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Many public reference centers offer targeted classes for emerging adults in particular, teaching everything from car repair and financial literacy to job huntin

Many public reference centers offer targeted classes for emerging adults in particular, teaching everything from car repair and financial literacy to job hunting and general adulting. “Things that used to be taught in schools,” Clarke notes. Sad. Really sad.

Spivak 9y ago
Isn't it a good thing that these skills are disconnected from formal education so they can be made available to people of all backgrounds and ages?
- lr4444lr 9y ago
  The right to education was loosely actualized in America but remains low quality if people exit without skills in personal finance, for example. Unfortunately, there is no "right" to a library, let alone one that offers such enrichment. I'm all for programs in libraries that also help adults learn how to read at an 8th grade level, but the need for that in the first place I see it as symptomatic of how badly our schools would be doing, not as a positive thing in and of itself.
- icebraining 9y ago
  One thing doesn't prevent the other.
- fludlight 9y ago
  Community colleges in California provide this sort of thing for everything from the hard sciences to vocational training. Classes often have a mix of demographics: high school students, students using the CC as the first two years of a four year uni degree (it used to be easy to transfer to a four year state school, of which CA has about 30), professionals earning continuing education credits for certain licensed fields, career changers, veterans on the GI bill, 30/40/50 year olds getting a college degree for the first time, and even some bored old people there for fun.
ourmandave 9y ago
The 4,000 page Sam's Teach Yourself Adulting in 24 Hours needs to happen.
freehunter 9y ago
What's really a shame is that people aren't taking home economics classes in school, and then are exiting school saying "I don't know how to adult". All of the "adulting" skills are taught in home ec! I'm a late-20s male who can crochet, sew, cook, balance a checkbook, load a dishwasher, and tons of other basic household tasks that other millennials fail to do. It's not because my parents taught me. It's because I took home economics classes as an elective in middle school and high school. If your school offers home ec, take it! These are valuable life skills that you absolutely need to have. You don't need an "adulting 101" book, you need home economics in school.

Spivak 9y ago

Isn't it a good thing that these skills are disconnected from formal education so they can be made available to people of all backgrounds and ages?

lr4444lr 9y ago
The right to education was loosely actualized in America but remains low quality if people exit without skills in personal finance, for example. Unfortunately, there is no "right" to a library, let alone one that offers such enrichment. I'm all for programs in libraries that also help adults learn how to read at an 8th grade level, but the need for that in the first place I see it as symptomatic of how badly our schools would be doing, not as a positive thing in and of itself.
icebraining 9y ago
One thing doesn't prevent the other.
fludlight 9y ago
Community colleges in California provide this sort of thing for everything from the hard sciences to vocational training. Classes often have a mix of demographics: high school students, students using the CC as the first two years of a four year uni degree (it used to be easy to transfer to a four year state school, of which CA has about 30), professionals earning continuing education credits for certain licensed fields, career changers, veterans on the GI bill, 30/40/50 year olds getting a college degree for the first time, and even some bored old people there for fun.

ourmandave 9y ago

The 4,000 page Sam's Teach Yourself Adulting in 24 Hours needs to happen.

freehunter 9y ago

What's really a shame is that people aren't taking home economics classes in school, and then are exiting school saying "I don't know how to adult". All of the "adulting" skills are taught in home ec! I'm a late-20s male who can crochet, sew, cook, balance a checkbook, load a dishwasher, and tons of other basic household tasks that other millennials fail to do. It's not because my parents taught me. It's because I took home economics classes as an elective in middle school and high school. If your school offers home ec, take it! These are valuable life skills that you absolutely need to have. You don't need an "adulting 101" book, you need home economics in school.