A student prepares night and day to give their speech.  They stand in front of their peers, hands sweating, knees weak, throat closing, and eyes welling with tears, dreading the impending embarrassment.

“What if I mess up?” they think, “the class will ridicule me, it will be a mistake remembered for generations…”

Then, they give the speech.  Although adrenaline is still running through their veins, everything seems calmer somehow, and speaking in front of others feels a little less terrifying.  The more speeches, the less fear.

Public speaking is a tool that can be utilized in a million different ways and helps in many aspects of life.  Any and all jobs require public speaking, from politicians to athletes, unless someone becomes successful enough to pay someone else to speak for them.

From public speaking, leadership skills such as confidence, patience and open mindedness develop.  It becomes easier to talk to others and inspire them due to more experience and knowledge in a number of things, opening one’s mind to others opinions.  Patience comes in handy when trying to educate others, who might not want to listen.

Speech skills greatly improve communication in a very roundabout way.  To sound impressive, a thesaurus is useful, and eventually an arsenal of words is at any speech givers disposal.  Speeches, essays, or everyday vernacular sound more impressive with a plethora of complex vocabulary.

Thinking skills are clearly quintessential to life, and public speaking helps develop critical thinking skills.  According to boundless.com, public speaking helps a person become more analytical when speaking about claims, beliefs and issues.  Having a stronger and more analytical thought process builds intelligence.

Speaking in public is terrifying and, at times, humiliating.  But in the long run, it helps improve vocabulary, thought process, patience and critical thinking skills.  By teaching children to speak in public, schools are preparing them for a lifetime of confidence building and impressing people as they grow.