Written by Felya Amaraputri Andhini, Social Media Admin intern at Project Child Indonesia
From the age of six, we spent five out of seven days getting our formal education in school. We learned how to do the basics; how to read, count, and write. Then, when we are in a higher level of education, the lessons also become more varied and complex.
Subjects like physics or math surely can be a gate for us, as students, to get to know about what we want to pursue in the future. However, as we grow older, we are faced with real world problems which solutions are not written in the textbook that we carried around during elementary or high school. Important things such as how to pay taxes or how to have better stress management are knowledge that we must find by ourselves.
Have you ever felt so pressured by the amount of homeworks and exams during school years and didn’t know how to handle that so you just let it pass? Or didn’t you feel concerned when you read some news about how a young girl got pregnant? Looking at those problems, here are some of the lessons that should be taught in school.
The Importance of Our Mental Health
For twelve years, school gave us lessons about physical education. They taught us how to stay fit and active. However, it is important to note that our well-being needs to be taken care of too. Most of us, as students, experience stress or anxiety because of the pressure they get from school.
Teaching about stress management or how to be aware when they’re feeling like they’re at their lowest point is very important because that knowledge can stick for a very long time. That’s why schools should be able to increase their role in spreading more awareness about mental health.
Financial Literacy
When we were children, surely we were always told either by our parents or teacher to save our money. They said that if we save our money, we can buy whatever we want. But not all children were taught on how to spend their money efficiently or how they should think about their necessities first before spending the money for what they want.
As we grew up, we just then realized how important it is to have knowledge about budgeting; how to allocate our money for future plans, for emergency funds, or how to pay taxes later on. Introducing the basic concept of budgeting at a very young age will be very beneficial for the children’s future.
Sex Education
It is known that schools in Indonesia haven’t been really paying attention to teach their students about the importance of sex education. Most schools only teach about the limited aspects of reproductive health, mainly about the threat. They don’t really touch the subject regarding consent, sexuality, or the psychological effects and sense of responsibility that one should have in terms of this matter.
Even within a family, discussions about reproductive health or sexuality is something that can be seen as culturally unacceptable. The lack of education or awareness about this proves the fact that this topic is still a taboo subject.
Those are only three (of probably many) things that should be taught in school. Although some people may receive those lessons from their parents, wouldn’t it be very beneficial if the school provides lessons that can be applied to our everyday life in facing the real world?
