Dear Departments of Education,

How do?

Thanks for schools and teachers and certain parts of the syllabus.

Over 12 years, school taught me plenty: the best way to wear a hat with a flap (tucked); the best way carry a bulky backpack on a bus; the best way to type messages under a desk. But seriously, most of what I learnt in classrooms is good to know and makes for enlightening convos… it just doesn’t really come up irl that much.

Some lucky students have ‘life skills’ classes available to them; the rest of us just follow the tricky IKEA pamphlet of existence. We all gain practical skills as we move through life, like how to lodge a tax return and how to manage your manager, but we often learn them the hard way, so here are some ‘adulting irl’ items to consider adding to the syllabus.

Give us some credit

Budgeting. Bills. Credit. Loans. Taxes. Payment due. Payment overdue. Penalty fee.

Money, money, money: it makes the world go round, but why is there never enough of it and why are people always asking me for it?! Stats released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in July showed that around 1.9 million Aussies are struggling to repay their debt (owing a total of $45 billion in credit card debt). Maybe the entire population needs a lesson in managing their spending – not just young Aussies.

In short: a primer on #creditcards, #loans, #ATOthings, and #budgeting would be lovely.

Leaving home

According to NSW census data, around one in five people aged 25 to 29 were living with their parents in 2017. That’s higher than anywhere else in Australia. The flip side is that 80 per cent of people in that age bracket weren’t living at home, which means they had the pleasures of cooking, cleaning, and renting all to themselves.

Many people move out and cop the shock of living expenses/housing-related admin/dodgy landlords, so perhaps it’s worth running through these painful adult problems while we’re still in secondary school. It’ll assist in making us feel less overwhelmed when we do finally leave the nest.

Mind my head

PE focuses on an active lifestyle, which is defo important, but what about the inside of our heads? Mental health support organisation Beyondblue reports that up to 14 per cent of 10 to 24 year-old females will experience an anxiety condition in any given year (more than twice the national average).

Yes, people are pretty aware of mindfulness and self-care these days, but the more we promote these behaviours in school, the better.

Workin’ 9 to way too late

Maybe you’re heaps organised and efficient over at the D of E. Bet you’ve got fancy swivel chairs, too. For those of us who aren’t so structured, some real-world training on stuff like project and time management would be real handy in high school.

Something else that’d be a big help is pointers on how to have difficult workplace convos with management/the boss. A 2018 Australia Institute survey of almost 1,500 people revealed the most unpaid overtime (7.85 hours a week) is done by those aged 25 to 34. The work ethic and ambition are both there, but the confidence and experience aren’t. When we first begin the climb up that career ladder, it can be a serious challenge to say no or to ask certain questions or to even say anything at all to a senior. Please help empower us: a bit of confidence can go a long way.

I believe the children are our future. I assume you do, too.

Love,

Dan & UNiDAYS