The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Dear Editor,

I read the recent article on Waitsburg School District considering dropping Life Management Skills (LMS) as a requirement with interest and concern. I am a WHS graduate who benefited from taking Running Start classes in the mornings my senior year. Having exhausted most of my class options at the high school, my Running Start classes helped fill out my schedule, allowed me to earn some transferable college credits, and eased my transition to a four-year college.

Now, as a college professor, I may seem like the perfect advocate for doing away with the LMS requirement. Quite the contrary. LMS should be the LAST class to be moved from a requirement to an elective.

As my university is reviewing its current general education curriculum, I have asked many students what course(s) they feel should be required. Hands down, my students say that they wish they had taken a course in LMS. These are smart college students who are about to enter the job market or professional/graduate school. They may excel in anatomy, chemistry, and calculus, but they struggle to understand budgets and car insurance.

Everyone doesn’t go to college—this is information that they should get in high school. The fact that WWCC doesn’t offer an equivalent LMS course makes it imperative that WHS students take it at the high school. Running Start is a choice; LMS should be a requirement.

Elizabeth Abbey, PhD, RDN

Spokane