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How to finish High School while working part-time.
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How to Write a Letter.
English grammar betterer, for example, that the past tense of see is saw, not seen, as in “I saw Susie yesterday”, not “I seen Susie yesterday” ARRGH.
If this whole “Everything in the FUTURE will be done on computers!” thing ever comes to pass kids are going to need a lot more computer knowledge than they have now. In my ideal world it would become the fifth “core” course and cover a whole range of subjects:
Basic Keyboarding
Basic Mousing (you have no idea how bad some people are at this)
Office Applications
WWW 101
Email 101
Basic Internet Searching
Privacy Online
Netiquette
I’ve seen politicians spout off on how libraries are unneeded because EVERYTHING is on computers today (which is a joke in itself). But who is teaching them to use these magical tools?
Being a 40+ year old hunt-and-pecker*… I don’t “type”, not in the true sense, but my two fingers are as fast as many “typists”. To me… young people should learn how to WRITE, more than type. YMMV
[beavis and butthead]Huh huh. Huh huh. He said pecker![/b&b]
I guessing either they:
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Go to a private school.
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Maybe a Catholic school.
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A rare small community public school.
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Or you as a parent MADE them learn it.
I don’t for a second believe that is the norm.
Believe it.
Multiplication tables and “money” are part of the New York state curriculum (at least they were when I was a lad and I’ve helped kids with those problems recently). “Kids today” may not remember it to adulthood, but it is taught.
“Billions and Billions” of McD’s workers, or any general retail workers say otherwise. If they didn’t have the damn cash register to tell them that they owe $3.84 in change, they wouldn’t have a CLUE to say “one, five, ten makes four, and five, and five makes ten”. 
Hmm. I’ve never been taught any of these things. They just sorta came naturally to me, so it never would have occurred to me that they should or even could be taught. But I guess you could say the same about a lot of things in this thread, starting with the OP’s “Don’t buy stuff you can’t afford.”
This needs to be taught. Media Studies. Pop Culture 101. How to separate fact from fiction on the Internet (maybe then educated people will stop forwarding urban legends). Advertising Analysis. And I mean from first grade on.
Trivial, some might say. Yes, they need the basics. They need the classics. But think how much media is being consumed by children and teens and how little guidance they’re getting.
The one subject that I feel should receive more attention in school is that of social skills. Conversation starters. Viewing small talk as a bonding mechanism rather than an information exchange. Interpreting body language and facial expressions. Eyecontact. How to give and receive compliments. Boundaries. How to say no without being antagonizing and more assertiveness. When to be impolite. Recognizing guilt trips and dramaqueens as manipulative.
These are all skills that people are supposed to acquire naturally, from experience and by trial and error. But it seems to me there are a lot of people to whom it doesn’t come naturally. I think they would benefit a lot from a more formal introduction to the concepts, accompanying, off course, the natural experience.
I do this with my HS and JH computer students. Every Friday I put some questions up on a blog, and they have until the following Thursday to come up with cited answers (although some questions are opinion-based based on what they’ve researched for other questions).
I used to research the answers myself for the definitive solution, until one week this year, when one of my students came up with a different answer and had more credible sources than I did. What could I do? I conceded his superior skills that day, and now the students have to debate the correct answers in class, using the credibility of their sources to secure their answer as the “correct” one that will score points.
That, and knowing when to do it yourself, and when to get a pro, based on your own skills and the economics.
I found out how easy it is to replace the screen in my door, and bought a little to to help with the job. But then I tore the screen twice, and would have had to buy more.
Took it to the hardware store’s cutting shop, where they advertise being able to do the job. Didn’t have any other business there, so I watched the guy work. Even HE tore the new screen, but in his case, he just pulled more off the roll, and the store absorbed the loss without changing my cost by surprise, as had happened with the DIY method in that case.
Kids need to be taught that they are not “special”, that the world doesn’t owe them a damn thing, and that society is not structured around serving their needs.
American Sign Language. I had to take one year of a foreign language and had a choice of German, French, or Spanish. I chose a year of German and in the thirty years since then, I’ve used what I’ve learned exactly zero times. ASL, on the other hand, is something that would have been useful to me countless times over the years. I come across far more people who are deaf and communicate via ASL than I do Germans who don’t speak English.
It’s a public school in San Diego. Theirs is one of the better elementary schools, but it’s the standard citywide curriculum as far as I know. Sure I made them learn it, but it’s their teachers giving them the timed multiplication facts tests.
Because life skills really are more important than learning about the battle of 1812. Which is going to help you when you grow up, unless you’re a history major? Just because parents are failing doesn’t mean society needs to suffer because we have a bunch of idiots running around.
No, it’s not. I write checks constantly, for bills (my electric company, for instance, refuses to do business online and does not accept debit or credit cards, but takes checks…and they’re a relatively large power company, too…same deal with my car payment), when I’ve forgotten my debit card in my other pair of pants but have my checkbook in my purse, for rent (most places won’t take cash or debit, you have to have a cashiers’ check, a money order or a regular check). There are occasionally things that people WANT a check for because they want to have your address and stuff to verify things. I take classes and workshops all the time that want personal checks, and they’re through reputable organizations. Checks are not entirely antiquated, and relying solely on your online account if you do write checks is stupid (this I learned the hard way). Balancing your checkbook lets you know how much money you actually have available to you, as opposed to your “available balance,” which may not take into account charges made using your debit card as a credit card; those sometimes take days to kick in, depending on the company.
I balance my checkbook, taking into account all of my debit card usage. My sister does not. Who’s balance is in the red this month? That’s right, she paid a bill with a check and forgot to balance it and now she’s in overdraft until Friday. Balancing your expenditures is not a stupid thing to teach children.
On edit: I’m 22 years old, and am considered part of “this generation.” Just FYI.
~Tasha
You might want to check if your bank does online banking. I don’t think our water company takes credit or debit cards, but at least my bank handles the actual writing and mailing of the check for me with online banking.
But the idea here is to make sure you’ve got enough money, not to try to catch the bank making a mistake. Poring over your checking account looking for a bank error probably is a waste of time these days (though a brief look-through of your statement for activity you didn’t do is still worthwhile). Making sure you have enough money in your bank account to cover expenses is definitely not a waste of time. I personally think that keeping a few months’ expenses as a cushion in your bank account is a better way to make sure you don’t overspend it, but I realize that not everybody can do that.
My bank does online banking. My power company refuses to deal with it, and they want a check or cash from me every month. I don’t get it either.
My credit union rarely makes an actual banking mistake; the problem is that some transactions take longer to process, and it’s better to keep track of your own finances rather than letting someone else do it for you. Not only is that lazy, but it leaves you open to bank screw-ups and other assorted things. THAT is what today’s children need to be taught; a checkbook is not only about writing checks, it’s about keeping track of your own finances.
~Tasha
Just from reading a few comments, I think we have a dis-connection on terms. Balancing your checkbook means taking all of your cancelled checks, and going back through your register to make sure that when you’ve accounted for all those checks, the balance you show matches what the bank says. That really isn’t so much a requirement anymore…however keeping a running balance of what you’ve sent out of your checking account (either via written check, or check card) is an entirly different matter, and everyone should do that. But that’s where online banking doesn’t always work. It may take a few days for even a check-card purchase to clear, so my online available balance won’t actually match what funds I have that are actually available.
Ya beat me to it.
How to read/use a map would help, too.