This High School Is Teaching Teens How to Change Tires and Other Normal Tasks Via ‘Adulting 101’
Gone are the days of teens not knowing how to change their oil—at least, for students of this Kentucky school.
One Kentucky high school is teaching its students basic life skills to prepare them for the outside world. “Adulting 101” is a class offered at Fern Valley High School in Louisville that covers topics ranging from how to properly wash and dry clothes to changing a flat tire.
As home economics, shop, and auto tech have gone the way of the dinosaur or moved mostly to vocational schools, many high school graduates are leaving the security of their parents’ homes with no idea about how to deal with some of life’s most common problems. Enter Fern Creek High School, where students can take the three-day course which covers topics like money, home and health, professional life, and even basic auto maintenance.
The school’s College Access Resource teacher, Sara Wilson-Abell, created the class after hearing from several students that the topics were a complete mystery to them. This is the first year that the course has been offered, and on one of the three days, an automotive expert visited the students to discuss a few of the most common auto maintenance issues.
Changing a spare tire or checking the oil on your vehicle may be second nature to most of you reading, but for many kids even the most basic auto maintenance is intimidating. “I know I have a spare tire in my car, but I would have known nothing to do with it,” one senior said.
The term “adulting” has entered mainstream conversations in a big way recently, earning its way into countless memes and media discussions. Many experts and higher education leaders have been pushing for similar opportunities at the high school level, especially for topics relating to financial literacy and health. There is a strong argument for including life skills education at the high school level, as many kids leave home with no ability to function on their own. At least the Fern Valley kids will graduate knowing how to change a flat tire.
h/t: Reddit and WLKY
