A common complaint about the various math classes offered at the high school is “when will I ever use these equations in the real world?” This is something I have heard over and over since I took my first math class that contained more letters than numbers.

As I have grown throughout high school, I have continued taking higher level math courses. After my junior year, I decided I wanted to take the easy way out and enjoy my senior year of high school instead of stressing over homework every night. Thus, I enrolled in Business Math.

I had been told how easy this class was and that I would not struggle in it at all, so my expectations were exactly that. However, as the semester went by, I grew to actually like this class and began to benefit a lot from it.

Unlike other courses, the things learned in Business Math pertain to real world circumstances. We learned how to budget, grow interest on money, stay out of debt, save and pay cash for big purchases, get out of debt, and many other valuable subjects.

Due to this aspect of the class, I think that Business Math should be added to the list of required subjects for a student to take before they graduate. There are many beneficial lessons that come out of this subject and they can help students learn things for their futures.

During this class, one of the lessons has to do with saving up money and earning interest on it. This is helpful for younger people to learn because the sooner that money is put away, the longer it builds interests, and it ends in more money. Not many high schoolers are aware of how early they should start saving, but this class teaches them to get a head start and in the end, have a good amount of money in their account.

Another lesson this class teaches is staying out of debt and paying cash for things. This is helpful to teach young teenagers because they may not have good role models when it comes to money. Most people grow up thinking that having debt is inevitable and they will need to take out loans for many things throughout their lives. But, this class shows that this is not a necessity and there are many easy techniques to use to stay out of debt.

Last but not least, another beneficial lesson that was a part of the class is how to pay for college. This is so important because it explains how looking for those scholarships that no one applies for, getting grants, filing for FAFSA, and working a job to help pay off the tuition can help lead to college graduation debt-free. Many student do not go to college or drop out because of financial problems, but this problem can be avoided if they are just taught how to work around that.

Making Business Math a required class will take away student’s feeling of all math classes being pointless. This class is often overlooked, or just thought of as an easy A, but in reality, it can be very helpful to students who may not be in the best financial state at home, or have not been taught how to handle money from their parents. This class teaches real world skills and should be taken by all seniors wanting to go out and have a stable adult life.