Quora Question: Why doesn't school teach us things that we are going to use like how to balance a checkbook or handle a bank account?

When schools in America first started they were focused on reading, writing and arithmetic. The organizers of public education thought that the family would teach their children these basic life functional skills like balancing a checkbook or a bank account. Therefore the schools taught beginning math and then progressed to more complicated mathematical concepts like algebra, advanced geometry, calculus and statistics. The vast majority of parents know how to balance a checkbook and how to handle a bank account. The majority of parents however may not know calculus, statistics or algebra.
When schools begin to take on basics like what you are asking about then they have to give something else up. There are only so many teaching minutes in the school day and the school year.
Ideally the family would teach their own children:
Basic business math (percentages applied to purchases is one example)
How to balance a checkbook and a bank account
Basic manners and citizenship
Morals and ethics
I have observed over my 3 decades of teaching that the school system is now expected to teach WAY beyond what the original intentions were of public education.
Parents are the first and most important teachers of their children. It is the parents that make a huge impression on their children and ensure that their own children do the following:
Practice reading every day
Practice basic math with their own allowance and making their own expenditures
Practice helping others
Practice doing chores and being part of community giving as they grow up
We should expect schools to continue supporting these good practices but it is the family that should teach the basics. The school system should be a complement to this, not the entire education for a child.
Final Thought: Families and the public school system should work together to complement each other for a holistic education. Neither one should have to work alone to teach all that is needed.
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