What I Wish School Had Taught Me

School is an important part of life and a place where we were instilled with important knowledge, basically an all-around lesson while growing up, from math to history, literature, science, and the like, which are impacted just with the intention to prepare us for the real world; however, looking back, there's one thing I really wish school had prepared me for, and that thing is personal finances and how to navigate real-life challenges.

While I was in school, I was taught various things, from calculation to reading, writing, and the like, and by the time I left school, I could solve algebra, but I was clueless about how to manage my finances, build savings, budget, or deal with unexpected expenses. It was so bad that I was literally struggling regardless of how much I made in a month. We weren't taught about loans, interest rates, or how to separate needs from wants.

I was just lucky. I witnessed someone whose business was crippled by loans and compounding interest, and that experience made me vow never to delve into it without concrete understanding, but in other aspects of finance, I'm just another illiterate. Despite not knowing anything about financial management, its consequences are what life threw at me immediately I stepped into the real world, leading to struggle upon struggle.

After tons of mismanagement and failure, I learned the hard way through trial and error and then watching finance expert Ideals and teaching to catch a glimpse of how things should be done. After those lessons, I've gone back on my word to get a loan, like the time I took one to buy a solar system during a power crisis in my community, and it was worth it, but overall I must say it's actually not easy having to learn about these things while still juggling real-life challenges.

For instance, while learning and trying to amend back then, you'll sometimes find yourself in the middle of handing responsibility just to stay afloat, and out of nowhere, others, such as health challenges or family emergencies, would jump into the mix, making it pretty difficult to handle and leaving me wishing I could just press a button to pause things so I could have enough time to figure things out so I could sail through those financial storms.

I'm certain that had I been taught these aspects of life in school, things wouldn't have been that difficult to handle, although I know there's a big difference between theory and practical experience, but then that theoretical knowledge would at least serve as a guide that helps me navigate my path through financial storms I found myself in at one point in time, because at the end of the day, real-life challenges don't give a damn if you get straight A's and graduate with first class; they tend to come to test one's ability to adapt, one's resilience, and our mindset in a way no classroom test or evaluation would have ever done.

Although I've learned a lot outside the four walls of the school, through life itself, that doesn't make it less important, but then I would really appreciate it if this were taught in school to help the community generation not to suffer the same fate as I did. Financial literacy shouldn't be a luxury; it should be a survival skill that everyone is equipped with. Even though we all know life isn't fair, having this knowledge early can definitely make a big difference.

So in conclusion, if I ever had the power to influence education, I'd most definitely advocate that more real-life lessons are included in the curriculum. It's about time we put aside tons of theoretical aspects and taught reality. School through the years is known to teach us how to pass exams, while life, on the other hand, teaches us how to survive. As humans, we need both to sail through swiftly.

All photos are mine.