A commonly heard complaint these days is that the facts people need to learn are not taught in school, because of both lack of previous necessity and current lack of available staff and time. Some of these classes need to be made available, though, for people to be able to survive in the modern world.
What classes need to be made available, though? Some students and teachers have suggested various classes such as a second foreign language option, financing, library research, journalism or creative writing, and others. These are all essential classes for numerous reasons, some more obvious than others.
Take a second foreign language, for example. All that is available now is two years of Spanish. Spanish is probably one of the most commonly used languages in the United States, next to English of course, but other foreign languages would be useful to know as well. French is the dominant language in Canada, and in most big cities there are some minority communities where English is not spoken. In these places and situations the knowledge of many foreign languages is essential.
Most people would not think that a class in financing is necessary, but as Mr K. and Mr. Schroeder say, a look at the financial status of most people today says otherwise. People don't know how to manage money to their advantage, and usually end up living much more poorly than they have to.
As a librarian I notice that many people, even juniors and seniors, are clueless when it comes to doing research in the library. People have no idea how to use the card catalog or where anything is. This is taught in grade school and in junior high, but most people don't seem to see the use in it then, and when they get to high school, they seem to have forgotten it all. A refresher course in how to do library research would be beneficial to most of these people.
Journalism and creative writing would help people learn to communicate their ideas and feelings better. They would also lead to a better understanding of the mechanics of good writing than a they would get in a regular English class because in a regular English class so much else has to be taught aside from the writing.
