Preparing for Life 101 by Dua

Preparing for Life 101 by Dua - August 2015 Scholarship Essay

As I come to an end in high school I’ve realized the American high school curriculum has taught me a lot about the Pythagorean theorem, elements in the periodic table, and citing sources using MLA format, but very little about things that will aid me in my growing process and journey to the outside world. Although school does teach us important information, many of those things serve futile when out in a real world situation. Unfortunately, sohcahtoa or any type of trigonometry will not help in filing taxes or even personal budgeting and financing. If I could add a subject to the American high school curriculum, I would choose a “preparing for life” course.

This course would consist of things vital to functioning on your own. For example, in our history courses we are taught about the American War of Independence and how Americans had unconstitutional taxes imposed by the British parliament, but we don't go deeper into how we deal with taxes nowadays. In addition we learn about all the struggles people have had to face to earn their voting rights, yet we don’t know the process of voting ourselves. As a high school student myself I didn't know until recently that I had to register or where my proper voting location was. Students, especially seniors, need to know about banking and everything that comes with it like how to open an account, balance a checkbook and put money into savings. All of this is important when applying for loans for college, which should also be a crucial part of the course. A lot of times students don’t have people to guide them and eventually their helplessness leads them to giving up and losing hope in their goals. By having this course which guides students and helps them with college payment and such issues, many more students would benefit.

The famous saying “big things come from small beginnings” perfectly applies to this course. If given, this life preparation course will not only help struggling students, but instigate the opportunity for expanding and conquering one’s dreams!