This is a guest post by Jacob Share of JobMob
Are you one of those people who say they never learned anything in high school? Me neither. I learned a lot in high school, but there were some critical topics that never appeared on the blackboard.
1) Parenting
Carrying an egg around for a week isn't parenting. The sad thing is just doing that class assignment would have already put you "in the know" compared to most other high school graduates.
Looking at how you were raised by your parents will rarely prepare you for the real thing, which is why so many people agonize before having kids and then get stressed out when they do. Or worse, they become bad parents.
2) Financial Literacy
Can you read a company's financial statement? Could you read one when you finished school?
Let's try another example- do you know what the difference is between an asset and a liability?
Most people aspire to buying their own house for when they decide to settle down. Seems like a good asset to have, right? Think again. As long as you're paying off the mortgage on that house, it's a liability, a debt to pay off, not something bringing you any immediate returns. And because you're covering a mortgage, you're actually paying much more than the house cost the bank to buy it for you in the first place.
3) Job Hunting
People should love job hunting. It's a chance to do something better, to raise your standard of living, to move up in the world and improve life not just for you, but your dependents as well.
So then why does everyone hate looking work? Because they were never taught how to do it. As a result, they lack self-confidence and steel themselves for potentially months of the resume-interview-rejection cycle and should hardly be surprised when they meet those low expectations.
What you can do
If the educational system won't educate you, you need to educate yourself:
- Read – there are many terrific blogs, self-help books and guides that can teach you but do yourself a favor and start reading BEFORE you need to make life-changing decisions on these topics.
- Learn – consider enrolling in an online course, local seminar or workshops with experts who have a proven track record for what they teach.
- Network – join support groups, discussion forums and social media sites whose members have similar experience or better. Try to find a mentor you can follow to success.
What do you think?
How were you able to overcome this missing chunk of your education?
About the author
Jacob Share created JobMob to bring together job seekers and jobfinders to find jobs in Israel and all over the world. The blog is filled with straight-talking advice based on real world experience and lots of humor thrown in, so you should subscribe now to JobMob via RSS or email if you're looking for a better job or just want to laugh about it with articles like the 150 Funniest Resume Mistakes, Bloopers and Blunders Ever.
photo by A Y A n
Additional Reading: Know more about the guy in the picture above dabbawalas
John Hoff - eVentureBiz
Good points, Jacob. I wrote an article titled Unconventional Thinking: Unlearning Your Education where I talk about how schooling doesn’t necessarily teach us how to be different than everyone else. In fact, we’re all taught the same thing and thus we all come out of college thinking the same way.
The way I overcame my missing gaps from schooling were from my father teaching me stuff like how to balance my checking account and like you said, learning on my own and networking.