Pictou Centre MLA Pat Dunn says financial life skills should be mandatory in high school.
A former educator, Dunn introduced a bill in the legislature this week that if passed would require students in Grade 10 to take a career-development course and sets out subjects that the course must cover.
“Too many students are graduating high school without basic career-development and financial life skills,” says Dunn. “This common-sense change would help make sure students are prepared for life after high school.”
Chris Meadows, who taught high school in Pictou County for 28 years and was a principal at Trenton High School for six years, says emphasizing how important life skills are and how they help young people down the road is key to setting them up for success in the future.
“I think that making the Life Skills course a required course for all high school students would be highly beneficial. Many students know little about filing their income tax. They struggle with oral interviews and presentations as well as writing resumés. They are unfamiliar with the financial aspects of money management,” Meadows said. “Learning these and other life skills early would be so valuable to them in the future and enhance their life-long learning.”
A life skills course is presently available in high school but extending the content to cover additional skills and making it a compulsory course for graduation would be beneficial to all students, Dunn believes.
The career-development course would give students information about a variety of topics such as creating a budget, paying bills, insurance, wills and investing.
