Mitch Albom: Adulting 101? Did we use to take that course at home?

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2 days ago

I took a lot of classes at college, but never one in how to become an adult. That I had to learn on my own.
Apparently, I was born at the wrong time. Several universities, including Michigan State, are responding to an apparent lack of basic life skills by offering programs to undergrads in how to be a grown-up.
No joke. According to Vice: 'They can edit videos in their sleep and build TikTok empires — but ask some Gen Z college students to roast a chicken or figure out a lease, and they're turning to 'Adulting 101' crash courses to fill in the blanks.'
Adulting 101? That would have been a punch line 40 years ago. Today, according to the schools that offer them, such classes are amongst their most popular. Topics include cleaning, budgeting, healthy eating, maintaining your living space, even 'how to ask for help.'
What? You mean Siri doesn't take care of that?
Now the easy thing would be to criticize today's parents for not providing these skills. To criticize today's kids for being too spoiled to learn them. To criticize today's high schools for dropping home economics, shop, bookkeeping. To criticize today's society for creating too many distractions in the name of money, ratings and social media clicks.
That would be the easy thing.
Also, the correct thing.
So I'm going to do it.
It's ridiculous that a university has to offer classes in how to sew, make a chicken or balance a basic checkbook. Yes, high schools once taught such things. But the truth is, if you can learn to post a selfie, you can learn to change a tire. If you can discern when to use a dozen different emojis, you can figure out which column means 'deposit' and which means 'withdrawal.'
Our kids' inability to master basic adulting skills isn't a lack of intelligence or maturity. It's a lack of examples. Or desire.
Let's start with the examples. That means mother and father. Sorry to have to whip out the old 'when I was a kid' card, but there's no better way to explain it. When I turned 11, my father said it was time for me to pull my own weight. Allowance stopped. I was told to get a summer job, which I did, selling programs at a baseball stadium.
When I came home with money, I put it in my bank account, which, like so many kids in our neighborhood, my parents had helped me open. Before I had a hair on my chin, I knew how to write down the few dollars I was putting in from birthday gifts, and what I was taking out.
Checking the oil in a car? Not hard. All you need is Dad or Mom to show you where the dipstick is, and maybe remind you to always have the car engine off.
How to sew? How to scramble eggs? How to apply for a job? These are things that used to be standard knowledge in a family, taught by parents, grandparents, visiting relatives.
If they are not being taught now, it can only be because the parents don't insist on it, or are too preoccupied themselves, or are split up and not prioritizing their kids' development, or are worn out from trying to get their children to look up from their phones.
Which brings us to the other reason. Lack of desire.
Until they reach college, I'm not sure how many kids today even want to grow up. Life is better when Mom, Dad or Siri take care of everything.
Back when we turned 16 or 17, we were salivating to drive. Today, you hear about kids who don't want to bother, because they don't want the responsibility.
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When we were young, you couldn't buy anything unless you had cash in your pocket. Today, teenagers can order fast food on DoorDash and actually pay for it on a layaway plan.
And back then, the idea of living at home after you graduated high school was embarrassing. Today, a recent 'Jeopardy' winner, a 27-year-old unemployed man with a master's degree in political science, asked to be introduced as 'a stay-at-home son.'
A stay-at-home son?
What's ironic is that many of these kids who seem miles from adulthood have probably crisscrossed the country playing travel ball or had computers since they were 10 or can overlay music onto a TikTok video of themselves dancing.
But they can't work a mop.
What's the difference between those things? Simple. Some you want to do. The others you don't. That's not a good enough excuse.
As any adult will tell you.
I also hear a lot about how this is due to COVID-19, kids staying inside, doing virtual schooling. Yeah. No. Sorry. COVID was awful. But so was the Depression. So was World War II. People who lived through those things came out more mature, not less. Don't tell me that having to do your history class online somehow prevented you from learning how put air in a tire.
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The truth is, universities are offering Adulting 101 because growing up has become an elective. Yet that hasn't stopped college kids from telling the world how it should behave.
So maybe, just as there are proficiency exams for language, math and other disciplines, so, too, should there be a minimum level of adulthood before college admission is granted.
For example, no one gets admitted if he or she can't fill a car with gas. Or know what temperature water you use with whites versus colors. Or write a check. Or construct a letter. Or get insurance. Or tie a tie. Or understand minimum wage. Or utilize everything in a first-aid kit.
It may not sound like fun, but trust us, kids, this is for your own good.
The only person who never had to grow up was Peter Pan. And do you really want to wear green tights for the rest of your life?
Contact Mitch Albom: [e-mail]. Check out the latest updates with his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow him @mitchalbom.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mitch Albom: Adulting 101? Did we use to take that course at home?