Five Classes They Should Not Stop Teaching in Public Schools

We are near the beginning of yet another academic school year. Each year, it seems more and more classes are considered unnecessary or too expensive and cut out of the budgets. Our students need many of these classes to reach their full potential and survive in the working and business worlds. Here are five such classes that do not need to go.

1. Cursive handwriting

I did a blog on this entire subject last year. It's sad when anyone born after 1994 cannot properly sign their name or has poor penmanship. There is very little excuse for this.

2. Home Economics.

Either Home Ec has been phased out of schools, or restructured into family and consumer science. Now why I don't believe we should simply be training students to be stay at home housekeepers, there are many useful skills that home economics teaches. You have cooking and sewing of course, taking care of home, and overall being and living healthy. This skill set cannot be lost on our youth.

3. Physical education.

Children nowadays are already inactive and obese enough. Physical education (P.E.). teaches physical skills, activities and health and wellness, all essential for good living as an adult. No one seems to play as much as recess and score is rarely kept in sports. Kids need to understand the importance of staying active and fair play.

4. The arts (music, art, band, chorus)

Playing instruments and being creative enchance the brain. Also, there may be those that want a career as a musicial or a conceptual artist. No child should be left behind, or otherwise Iimited.

5. Honors and AP classes

Students of higher intellect are challenged more in these types of classes, and it helps tremendously in college prep. Plus it's always a bonus if one can earn college credit.

Please let's not limit our young students. It's bad enough that many schools have curriculums setup to teach to standardized tests. How about we teach our students to think, be creative and offer them a wide variety of choices and options? I believe it would help us become more competitive with other countries as well.

Which classes do you think they should reinstate? Are they any classes that you think are unnecessary?