Florida Just Became the Largest State to Mandate Personal Finance Education in HS

[rachel83az]

Theoretically, you could have taken personal finance instead of the study hall. AFAIK, study hall is usually just doing homework that you should be doing outside of school. In the schools I went to, study hall was a punishment (usually during lunch, IIRC) and not a class you could take. We didn't get free periods like that. Every single period had to be a valid class.

[ss20ts]

Theoretically, you could have taken personal finance instead of the study hall. AFAIK, study hall is usually just doing homework that you should be doing outside of school. In the schools I went to, study hall was a punishment (usually during lunch, IIRC) and not a class you could take. We didn't get free periods like that. Every single period had to be a valid class.

So I would have had 8 classes a day! No thanks. I already ended up with 3+ hours of homework every day.

[rachel83az]

Most students had 7 classes a day. Students who had band, ROTC, or something similar might have "8" or "9", depending on exactly which before/after school programs they were a part of.

[ss20ts]

Most students had 7 classes a day. Students who had band, ROTC, or something similar might have "8" or "9", depending on exactly which before/after school programs they were a part of.

I had 3 music classes a day - band, chorus, and music theory. I needed a break at some point in the day. There's only so much the human brain can absorb during 7+ hours of learning 5 days a week, 180+ days a year. And let's not forget that 3+ hours of homework every day as well. So that's 10+ hours a day. That's a lot for a high school student. In college I never spent 10 hours a day on school.

[rachel83az]

So maybe it'd be a good idea to cut out some of the redundancies and instead teach things that are useful.

[ss20ts]

So maybe it'd be a good idea to cut out some of the redundancies and instead teach things that are useful.

What redundancies? I did learn things that were useful. I also had parents who taught me things I needed in life. Kids also need time to be kids. They have their whole lives to be working adults.

[dfrecore]

First you cannot say that "most" students had 7 classes a day, since it's very dependent upon the state, the school district, and the school. You could travel around the country and you will see things done vastly differently between 1 state and another, one area and another. My district had 6 classes a day. My son is now in a "4x4 block" school, where you take 4 classes in the 1st semester, and 4 different ones in the 2nd semester. I've known schools in the district near where we used to live that did a traditional 6 courses, a 5x3 trimester system, and a 4x4 block system all within the district. Some schools have 0 period, like band or other electives; some schools have no outside periods. Some made kids take all of their classes, my son gets to go to school at 1:00 and just take 2 classes this year (and he started around 10am and took 3 classes last semester). But seniors only. I was allowed 1 period of on-campus something as a senior, I took study hall so I could do homework because I played sports and didn't have time after school to get everything done.
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As far as personal finance, kids "hearing" about taking on student loans is one thing; being mandated to take a course in which a teacher can actively push it is quite another. Again, no thank you. But if you want to sign your kids up so some dumbass teacher can tell them that, feel free. I'll teach it to my kids myself.
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As far as "useless" courses like English, I distinctly remember my English classes having things like literature studies. We needed 4 years to get through all of the books we read (probably 8 a year minimum, AP was more like 15-20 with summer reading lists). And you would be SHOCKED at the level of writing that many kids come into high school with. Believe me, most desperately NEED 4 year of English to come out and be able to write decently, let alone well. I'd be surprised if 25% come out being able to write a decent 5-paragraph essay by the time they graduate. I'm not surprised at how many kids need to take remedial writing in colleges. Not even a little bit.

[Alpha]

When I was in high school I had trouble with Math.  I did much better at it in college.  Something to do with brain maturation I'm told.  I was the kid who would ask "Why do I need to learn this stuff?" I'm amused now because there have actually been plenty of times when I've used algebra, geometry and statistics and so it has been useful to me.  I recognize that everyone is different but the skills that I learned that ultimately proved to be most useful were critical reading and analysis of written texts, critical evaluation of conversations, the ability to write clearly and for different purposes and different audiences.  These skills were begun in high school and continued right through grad school.  In a manner of speaking, these skills form the foundation of my career.  I can learn to install bathroom tile by watching Youtube videos and This Old House.  I think that to a large degree, this issue has been settled in many places by providing kids with access to Voc/Tech high schools as well as college oriented high schools.  Mandating that everyone learn everything, regardless of their interests or abilities, seems counterproductive.

[dfrecore]

I can learn to install bathroom tile by watching Youtube videos and This Old House.  I think that to a large degree, this issue has been settled in many places by providing kids with access to Voc/Tech high schools as well as college oriented high schools.

Absolutely!  I learned how to install a toilet, fix my washing machine, replace a door handle on my car, and a whole bunch of other things on YouTube in 5 minutes.

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Mandating that everyone learn everything, regardless of their interests or abilities, seems counterproductive.

We already spend WAY too much time making everyone learn the mandated stuff, how about letting kids have some freaking electives in areas they'd like to give a shot!?!  I really wish I'd have had more time in which to explore during high school.

[ss20ts]

First you cannot say that "most" students had 7 classes a day, since it's very dependent upon the state, the school district, and the school.  You could travel around the country and you will see things done vastly differently between 1 state and another, one area and another.  My district had 6 classes a day.  My son is now in a "4x4 block" school, where you take 4 classes in the 1st semester, and 4 different ones in the 2nd semester.  I've known schools in the district near where we used to live that did a traditional 6 courses, a 5x3 trimester system, and a 4x4 block system all within the district.  Some schools have 0 period, like band or other electives; some schools have no outside periods.  Some made kids take all of their classes, my son gets to go to school at 1:00 and just take 2 classes this year (and he started around 10am and took 3 classes last semester).  But seniors only.  I was allowed 1 period of on-campus something as a senior, I took study hall so I could do homework because I played sports and didn't have time after school to get everything done.
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As far as "useless" courses like English, I distinctly remember my English classes having things like literature studies. We needed 4 years to get through all of the books we read (probably 8 a year minimum, AP was more like 15-20 with summer reading lists).  And you would be SHOCKED at the level of writing that many kids come into high school with.  Believe me, most desperately NEED 4 year of English to come out and be able to write decently, let alone well.  I'd be surprised if 25% come out being able to write a decent 5-paragraph essay by the time they graduate.  I'm not surprised at how many kids need to take remedial writing in colleges. Not even a little bit.

When I said most I meant my school and state requirements. We had 8 periods a day plus lunch and an after school period. 

I see grad students who can't write or research a paper. I wonder how high school English courses could be changed so that people are able to read, research, and write.