There is a lot going on in the world right now. Many people are becoming divided. This has happened before in history and as the saying goes, “those who fail to learn it are doomed to repeat it.” I agree with this, especially with current events. How do we prevent this, and how do we change it? How do we make the world a better place? What I’m imagining is that things would have to change a lot.

The most impactful thing that I can think of adjusting would be the way schools teach kids. I think there should be at least one class period every year that teaches kids how to be kind, understanding, responsible, independent, etc. For example, younger kids (preschool or kindergarten) may start with a lesson on how to share toys and stuff, how to clean up their messes, how to calm down when getting upset and things like that. I know some schools already try to teach this but I think we need to teach it a little bit more. I believe by completing this, kids would make the school environment better, get in fewer fights, make less work for other people, be more responsible, and overall help everyone, including the Earth. I think kids older than that, probably around elementary, should have lessons on how to understand their emotions, learn how to understand the emotions of others, how their actions affect others, how to be responsible, and how to be themselves. Once more, I think this would make fewer fights and make school and home a happier place; we would have people being very responsible and open. We’d also have people being themselves which is amazing. I think to accomplish this, they have at least 5 years, their teachers could give them home tasks and school tasks to help with this. I think another focus should be school therapists. Students can meet at least once a month, so if they don’t want to they aren’t forced, but are still learning, and if they do want to they have the opportunity. 

Furthermore, I think once kids get into high school they should be taught how to manage work, school, and home life, and how to handle relationships, friendships, and how to complete taxes and bills. I think this would make it so high schoolers are a lot less stressed with things outside of school and for the future. I think possessing a book from school that shows tips and tricks for grown-up things like bills and taxes would be incredibly helpful for everyone. Again, I think teachers could assign tasks for students. At this point, they should be reasonably good with most emotions and responsibilities. I think at this time schools should still be doing therapy for students. I assume once people reach college they shouldn’t be required to see the therapists, but still should have access to it. I think once people get to college they shouldn’t need these classes anymore, but should have one that shows them how to enjoy the rest of their lives. I think this would help with adults being happier and more social, for example having friends and plans.

Another thing we can do is teach ourselves. We can go to therapy, and we can try to learn to be more open and understanding. Everyone can spend time with people who are different from us. Something I learned from my English class is that we can look at multiple sides of an argument, ask questions to understand, be more patient, be curious, stay engaged, and disagree with issues and not people. All of us can teach this to each other and our kids. We can alter the world and make it better, for us, our kids, and their future kids.

I think that if everyone does all these things, people will be less stressed, they’d comprehend feelings more and be nicer to people and objects. These days all of us struggle with people who think differently about things than we do or like different things. I don’t believe that’s acceptable for anyone. I believe the main way each person can fix this is by teaching the next generation how to be better and also making their parents (us) do better too. The kids would come home and share all the tips they learned from school with their parents. The world can start there instead of nowhere. We can also improve a little bit about ourselves, which may be harder and more frustrating. This is why I think we should teach the next generation because it’s a starting point.