It is often argued that children should learn practical life skills, such as cooking, managing finance, and first aid, at school, while others believe that schools should focus only on traditional academic subjects. Although both perspectives may have their own merits, I personally believe that teaching both academic subjects and life skills is better. This essay will discuss both viewpoints before explaining why I support essential practical skills.
On the one hand, many people believe that schools should focus only on traditional subjects. One of the main reasons for this is that high academic performance is needed for university application. This is because likeliness of getting high salary job increase if one graduated from top university. For example, getting bachelor’s or master’s from Harvard will increase the chances of finding a high salary job according to QS statistics. Therefore, supporters of this view argue that academic subjects should be the main focus of the school.
On the other hand, others argue that practical life skills should be taught too. The primary reason is that children who do life skills from early age become happier and more adaptive to unexpected situations according to Harvard’s 75-year research. In other words, children are more likely to become happier and adaptive to spontaneous situations than those who do not do chores at the early age. From my perspective, this argument is more convincing because those who do not practice life skills in the childhood they might become too dependent in the future, which might be associated with less happiness. Consequently, teaching both academic syllabus and practical life skills is needed.
In conclusion, although some people support that children should be taught only academic subjects, I believe that educating life skills are needed too because life skills are associated with more happiness in the future and independency.