Back to School

We should all go back to school.

Yes, I mean that. Think of the many things we take for granted in our daily lives that are always changing, such as traffic laws, tax laws, using the internet or that new gadget. Did you think that the rules you studied for your driver’s license would never change? How many years ago was that?

Many professions require strict conformity to laws and codes and the only way to keep up with that is by earning continuing education credits. Examples of these professions include electricians, plumbers, doctors, lawyers, etc. You wouldn’t hire an electrician or plumber for a remodeling project whose last training was in 1980, would you? 

So, what makes any of us think that we can just go through life with the knowledge we attained in high school or post-secondary education? How would you know a car mechanic is not ripping you off for brake repair if you don’t know how brakes work on a car? You might argue that that’s why you hire the pros – because you can’t know everything. There are always sources like Angie’s List, if you want to pay for those service recommendations. But wouldn’t it be nice if you had a good idea of what was being done when you hire someone? Something more than “just fix it.”

What if we could take brief training on a wide variety of things we encounter in life that would give us more confidence when making decisions? Maybe the service you hire has a document or YouTube video on exactly what they will be doing.

We always learn about some things through the news and by observation. But is that enough? What about new laws? How did you learn how to drive through a roundabout? Probably by just doing it. How about a practice roundabout that you could drive through in slow motion? Short courses (with tests) under the umbrella of “Things You Need to Know to Survive Life” sounds pretty good to me.

Often, the people who are most up-to-date on laws (besides law enforcement) are those who have broken them. Is that a good way to learn? Could be expensive. OK, so you attend the 55 Alive training every five years in order to lower your insurance costs. Good for you – if you are 55 or older. Do you also review traffic laws each year to see what changed? Minnesota law requires that you must pass a knowledge test, a vision test and pass a road test to get a license. Other than getting a vision test when renewing your license, that’s it for life, unless you violate traffic laws that require retesting.

How well do you know the U.S. Constitution? Have you kept up on state and federal laws? Who are your representatives in government? You may remember Khizr Khan, the immigrant whose son was killed in military service to the country. He claims to have studied the constitution and carries a copy of it with him at all times. Are immigrants and students the only ones who know this stuff? Do those that are arguing about the First and Second Amendments even know what they say and what they meant at the time they were written?

We have many opportunities to keep up with changes in technology and laws. We have the internet, of course, although you need to be careful about what the sources are. We have community education courses that are great opportunities to bone up on some things and take a stab at something you always wanted to study but didn’t know where to start. From retirement planning to baking to car maintenance, there is something for everyone. But community ed. can’t cover everything. Training is available all over the place but it is not organized, up-to-date or easy to find.

School curricula are packed with required courses, leaving little or no time for the practical courses I wished for. It would have been nice if high school required basic skills training in areas that I could use later in life. I would have loved to learn how to fix a lawn mower, how houses are designed, built, plumbed and electrified, and how to cook something more extravagant than boiling wieners. (My dad excelled at that and I learned from the best.) I remember being jealous of some classmates in eighth grade who were taught how to balance a checkbook. My math section just studied fractions over and over – important, but less valuable than learning something that would be used in real life.

So, what can be done about this? Adults are trainable. We still value knowledge, just maybe in the wrong way. We watch game shows based on trivia and are proud to know things like the name of the third track on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album (On the Run) but we don’t know that the center lane on Hwy. 61 through town is not a merge lane.

Here’s an example of what I think we should do. Driving is critical to our well-being but mishaps can have life-changing or life-ending consequences. What if you were required to pass both a knowledge test and a driver test every five years? Sound unreasonable and expensive? OK, let’s start slowly and just have online practice tests, maybe game shows based on traffic laws. See how it goes. (We should soon have time for this since we’ll be completing our taxes on a postcard-sized form in less than five minutes.)

Let’s not stop there. The game show idea could include questions about our current government representatives, voting requirements, tread depth requirements, oil viscosity, and even measurement challenges such as the number of tablespoons in four pints and two cups (Google says 160). Maybe that will finally convince us to fully convert to the metric system.