High school is the place where you really start to learn more about yourself. You start to understand the kind of person you are and who you want to be when you get older. This includes figuring out your future after high school. It all builds up over the 4 years of high school, thinking of what career you want to learn more about and possibly work in that field after college. But most students have this feeling of not being ready for that job or what the real world will be like and I believe we can change that.

Kids around the world go to school and always talk about who they’re going to be when they’re older and what their dream job is. But once they get to high school suddenly some kids forget all about their dream job. They just try and focus on making it out of high school. They don’t really get to learn about what they want to do or want to learn more about. Some classes do provide that luxury but these classes don’t appeal to all students. An organization called XQ Institute published an article about how high schoolers are not prepared for their passions and futures. “In one survey, a large percentage of high school graduates reported feeling unprepared for work, concerned that their high school learning won’t translate to real-world challenges.” XQ also hosted another poll comprising adults, teachers, and non-students. It asked them if they think high school is preparing students for careers and 93% believed high school is not preparing them. 

Often students don’t immediately recognize what their dream job or career even is in high school. The majority of schools around the country should offer more classes and curriculum that speaks to real-world application, “real life” and necessary knowledge for maintaining and sustaining a life as an adult. Classes that teach life skills like how to purchase a house, how to put deposits on houses or cars, budgeting, and even how to cook food correctly or how to sew. These classes should have all of those attributes to help students survive when they become young adults. According to a report from Civic Enterprises back in 2006, 69% of high school dropouts were not motivated and/or inspired. 70% were confident they would have graduated if the schools actually put in the effort. Students are not motivated and schools are not putting in the effort to help them become successful adults. 

Teachers and principals need to realize that they have an immediate impact on a student's motivation and drive while they are in school. If they try to make work and learning in the classroom more fun and make it appealing to the students, then the students would stay motivated and would want to succeed in class. The effort being put into helping students in the classroom is not enough. Teachers and staff need to come up with ways to further help the students to be more prepared for their future. The first step is to create classes that teach them different skills and information to help them in their adult lives. The second step is to now keep students interested in what they’re learning. The classes have to keep them roped in so they can actually learn something new. And the last step is to guide students in the right direction. Check up on their well-being and make sure they are on track.