For High School Students

HELPFUL LEARNING FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Christopher Ebbe, Ph.D.     11-13

ABSTRACT:  Current high school education neglects a number of areas that are very important for all individuals to understand in modern society.  These are enumerated, along with some recommendations for teaching style.

KEY WORDS:  high school, education, secondary education, virtues

Children in our society learn from parents and family, peers, in school, from churches and other institutions, and from their daily observations.  There is no overall organization to this learning, and children vary in their interest in learning, inquisitiveness, and persistence in finding learning opportunities regarding various topics.  As society has become more complex and family traditions less honored, many parents have depended on school (and sometimes church) to teach children essential knowledge.  Some schools have scrambled to add courses and course content (sex education, how to study, how to apply for college, how to apply for jobs) to ensure that children do get essential learning, but many people in our society live their adult lives without adequate understanding of topics needed for full participation in modern society.  This is particularly true for financial and economic understanding but is certainly not limited to that area.  Most readers will be aware of having no training in some of the topics below and having to gain some understanding on their own later in life.  Much of the learning obtained later by chance or from other individuals is faulty or incomplete, so children would benefit from parents and schools in particular ensuring that some types of trustworthy learning opportunities are made available in these areas.  Many of these essential topics could be adequately covered in a single lesson, but some would require three or four hours.  The following identifies essential areas of knowledge for full participation in our society.

how to study

how to apply for a job

how to apply for college or other training

how to balance a checkbook

how to a buy house and to decide whether one can pay for it or

  not

how to choose and make investments, especially for retirement

how to prepare financially for retirement and how to manage

  retirement psychologically

understanding the economy, where various jobs are, how the state

  of the economy affects job opportunities, investment, and

  saving decisions

having a healthy, fulfilling primary relationship

basics of sex, safe sex, and reproduction

parenting (goals for parenting, what makes for a healthy child,

  and what helps children mature)

how to vote

how to arrive at a position on a political issue

how to get what one needs from government

how to contribute to the community at large

health basics (care of body, nutrition)

healthcare (how to find it and pay for it)

understanding and dealing with alcohol, gambling, smoking and

  other addictions

social interaction basics

how to work with others and how to cooperate to get what you

  want

effective communication

having empathy for others

balancing the needs and wants of self and others

The following are less “practical” but equally important for flourishing in life (and much less likely to be overtly taught than those above).  Generally we expect children to learn these latter items by observing and imitating significant others, but those others are usually unaware of their responsibility to provide this modeling, and many are unable to model effective knowledge and practice of these items, making it even more important for society to provide additional learning opportunities for them.

self-awareness (ability to accurately evaluate oneself and make

  choices about what kind of person to be)

acceptance of self, others, and our existential situation

self-esteem and dealing with superiority/inferiority issues and

  rejection

how to think usefully and accurately

taking the future into account when making decisions and

  choosing behaviors

taking others into account when making decisions and choosing

  behaviors

reality testing (how to know what is real)

managing emotions

self-control and how it benefits one

the value and benefits of living a virtuous life, including

         honesty

         responsibility

         acceptance

         love

         empathy

         equality

         cooperation

         fairness

         self-control

         autonomy

         skills for dealing with one's emotions

If high school or similar educational enterprises were to provide learning opportunities for any of the above, those opportunities, to be maximally effective, should be done with clear explanations, many examples and discussion opportunities, and practice opportunities, rather than being presented in a typically “academic” way.

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