Dear Madam or Mr. President,

My name is Alexis and I live in a great town with an even better school. The kids that leave Clarkston High School have a plan for their future but know vaguely of how to apply everything learned to real life situations. I promote the idea that we should make a government and life skills class mandatory for every student to be able to graduate from high school. If this were the case, I genuinely feel that many kids right out of high school would benefit from this law because there would be more street smart kids going to college not clueless on how to survive on their own. These recently graduated 18 year olds could have time being an adult instead of continuously looking back to their parents for information on how to proceed. Personally this benefits me because I feel that many kids graduating high school are stressed enough and i'm 2 years away from my own graduation, to add on to my list of things to learn and do could cause a really stressful couple of years. If this law was passed, students would need to take a course their junior or senior year on how to vote, buy a house, pay taxes, buy a car, and keep a savings account. As boring as that may seem, it would help a lot in the long run. These are what actual people need to know in order to fully engaged with what the united states has to offer.

This class can further push our understanding on the reasoning behind school. “Though high school and college are excellent in teaching many valuable skills, our current academic curriculum doesn’t teach many aspects necessary to succeeding and thriving in life in general, such as financial responsibilities and investments, how to think logically–retaining information and not merely temporarily memorizing information, and how to apply such abilities to real-world scenarios which are bound to occur.” Many people agree that they should enforce these class such as “successfulstudents.org”. Preparing students for real life situations can really help in the future.

K12 schooling offers a class called life skills but it is not mandatory like i believe it should be. “This one-semester elective is designed to increase students' knowledge of and ability in using the skills necessary for everyday living. Life Skills emphasizes defining personal values, goal-setting and planning, and solving problems. Instructional material focuses on dealing with media and peer pressure, communication and relationships, working with others, avoiding and/or resolving conflict, decision making, wellness and personal safety, aspects of good citizenship, environmental awareness, and how students can contribute to their own community.” These students who take this class would ultimately be less stressed about communication and decision making when thrown into real life situations. With all these skills the class provides many students will be ready to mature and focus on school.

Brewer thinks that many kids grew up afraid to speak and when it comes time for them to say something they will freeze up. “[These skills] are in this big lump that you would call character education,” Brewer said. “Can you treat other people with respect? Can you pull your weight? It’s crucial to be able to do these things in a global workplace.” i know that personally i have friends who are to nervous to pay for their own food so someone else has to do this for them. Many schools don't offer communication classes in which you could talk to many people countlessly.

In conclusion , I believe that schools should start making life skill and government classes mandatory to graduate high school. 

Sincerely, 

Alexis Giesey 

http://successfulstudent.org/20-life-skills-not-taught-in-school/?nabw=0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/on-parenting/life-skills-all-teens-should-have-beforegraduating-from-high-school/2013/01/22/bf32fcb8-5c0e-11e2-beee-6e38f5215402_story.html

http://www.k12.com/curriculum/high-school-program-courses/high-school-course-list/life-skills-elective-oth090.overview.html