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The Functional Gap

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A split-perspective photo of a wooden desk in the early morning light. On the left, a bright laptop screen represents the digital classroom. On the right, tactile items like a wallet, a calculator, and a handwritten budget sheet represent practical life skills.

As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today

Should high schools teach functional life skills? (e.g. cooking, filing taxes, budgeting, etc.)

As both a teacher and a parent, my answer is a resounding yes.

Part of my job—especially at the high school level—is preparing students for the “After.” Whether that’s college, trade school, or simply acclimating to the “real world,” teaching functional skills isn’t a bonus; it’s essential. Lord knows I could have used them when I was sitting in those same hallways.

A few years ago, while teaching 12th-grade English, I shifted the second semester toward a practical curriculum: budgeting, nutrition, and résumé writing. The student interest was there, but the curriculum lacked the “depth” a face-to-face environment requires.

Currently, I find myself in a bit of a “bridge era.” Because my current school is entirely online, I often feel more like a glorified computer lab monitor than a teacher. It’s professionally stifling. I miss the “Sanctuary Classroom” where I can look a student in the eye and talk about things that actually move the needle.

If I had the audacity to build a curriculum from scratch tomorrow, I’d start with Budgeting.

Let’s face it: kids in America love money. It’s practically hardwired into our DNA. But there is a massive gap between wanting money and managing it. I’d love to bring the local community into the classroom—bankers, tradespeople, professionals—to face students with the cold, hard reality of utilities, groceries, and the vanishing act of disposable income.

Ironically, half of my current building is dedicated to special needs programming where these “completion certificate” students are taught exactly these skills. Why aren’t we mainstreaming this for everyone? It’s the perfect “Option C”—choosing to teach the human, not just the test score.

I wonder, if we spent as much time teaching kids how to avoid ‘breadcrumbs’ in their bank accounts as we do on standardized prep, would they reach their goals a lot faster than we did?

Check back around 10:00 AM—I’m sharing a reflection on a piece I found that changed how I look at the ‘Fishbowl’ of learning.

Today’s post is inspired by the WordPress Daily Prompt. While I’ve taken the topic in my own direction for the Road to 1,000 Days, you can find more responses to today’s prompt HERE.

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AI art created with Google Gemini

The article “The Functional Gap” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.

A silhouette of Atlas holding the world, representing the strength and foundation of the first 13 years of Rebuilding Rob

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