Schools Need to Teach Adulting

You and your friends are watching a horror movie together, the air heavy with suspense. Without warning, the lights shut off and the screen goes blank. Everyone screams. None of your neighbors lost power. 

“Did you pay your power bill?” your friend asks, “Notices were sent in the mail, no?”

“Oh. Was that what those letters were for? I thought they were just junkmail.”

While seemingly common sense, this is just one example of how schools fail to prepare today’s youth for the life ahead of them. With Gen Z entering the adult world, it is becoming more and more evident that access to the internet as a replacement for basic generational wisdom has left many unprepared.

There are countless concepts to learn about adulting which are essential to succeeding as an adult. Knowledge of finances, taxes, cooking, cleaning, time management, social skills, and more is necessary for daily life, but schools primarily focus on educational values rather than preparing a student to be an adult. 

The time period of their teenage years to adulthood feels like a breeze. Through the short transition, people are expected to suddenly accept the new role with minimal assistance, as our culture tends to value independence at that age. Young adults believe that they are thoroughly prepared to live in the real world until they are faced with household tasks that seem easy at face value. When you aren’t the one in charge of these tasks, it is easy to dismiss their complexity. In high school and college, students are so consumed with their career choices that, when adulthood reaches, they don’t know what to expect or who to turn to.

Although one might think that such available access to the internet would have bred a generation of geniuses with endless information at their fingertips, it has made it easier for parents to take a back seat in their child’s education. While young adults once would turn to their parents to ask for help with homework and advice on life, the phrase, “Google it,” has taken over. This leaves them with impersonal advice, often from unqualified strangers on social media. 

As the world modernizes, creating a whole new set of necessary life skills, the classes that used to teach them are disappearing. From 2003 to 2013, one report showed a 38% decline in enrollment in home economics classes. A decade later, we can see the exacerbation of this trend year after year. 

One of the main causes of the decline comes from the competitive nature of college admissions these days, with a hyperfocus on taking the hardest classes available to get a leg up on others. With limited space in class schedules, many will prioritize academic and career-oriented electives over a class often coined as outdated. In our school, life skills education most frequently comes from health, an unremarkable class that is often not taken very seriously and is rushed through in a short time frame.

We need to put more emphasis on these classes rather than making them a short course most students take over the summer. While the option to take it over the summer is fine, the class itself needs to be more substantial. From personal experience, the class can easily earn an A by spending 30 minutes half asleep each morning finishing the course work. When the class itself is treated like it’s nothing, how can we expect the students to engage in those life skills.

Another option is bringing back a home economics class. A lot of the skills are not only vital, but fun. This can be seen by the popularity of the culinary class. By giving students the option to take this as a practical art, students can earn credits while also earning valuable life experiences. Many students look for rewarding classes to take that aren’t heavy on academics, whether they are freshmen trying to adjust to high school life or burnt out upperclassmen.

Our current generation is lacking adequate knowledge in simple activities such as filing taxes or maintaining bills. Gen Z is going into the real-world completely unprepared for their future, but fortunately, there are many ways to resist this reoccurring issue. Economics, business, and health are insightful subjects that offer students a clear understanding of adulting skills. 

Naturally, parents feel like it's their job to guide their kids on what to expect and how to handle adulthood, however schools also need to make an effort in teaching their students on the values of adulting. Rather than blaming young people for the shortcomings of their education, schools taking a step back into the domestic lives of students could curb this knowledge gap. Afterall, the purpose of school should be to guide students into the real world.