Time Use Data and the American High School
In earlier posts, I made some suggestions on re-imagining the American High School based on the findings of the World Happiness Report. I wanted to update these suggestions based on information from the Time Use Data. This shows that students will migrate to new environments after high school including education institutions, employment, and new family situations. Personal decisions will be made in a variety of new areas.
School Metrics. Schools should think about how their activities will affect the success of their students after age 18. This could include surveys of a schools graduates or even of average people at age 28 or 30. To what extent are the lives of persons age 28 to 30 improving? Examples of measures could include
College completion rather than college admission,
Income against student loan obligations,
Health conditions
Caring relationships
Participation in charities and the strength of local community organizations
Civic participation
Feelings about institutions
General Levels of happiness
High School services – Based on long-term goals, schools should consider services for students after they graduate to navigate life through age 30. They should not ignore life outside high school to be sure students between the ages of 14 and 18 are learning through their experiences outside of school including work, caring, household work, organizations, and leisure time. This is necessary in addition to providing constructive recreational activities.
English Language Arts curriculum
The usefulness and corruption in media outlets
Comprehending instructional information from reading, listening, or electronic media.
The ethics of leisure and entertainment from a variety of sources including books, but also television and games
Interpersonal communications in a variety of circumstances as suggested by surveys of adults
Language arts as part of a career
Fine Arts curriculum
Understand how all art forms are combined in Electronic Media rather than just focusing on visual arts and music
Understand how to comprehend instruction material from visual arts
Understand how to use visual materials to communicate with people
Fine Arts as a part of a career
Science curriculum
The usefulness and corruption of science.
Science as part of a career
Vocational/Technical curriculum
Technology is used in households and in workplaces. Students should know the basic technologies
Understand how learn a new technology quickly.
Many adults want schools to teach traditional vocational courses.
Schools should not overly focus on vocational training. The time use data shows that future happiness of students will be determined by many thing beyond technical skills.
Technology use as a part of a career
Health curriculum
Personal Care
How to “care” for themselves, persons of both genders, and individuals across many age groups.
Social studies curriculum
The usefulness and corruption within a wide variety of institutions
Interpersonal skills gained from understanding the inner workings of many types of organizations to function well including families, employers, schools, and charities
Family formation and the Interpersonal Support and Caring inside and outside the family structures
Purchasing and financial decision making
Ethical issues associated with participation in charities, religion, and civic activities