Read on to get a practical approach in life
School education is a crucial stage of learning and forms a major part of the learning journey of every individual. From the formation of sentence, to
School education is a crucial stage of learning and forms a major part of the learning journey of every individual. From the formation of sentence, to the writing of an essay, from a definition of matter, to those biology practicals and chemistry experiments, everything is taught in school. But, school learning emphasizes on theoretical learning, rather than practical learning. A school is a place where a child is taught about what is time, how to measure time, but how to manage time is never taught in a school. Not only practical skills and know-how, but, there are several other things which are never taught in school, they are never taught anywhere; that is something an individual needs to develop from within with the flowing time and experience. Further, you will read about a few of those things which are not taught in schools; they can be either practically needed skills or management of some difficult aspects of life.
How to think: Nobody will teach you how to think. Thinking is a crucial aspect of every stage of life, whether it is thinking about a suitable career, or thinking about new ideas for your art. This is something one should develop themselves. The process of thinking can involve looking for ideas and inspirations from different sources like people, experts, or the web. Thinking is a self-inspired process that is unique for all. When people are asked to think out of the box, it only means that they are expected to bring out ideas that are uncommon or that are unexplored yet. But, how can you teach anybody about how to think? Thinking can be theoretically approached or practically approached. Schools can teach you about what all can you think about, e.g. you can think about nature, the technology, etc. but, they will not teach you how to think.
Thinking out of the box: Exploring the creative side and thinking ideas that are uncommon and unique is something that makes every person excel in the field of work. School teaches us to move with the flow, and do everything which is taught to us. Tasks and time are not organized in such a manner which may make students think out of the box. Do not think out of the box, think like there is no box. Remember, you can excel only if you do something more than everyone else is doing, and that is not taught in school.
How to face failure: Failures are the stairs heading up towards success. One should know how to face failures in life, how to keep the motivation high always, and how to keep oneself away from letting down and giving up. Failures may break a person. With continuous failures, people give up their efforts. Teachers never teach them how to face failures. Students may be scolded or sympathized for low scores or failures, but, they are never taught how to face such conditions.
How to read a financial statement: Reading a financial statement sounds like an accountants’ job. But, every common person, irrespective of the field, should know how to read financial statements of organizations. To a layman, financial statements seem like a collection of random numbers and a lot of heads and sub-heads written before them. Reading financial statements is nothing like a rocket science, it only takes a little understanding of finance. remember, if you cannot read financial statements, you can never be a good investor.
How to invest money: Investing is the best way to increase your money manifold. But, to be a good investor, certain analytical skills should be present in a person, like, reading financial statements, keeping an update of the economic conditions, and trying to ascertain prospects of growth and downfall. These things are never taught in school. but, investing is something everyone should know about. In some or the other way, every individual invests money, whether it is through depositing the money in banks which give light returns without risk, or investing it in big and small companies through the stock markets with the risk factor. But, investing needs a good analysis of numerous factors to conclude about the best suitable source of investment.
How to find your passion: Schools teach us the theoretical lessons organized as subjects and some skills through extra-curricular programs. But, who knows what we like doing? Who knows what we are interested in doing? How can we find that skill which is made for us? Finding your passion is very essential to excel in life, with a positive motivation and true willingness to do work. Finding a passion may sound easy, but it is not. It may take some time, energy, and a lot of patience. We can try multiple things which interest us to find the passion to follow. Everybody wants to do what they enjoy, but, first they need to know what they enjoy. Finding a passion that interests you, which you enjoy, and which brings you good money is the real reason behind why everyone should find their passion in life.
How to make an impact: Making an impact is not easy, and there is no diploma course for that. Being impactful is a skill that every human must possess, irrespective of the field of work they are associated with. If it is a business, making an impression on clients is the root of success. If it is a job, making an impact on both, superiors and subordinates is very important to survive and grow in the organization. This is not only for adults, even students at every level, who participate in competitions need this skill, because, winning a competition is all about making an impact on the jury members. you can make your impact on others through your words, your work, your way of doing things, every step, taken perfectly, makes an influence on people around you.
The importance of travel: Traveling has uncountable benefits. It is not just a recreational activity, but also comes with loads of benefits of mental and physical health. With research and surveys, it is proven that traveling improves a person’s efficiency to work and helps in adding on numerous skills, that are not taught in schools. Not to say much about it, but traveling is not an aspect worth ignoring or keeping aside. It has present as well as future benefits. It does not matter whether it is just a single day outing, or a fortnight’s plan in some other state/country, the benefits can be extracted from both.
Emotional awareness/intelligence: Understanding emotions is not taught anywhere. How to understand emotions and how to tackle them is a much-needed thing. To deal with people efficiently, you should have good emotional awareness. It is not only about understanding others’ emotions, but also our own. This is very important to handle a team of people. Emotional intelligence is not taught in schools.
How income tax works: Schools give you the knowledge which further helps you to generate income in the future. But, do they teach you how income tax works? No. Think about it, you start earning good, but before you start, you need to get the knowledge of how income tax is paid. however, most of the companies do this work for their employees. Income tax is deducted out of the salary and is paid out by the employer itself. If not, how will you pay your income tax?
Managing mental health: Mental health is equally important as physical health. Understanding and dealing with mental health is important to learn. A leader who gives due importance to his team’s mental health is said to be an efficient leader. When a leader his happy, he can keep his team happy; if a leader is not happy, how can he keep his team happy? Mental health is a wide concept and includes many aspects of work including appreciation by words, motivation, monetary incentives, and many more.
How to sell: Your skills and talents are of no relevance if you cannot make money out of them. Monetizing your skills needs the ability to sell them. This is about marketing, but not completely about marketing, it is about a lot more things, which are never included in the school curriculum. Selling goods and services is not an easy task. Impressing customers and clients is like a bed of roses, it looks easy, but, it is not, it has major chances of failure. Selling needs good communication skills, marketing skills, and identification of the target market. 
How to negotiate: To make deals of selling, purchasing, or exchanging goods, it is crucial to negotiate to get the best possible deals from the trading party. Negotiating is not only for business deals, but also required while setting your pay scale with your employer. Negotiating with people is compulsory to get maximum possible benefits.
How to manage time: Time management is one of the essential qualities if you want to live a well-organized life. Time management is required at every stage of life, whether it is school-life, college-life, employment/business, or even housekeeping. The person who manages time is the one of becomes successful. Completion of multiple tasks in a day with fixed deadlines helps people to be work-efficient. This gives a kind of confidence and positivity when you are on the top of your work schedule, and when you go to bed, you do not have any pending burden on your head.
Principles of success: Success, what we all are greedy for, is a process. To achieve success, major or minor, needs some principles to be followed, like, time management, organizing, consistency, etc. Nobody comes and teaches a child about what are the stairs which lead the path towards success. This needs to be learned and acquired by self. Success is a journey, not a destination. Following the crucial principles of success is needed to attain our final goal. It gives us the small steps, which when combined, help us to achieve our ultimate goal.
How to handle money: The ultimate greed of earning money is to fulfill the wants. Human wants are unlimited. Once there is a consistent source of income, people start spending it to fulfill their wants. Learning to handle money is very important. Needless disposal of income should be avoided and money should be managed wisely. Students should be taught that they should neither be a spendthrift, nor a miser. This is essential for leading a well-managed life, where we spend on what we need and save the rest for the future.
How to start a business: Young and potential entrepreneurs should have proper systematic knowledge about setting up a business. Wisdom and awareness about the planning and implementation is crucial. Young minds are innovative and analytical thinkers. If provided with the right knowledge and opportunity, they can work wonders. Students should be taught about all the basics of starting a business with all the know-how of initial plans, organizing activities, and everything about it.
How to find a job: Getting the knowledge and the required skills is one thing, but, implementing it and getting a job to monetize your knowledge is another thing. Finding a job is not easy. It takes a lot to do that, like creating a good CV, gaining confidence for the interview, and most importantly, finding the right employer who needs people like you. There are websites and intermediaries which can help you in getting jobs. If you are one of the top performers in college, there are high probabilities of getting a placement from the college campus, but if not, then you may be at risk. No school teaches you how to find a job.
How to communicate well: Communication is the key to getting benefit from opportunities, whether it is a job, a business, a school contest, or your life problems. Communication has the problem to solve problems. It is a much-needed skill in every phase of life. Being good at communication can help you make good friends, spread happiness, perform excellently at work, and outstanding in a crowd. 
Minute household repairs: Regular household repairs can be easily managed by you and you can avoid calling an electrician or a plumber for minute things and make your pocket happy. Tasks like changing light bulbs, correcting a minute fault in the electric wiring, water leakage, etc. can be carried out by yourself. These things must be known to everybody. Even some electronic devices can be repaired if there are not any major defects. They not only save money, but also help in times of urgencies. 
How to manage the home: Managing household chores is not only a homemaker’s job. Everyone should know how to manage the home. Even a working person should learn the basics of cooking, how to wash clothes, dirty dishes, cleaning the house, and other little tasks. It helps in meeting uncertainties whenever the homemaker is sick, or he/she might need to go out for a day or two. The other members of the family must know how to manage the house in times of unavailability of the homemaker. 
Cooking and baking: Cooking is an essential element of housekeeping. The basics of cooking and baking should be known by every family member. Kitchen skills are always helpful; they are never a waste. You can cook anytime whenever you are alone at home, or the one who cooks daily is not available. Not only this, cooking yourself gives you a special level of fulfillment and happiness. This can be a help to yourself, as well as to others. 
Simple sewing: You never know when your dress can get stuck in a nail, or when it gets torn while you are wearing it. We cannot predict these uncertainties. A mini sewing kit should be a part of your travel packing always. You should know simple sewing and button tucking. Such things sound useless, but nobody realizes their importance unless and until they get stuck in such an uncertain condition. It does not take much effort to learn basic mending, tailoring, stitching, and button tucking. Once learned, it can be a boon to you for the rest of your life.
Dressing: A good dressing sense is needed everywhere you go, whether it is a party, workplace, or an outing. School never teaches you to dress up. Dressing sense of a person plays an important role in the presentation of personality. Good clothes give you self-confidence. People are more magnetized towards those who dress up well. It may sound like a simple and general thing, but you need to understand that you cannot wear your glittery party dresses at your office, and you cannot go to a party in a formal shirt. It is not only about choosing the type of clothes, but also the colors. When you dress up, you need to choose the color combination wisely. 
Practicing sustainable development: Schools teach us what is sustainable development and why sustainable development, but they never teach us how to practice sustainable development. Just teaching kids about switching off lights and closing taps when not in use is not enough. The world is far bigger than we assume. We can protect it only if each one of us does the best we can. Students should be taught about sustainable development through practical projects and trainings.
Giving a first aid: Do accidents take place with a warning? If they did, then they would not be called accidents. We never know when do we fall down the stairs or when a kid can fall while playing. Everybody should know how to give first aid. It is not typical. It is just a kind of first-hand help given to the injured/hurt person to prevent serious consequences of the injury. First-aid is very important as it can be useful to you and others around you. This is not taught to students in school. 
Feminism: We hear about gender-equality and similar concepts when we step into the real world. This concept should be introduced in the later years of school so that children can realize its importance when their brains are in the learning process, so that, when they step out, these values are embedded in them and, they respect everybody and stay away from discrimination.
Cyberbullying/digital rules: Every person using technology must be aware of the threats of cyberbullying. There are digital rules which must be followed. Before we share things socially and make bonds with strangers, we should consider and check a lot of things like being aware of the do’s and don’t’s of the cyber world. When children are taught about the pros and cons of technology, they should also be taught about the cyber world.
How insurance works: There is no school or university course to teach you how insurance works. Insurance, being a necessity, should be known to everyone. Unless and until a person knows about insurance, how will he/she will be able to choose a good insurance plan? Insurance covers health risks. In many countries, the government provides insurance facilities to all citizens with cheaper premium plans. A person cannot choose a good and most suitable insurance plan without the proper know-how. Some basic knowledge about insurance should be imparted in schools.
Government and law: A common man, being a respectable citizen of a country, must know about the working of the government. Everybody should know the basic laws of their respective countries. These things make the citizens more aware of their rights and duties. Taxpayers should know how their money is being utilized. Voters should know what are the duties of their leaders and how much they are fulfilling them.
Preparing for emergencies: It is important to be prepared for emergencies rather than getting anxious at that time. Keeping a first aid box, carrying a small travel kit, maintaining provisions for uncertainties are all forms of preparing for emergencies. This factor is all about rooting out that fear and anxiety and act bravely in unpredictable situations. How to face emergencies is not taught in schools.
Smart work, not hard work: We always read that we should do hard work to achieve success. But, why only hard work? Why not partly hard work and partly smart work? Hard work, when combined with smart work, gives the best results. Reading a lesson again and again to learn it is hard work; making flowcharts and diagrams to retain it in mind is smart work.
How to deal with real-world problems: We study simple and some complex word problems in mathematics that look like real-life problems. Do schools ever teach us what to do when you are not able to make agreements with your parents’ opinions? What to do if we get stuck somewhere? No! They say that they are preparing students for a bright future. But they do not tell them how to tackle real-world problems when those spoon-fed children step out in the real, competitive world.
Importance of mistakes: We should learn from our mistakes. Mistakes should not be seen as factors where we are lagging, instead, they should be seen as opportunities where we can improve. We should not take mistakes to be negative comments. They teach us new and other correct ways to do the same task. Everybody makes mistakes. But, those who learn from them are the ones who sustain. 
Being happy: Happiness is an avoidable part of everything we do. We should be happy. Happiness promotes the emergence of various other positive emotions in us, like motivation, optimism, and gratefulness. A happy person can make other people around him happy. Happiness, when shared, multiplies. It is also a way of keeping the body healthy. It is said that a sad mind always gives way to an unhealthy body.
The above-stated skills should be embedded in every child before he/she is sent into the real-world battle
