You go to school to learn how to read, write and do math but there is typically something lacking. When you graduate, you may be able to work your way through a book or do some basic addition and subtraction but that doesn’t mean that you are ready for life in general. The Bullitt Central High School in Shepherdsville, Kentucky is aiming to change that. The high school students are being taught how to adult and they have recently held a conference on ‘Adulting’. In an attempt to go beyond history and geography, they are teaching students the skills that are necessary to win at life in general.

There are more than 11 different workshops at the conference. Many topics associated with adult life were covered, from filing taxes to changing tires and even how to cook in a dorm room. It was hoped that the students would be able to use those skills successfully when they moved out into the real world.

Seniors at the high school where able to attend the conference last year. It seems like a wonderful idea and Bullitt High School may be setting the standard for other schools across the nation. Those students were required to choose 3 of the courses available through the conference. This was so that they could “gain more knowledge and skills pertaining to their lives once they leave us here at BCHS.” There were also other organizations in the community that helped to organize the event.

Included among the local partners were Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, Center for Women and Families, the Shepherdsville Police Department, the U.S. Army, and UPS. Not only did they help to organize the event, they were responsible for giving life lessons to the students and to enrich their abilities. Although the students may not walk away knowing everything they should know about being an adult, they are in a better position because of the conference.

“I think that the idea occurred to me originally, I saw a Facebook post that parents passed around saying they needed a class in high school on taxes, and cooking. Our kids can get that, but they have to choose it. And (Adulting Day) was a day they could pick and choose pieces they didn’t feel like they had gotten so far,” Christy Hardin, director of the BCHS Family Resource and Youth Services Center said.

Hardin was the primary coordinator of the event. They saw that students were walking away from school without some of the basic skills they needed for adult life. Some millennials are lacking skills but they are doing what is necessary to gain them through education. In essence, they are taking a ‘crash courses on adulting’.

A 29-year-old who attended cooking class in Queens,  Elena Toumaras had positive things to say about the class. She wished that she could have taken it when she was younger.

Toumaras said, “I don’t know, I was so used to when living at home, my mom always cooking. Doing simple things now that I’m on my own, I’m struggling with it.”

These classes are becoming even more popular in other areas. In Portland, Maine, online classes of ‘Adulting School’ are geared toward millennial’s who want to gain some of these life skills. Rachel Flehinger started these online classes and the website teaches things to their students, such as how to tell someone you love them, how to sew a button or even how to look at modern art.

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The US Census Bureau took a survey in 2015. According to the data, up to 34% of Americans between 18 and 34 are still living with their parents. In 2005, the figure stood at 26%.

Jonathan Vespa, a demographer said, “It’s more common than living with roommates and more common than living with a spouse.”

In other words, adults are now marrying later in life and starting a family at an older age. They will have to wait until they are older to figure out certain life skills that previous generations knew shortly after graduation.

“I’m always surprised about people not knowing what I think are the simple things as far as knife skills, or flavors that go together,” said Kim Calichio of TheConnectedChef.com. She doesn’t mind continuing to help millennial’s by teaching those classes about being adept in the kitchen. In her mind, it is better late than never.