Going into college, students are expected to know how to live on their own and deal with difficult people and situations. These are all skills that are taught in public school, but not enforced.

Teenagers are constantly caught complaining about how school does not teach any real life skills such as how to buy a house, apply for college, or do taxes. These students are not looking in the right direction. Northwest is full of classes that educate teenagers on how to survive as an adult; students are whining and turning their heads away from exactly what they are looking for.

Classmates find it easy to accuse the school system of failing its job in educating students on what matters, yet do absolutely nothing to try and change it. There are many opportunities for students to learn skills they will need after high school, but in order for them to be available, students must seek them out.

Some of the classes offered include Accounting, Child Development, Home Skills, Interpersonal Relationships, Introduction to Business, Life Management, Nutrition, Parenting Today, and Personal Finance. All of these classes offer skills necessary for life after schooling, but only two of them are available this trimester due to the lack of students signing up.

The two classes currently offered are Parenting Today and Personal Finance. Parenting Today educates teenagers on how to raise a family and build a child’s character, while Personal Finance teaches budgeting strategies and other strategies on money management.

The problem does not completely lay within the public schooling system alone. Schools should enforce these classes more, while students sign up for them and continue to search for these chances.

The resources for students to use are there, so they need to stop complaining and begin to take action by taking advantage of the opportunities being placed in front of them.

For students looking for more information on these classes , go to nwschools.org, then click on the tabs “Campus”, “Northwest High School” , and then on the left hand side “Courses”.