Opinion: Teach CPR in School

Photo available under Creative Commons licensing

Photo available under Creative Commons licensing

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) practices are very important to good health and safety. Yet, many kids don’t know how to do these. This is why I think CPR/AED education should be brought into schools. 

There aren’t many places where you can learn these skills, other than online classes or, if you are in college, taking a health class. Not only is it an important life skill, but you can also save somebody’s life with the skill of knowing CPR. 

In addition, there are many job benefits from knowing how to perform CPR. If somebody were to apply for a job as a babysitter in high school, they could bring up that they have skills with CPR. Knowing how to save somebody’s life in case of cardiac emergencies can have great benefits, even if you don’t ever have to use those skills in a real-life situation. 

As somebody who was learning CPR briefly, it really isn’t as hard as it sounds — even though I did online classes. If you do practice CPR, you are required to re-take lessons every two years to make sure that you remember how to perform CPR safely. This would be useful to learn in schools because if lessons start in fourth grade, you would have two weeks to finish the course and then you would wait until sixth to retake it. In all, it would be a great idea for schools to start having kids work on CPR, in class and outside of it.