I sat through years of schooling, passed exams, carried heavy textbooks, and wrote long notes. But today, as an adult, facing real life head-on, I keep asking myself why didn’t school teach me how to survive in the real world? Why was I not taught how to make money, multiply money, or manage money? They gave us all the formulas and theories, but they forgot to teach us the most important lessons of life. And now, many of us are out here struggling, not because we didn't go to school, but because school didn’t fully prepare us for life.
To be honest, I don't believe all the courses we were made to study in school are necessary. Yes, some are very important depending on the career path, but a lot of them only filled up our brains and took our time without giving us any real advantage in life. I still wonder what value some of those subjects added to my life, especially the ones we crammed just to pass exams and later forgot completely.
If I had the power to make changes in our school curriculum, the first course I would remove or reduce is some of those outdated, theoretical courses that no longer serve the current generation. Instead, I would replace them with something more relevant financial education.
Every young person needs to understand how money works. We need to be taught how to make money, not just from jobs but also through skills, businesses, and smart investments. How to multiply money through saving, budgeting, and investing wisely. And how to manage money so we don’t end up making the same mistakes many adults made before us.
Another course I strongly believe should be added is Life Education. This should teach us things like emotional intelligence, relationships, communication, how to handle failure, how to deal with pressure, and how to develop self-confidence. These are the real skills that affect our daily lives but are often ignored in school.
Let’s also not forget the Business of the 21st Century. The world has changed. We are now in a digital age where young people are making money from content creation, eCommerce, freelancing, tech, and remote work. Why is our curriculum still based on a system that prepares students only for government jobs and white-collar offices? It’s time schools start teaching students about digital entrepreneurship, personal branding, side hustles, and how to create opportunities online. These are the kinds of knowledge that can help reduce unemployment and poverty.
We need a total rethinking of our education system. It should no longer be just about passing exams or having degrees. It should be about preparing students for real life. Imagine how powerful our generation would be if we had learned all these practical life lessons from an early age.
In conclusion, school is not totally useless, but it is incomplete. If we want to see true development in Africa and among our youth, we must start by changing what we teach in the classroom. We can’t keep doing the same old thing and expect a different result.
It’s time to make education truly relevant for today and for the future
Images are Ai generated
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