American youth sign up for adulting classes: young people can't pay bills, cook or even use a washing machine
Generation Z is enrolling in Adulthood 101 crash courses in a desperate attempt to learn the most basic things: how to do laundry, budget for rent, or navigate the grocery store without Googling "what is a turnip," writes New York Post.
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"I don't know how to change a tire. I don't even have a car. I don't know how to sew, or anything else. I can cook a little bit," Alden Garcia, a freshman at Toronto Metropolitan University in Canada, told CBC's The Current.
"For me, it is extremely important to teach children financial literacy. A lot of things in life are connected with money," he noted.
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And he’s not alone. Canadian colleges like the University of Waterloo are stepping up to the plate, offering online resources like Adulting 101, which covers everything from building healthy relationships to how not to set your kitchen on fire.
“There’s a lot missing from education that you need when you become an adult,” confirmed Bella Hudson, a third-year student at the same university. In an interview with a radio program, she said, “I wish there were courses that taught you how to manage yourself and your life.”
All this is not just a new fashion, but a cultural turning point.
Today's 20-somethings are entering adulthood without even the most basic "tool kit," says Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and author of Generations.
“Kids are growing up less independent. They’re not learning the skills they need to be an adult in school. And then they go to college and they still don’t know how to do anything,” Twenge said on The Current. “We’re sending them off into adulthood without the skills they need. And if they’re not learning how to make decisions and solve problems on their own, that creates some challenges.”
Twenge blames overprotective parents and a long growing up period, exacerbated by the fact that more young people are living with their parents.
"You're just more likely to remain financially dependent on your parents for longer," she concluded.
The same problem is observed in the USA.
“NYC high schools are failing students — not academically, but practically,” wrote Zach Leitner, a 10th-grader from New York City. “Until the 1960s, high school students in the Big Apple were taught how to cook, clean, and sew as part of the standard curriculum. In 2025, they’ll be lucky if they know how to do their own laundry.”
Leitner argues that forgotten home economics classes, eliminated during the women's rights movement, have robbed younger generations of essential life skills.
Today's teenagers, he says, enter adulthood without the slightest idea of how to fold a fitted sheet or roast a chicken.
"Today's youth need 'Adulthood 101' courses," he said. "The lack of these skills leaves them feeling lost when they first encounter real life."
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Pam Charbonneau, director of the University of Waterloo's Student Support Centre, agrees.
"What you are going through is normal. Many of your peers are going through the same thing," she told the students.
And while Twenge supports the universities' initiatives, she believes the real work needs to start earlier.
“Not teaching children practical skills means harming them,” she concluded.
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