Poll of the Day > "I think 'X' should be a mandatory class in High School."

(+) Yeah! (+)

Fill in the X.
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Everyone likes different things.

I'd say everyone should learn to code, because that's the future.
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Social media etiquette.
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Flirting
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Law and finance courses. They are god damn essential in adult life.
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JamieTheWhite posted...

Everyone likes different things.

I'd say everyone should learn to code, because that's the future.

I thought neural networking was the future, which doesn't require nearly as many people as traditional programming since they "learn" on their own? I was reading something like that in Wired magazine a few months ago I think.
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Dreaming_King posted...

I thought neural networking was the future, which doesn't require nearly as many people as traditional programming since they "learn" on their own? I was reading something like that in Wired magazine a few months ago I think.

Well neural networking is coding.

You have to write the software that can make and emulate the neural networks then you need someone to tailor it to do what they need. Also I think it's sort of a trade secret that nothing's made too simple to the point where anyone can use it, that's just my "conspiracy theory". (Looking at database management here)
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Personal finances, including budgeting and financial planning
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Basic finances, basic auto-repair, nutrition
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Auto repair for sure. Even a basic education in electric engineering would do wonders in adult life.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_Valley_School

No class should be mandatory.
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Basic decency and etiquette.
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Gaming

I should have totally took a "teaching" major instead or something, and became the professor who would grade everyone's Call of Duty and Mario Kart performance for my "Video Games" courses.

I would simultaneously be the guy who has the most students, and the one who gives out the most F's for being total noobs.

AlleRacing posted...

finance

RCtheWSBC posted...

Personal finances, including budgeting and financial planning

Mead posted...

Basic finances

Its called Home Economics.

All the auto repair stuff should be taught at home. But given how cars are these days that's going away. Use to be able to fix a car with a couple of wrenches. Now nearly everything outside of basic maintenance and repair is out of the realm of at home repair.
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RCtheWSBC posted...

Personal finances, including budgeting and financial planning

All of these plus self defense.
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Critical thinking
Finance
Reading for fun
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Sexual technique
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Students should probably take finance above anything else that isn't already taught.

Students shouldn't be sent out into the world without knowing.. well, all these things I know absolutely nothing about.
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slacker03150 posted...

Critical thinking

Also a fan of this, but idk how effective it would be. Can you really fix stupid?
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Miroku_of_Nite1 posted...

Its called Home Economics

I took a semester of required home economics in middle school

They taught us basic hygiene and how to sew

Nothing about finances
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Mead posted...

They taught us basic hygiene and how to sew

sewing and cooking for mine. I still have the duffel bag I made somewhere. Luckily I was able to take both economics and personal finance as electives in high school.
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Probably the best question I've seen asked here. Most others have had good responses. But the answer is History, with a teacher without an agenda.
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Miroku_of_Nite1 posted...

Its called Home Economics.

No it isn't >_>
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Mead posted...

Miroku_of_Nite1 posted...

Its called Home Economics

I took a semester of required home economics in middle school

They taught us basic hygiene and how to sew

Nothing about finances

Sucks for you. Both Home Economics, and Economy taught basic finances. From filling out checks (lol), to how to make a budget.
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JamieTheWhite posted...

Everyone likes different things.

I'd say everyone should learn to code, because that's the future.

Code in what language? What will be helpful in the future? BASIC was the big thing in schools in the 80's. Not very useful now. Good for flow logic, I guess.

In grad school, I learned to punch cards for FORTRAN to do multivariate analysis on a DEC VAX ring. Mainframes with keypunch machines and card readers were state-of-the-art.

Kids would have been better served in the 80s with a general knowledge of applications in word processing, database, spreadsheets, etc.
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torture and interrogation
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War on the mavericks?
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Cooking, with an emphasis on meal planning and cooking under time and/or budget constraints. The lack of that knowledge is a major factor contributing to the obesity epidemic (processed, pre-made, and fast foods appeal overwhelmingly to people who work long hours or otherwise don't feel they have time to make healthier stuff, hence it's correlated with lower SES).
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Computers
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idk, Defense Against the Dark Arts seems important. That or a programming course. And, while it would be great if everybody graduated knowing how to use Excel, there's a commercial component to that.
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Miroku_of_Nite1 posted...

Mead posted...

Miroku_of_Nite1 posted...

Its called Home Economics

I took a semester of required home economics in middle school

They taught us basic hygiene and how to sew

Nothing about finances

Sucks for you. Both Home Economics, and Economy taught basic finances. From filling out checks (lol), to how to make a budget.

Yeah Home Ec. was not all cooking. How to write a check, budgets, finances, bank loans etc.
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JamieTheWhite posted...

I'd say everyone should learn to code, because that's the future.

I've been hearing this since the 80s and I still don't buy it.

Why? Because coding languages change constantly. I learned three coding languages in extracurriculars when I was in elementary school; none of them were still in use by the time I entered the job market. Not to mention, how many people actually have to code as part of their job? I work in a tech-heavy engineering industry and 90% of my office (including me) does zero coding.

A course in basic proficiency in Microsoft Office would actually take you much farther. Simply knowing how to use some of excel's more advanced functions can be a godsend.
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Some sort of home economics thing, including proper nutrition, basic tax informations/filing taxes, budgeting/finance/investing.

wolfy42 posted...

Flirting

I would expand this to a larger practical sociology class. Teach people how to people.
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Mead posted...

Basic finances

This. A lot of folk when they leave school have no idea how to manage finances. Schools prepare you for a job sure but they don't prepare you for managing finances that are a part of adult life no matter if you're employed or not. Unless you've got really rich parents who pay for everything for you then most will benefit from this.

No matter how much I earn or not I'm always writing down my finances. Doing this makes me see where I can spare money after paying out bills and whatnot. That way I can spend money without skipping on my priorities.

Another good thing to "teach" people at school is how to actually apply for jobs, where to look and what you'll need to get said jobs. This only needs to be taught to those in their final years at school but it's good to make folk aware of these things.

dragon504 posted...

Sexual technique

Only if real life demonstrations are given.
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Aside from the obvious Personal Finance etc. any of those important subjects which were offered in university but not in school:


Philosophy, Political Studies, Sociology, Psychology, Astronomy


wwinterj25 posted...

Another good thing to "teach" people at school is how to actually apply for jobs, where to look and what you'll need to get said jobs. This only needs to be taught to those in their final years at school but it's good to make folk aware of these things.

This is another brilliant idea.
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at my high school, we had an "accounting" class.

they taught you how to write checks.

that's literally all it was, it was so stupid.
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X education

Wait are there not personal finance classes nationwide? Everyone in my area is required to take it and my brother who is like 30 had to take it in high school.

On topic requiring more PE classes wouldnt be bad imo, or at least something to teach kids how to actually work out and exercise.
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Uh, nothing really. Start teaching X in schools, in 20 years everyone will be wondering why jobs in X field pay like crap. Start pivoting kids towards trades if they're not into academics, countries like Sweden are already doing it. The North American education model needs an overhaul, not a band-aid.

That being said, I wish I knew a damn thing about interview skills before I started doing interviews.
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dragon504 posted...

Sexual technique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejaWq2TXRXE
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Yeah let's teach teenagers how to $uck. That will help with everything.
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I'd like to see presentation classes made mandatory, because I've met countless otherwise smart people who could not give a public speech to save their lives. And there are few professions where you won't ever need to present something, formally or informally, to your boss, your co-workers, a client, or a customer.

Topics covered would include physical presentation (I.E. how to dress, how to position yourself, where to focus your eyes, etc.), organization of presentation materials (powerpoints, visual aids, microphones, laser pointers, etc.), speaking style (project your voice, speak slowly), and presentation planning (bring copies of your presentation on three different formats, allow five minutes for switching presenters, design your presentation so that parts of it can be cut on the fly in case you are pressed for time, etc.)
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Kana posted...

That being said, I wish I knew a damn thing about interview skills before I started doing interviews.

Yeah a general career services course would be really beneficial. My high school was so focused on college preparation, but it would have been more useful to have all students prepare résumés and cover letters, practice interviews, and maybe take some basic career aptitude tests.
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Home Economics.
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wwinterj25 posted...

Only if real life demonstrations are given.

Demonstrations? Perish the thought. The class must be hands on.
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dragon504 posted...

wwinterj25 posted...

Only if real life demonstrations are given.

Demonstrations? Perish the thought. The class must be hands on.

*sigh* people like you are exactly what feeds the worst fears of the Religious Right in America, and is the reason so many states have lol "abstinence only" sex-ed.
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I was thinking this topic was saying the anime, X, should be mandatory

Law.

Holy shit, after going through a law course myself, it's absolutely shocking how much important shit there is to know, and how many ignorant people there are.
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dancer62 posted...

JamieTheWhite posted...

Everyone likes different things.

I'd say everyone should learn to code, because that's the future.

Code in what language? What will be helpful in the future? BASIC was the big thing in schools in the 80's. Not very useful now. Good for flow logic, I guess.

In grad school, I learned to punch cards for FORTRAN to do multivariate analysis on a DEC VAX ring. Mainframes with keypunch machines and card readers were state-of-the-art.

Kids would have been better served in the 80s with a general knowledge of applications in word processing, database, spreadsheets, etc.

Just teach kids the most relevant modern language imo. The rate of change has slowed significantly since the earlier days.

I changed my mind about this though, finance is probably more important first off, and girls tend to not give a crap about programming whatsoever. Maybe an optional course on the side. It has to be much easier if you start off young, though. It really, really makes you think critically.
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