Five Things That Should Be Required In Our Schools

By Nathan Young on February 19, 2014

So far, I have done posts talking about why dodgeball and corporal punishment should be banned from schools. And both of those posts have gotten a lot of people talking. So I thought, what are some things that should be in school. And after doing some thinking, and some reflections about my time in school, I have come up with five different things that should be in schools today. Here are the five things that should be required in schools.

Cursive Writing

In our tech and computer world today, most people don’t write things down anymore. They could just type out what they want to say on a computer and print it out. But, when you sign a document or a paper, you have to use cursive writing to sign your name. Here is an interesting fact, modern research indicates that more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard. Writing with a pen or pencil conveys intelligence and grace, engages creativity, and builds brain cells. You don’t get that when you type things.

One of the few things I don’t agree about Common Core, is the elimination of penmanship classes so children in a digital-heavy age can master computer keyboarding. Writing script enhances hand-eye coordination and develops fine motor skills, in turn promoting reading, writing and cognition skills. If kids can’t read cursive, how can they read historical documents like the U.S. Constitution, which is written in cursive. Yes, computer skills is very important in today’s world, but cursive writing is also important, you need to sign your name sometime in your life!

Home Economics / Cooking

I had one brief stint of home economics while in high school. The original teacher was fired, and a substitute was used for the rest of the time I was in the class, but we never did much. We only cooked once and that was baking a cake. Today, most people can’t cook hardly anything, and they will either buy prepackaged stuff or go out to eat. As for me, I learned how to cook myself. And it’s not just cooking, some people don’t know how to properly do laundry, how to budget their money, or take care of their kids. High schools need to require their students to take a home economics class, that includes cooking.

Home economics can include how to budget money, how to do laundry, how to invest their money, how to negotiate for a home or car, how to take care of their kids, and so on. And about the cooking part, I don’t expect students to become master chefs in one semester. But the students can learn how to measure ingredients, follow a recipe, cook a healthy meal with little cost, how to operate kitchen equipment, and more! If more people knew how to cook their own meals, they would be more healthier and save money at the same time!

Study Hall

Schools have become much busier today. Middle and high schools either have a four block schedule or a seven block schedule. And with more and more things being required to be taught to our kids, it leaves teachers with no choice but to assign homework. And for some students, the homework assignments can get pretty long which takes almost all night to do. While I was in school, I did my homework during breaks in class, or during lunch. But at times, the breaks in class was not even enough to complete all the homework. While I was in school, we never had a study hall, instead it was a reading hall, which was a waste of time.

I believe all schools needs to bring back study hall, even if that means the school day is extended. If all students had a study hall of around 30 minutes, they could ask another student or teacher if they did not understand something in their homework. And they would have a quiet and peaceful period to do their homework. Not all students have a quiet area of their house to do their homework. So a study hall would give students a leg up and they would learn while doing their homework, in a peaceful and learning environment. Yes kids, study hall is for your own good.

Bullying Prevention

One thing that you see in most schools today, is bullying. You keep hearing it in the news of another student who was bullied so much in school, they tried or completed suicide. While I was in school, I was bullied my many kids from kindergarten all the way to the time I graduated from high school. Things got so bad, I was almost beaten by some kids while they were attempting to knock down a bathroom door that I had locked. Some kids were hitting me and calling me bad names, and sadly, there are other students going through the same problems I went through while I was in school.

All schools needs to teach their students about the negative aspects of bullying. Yes, there are programs and opportunities to teach students about why bullying is bad. Even if teaching about how bullying is bad for kids does not work, and some kids continues to bully others. Teachers and administrators needs to take action against bullying. One principal at a private school actually punished me because I was yelling because a bully was bothering me. Staff at schools needs to actively punish the ones who bully others, even if that means the parents of the bullies must be punished with fines or police intervention. Because the people who were bullied in school will remember their bad experiences for the rest of their lives, and it does affect their self-esteem.

Showering After PE

If you go inside a middle school or high school classroom today, get ready to smell all the spray deodorant. Back then, some middle schools and mostly high schools required their students to shower after PE class. Since students were sweaty and smelly after exercising, showering made sense, and it was much better than just putting on deodorant. Today, many schools have ended showering and students come out of PE smelly and stinky, or they come out with so much AXE body spray you can’t stand next to those students for a long period of time.

Yes, I believe some middle schools and all high schools should require their students to shower after school, even if the showers are communal. One, it teaches students about proper personal hygiene. Two, it makes the classrooms more productive to learning. Three, it teaches students about proper body image. Yes, for students who are shy about their body, showering nude in a communal setting is good for their body image and self-esteem. Today, some adults will wait for an open bathroom stall in a locker room just to change clothes. At least showering communally will teach students that all males and females have the same body parts and there is nothing to be ashamed about. If students go to college or the military, they are going have to shower communally anyways.

There is my list, is there anything that should be added to this list, leave a comment below!