The Adulting School is a school that has started in Portland, Maine and as the name itself says: it teaches you how to become a grown up. The co-founder, Rachel Weinstein, a psychotherapist that worked with a lot of millennials, noticed that these young adults struggled the most when it came to dealing with their adult responsibilities.
She also noticed most of them felt alone in the world, like nobody else struggled with cleaning, preparing healthy dinners, or filing taxes. That’s why she called up Katie Brunelle, a wellness coach, to create this school alongside her. She had in mind that:
"When you see 10 people feeling like they're the only one, and they're all struggling with the same thing, you think, let's get these people together so they can learn this stuff and not feel so isolated and ashamed."
The Adulting School offers classes, events, and digital courses to teach people how the skills needed to be a responsible grown up. Since everyone who takes classes from The Adulting School is in the same boat, no one is afraid to ask questions.
Some other topics the school covers are:
- How to remove red wine stains
- How to buy home insurance
- How to fold fitted sheets
- Paying student loans
- Writing a resume
- Changing flat tires
- Saving for retirement
- Balancing relationships
- Dealing with death in the family
While the older generations may not understand why millennials and younger generations even need The Adulting School, a lot of people are welcoming the school and its classes. Times have changed and not everyone is taught about adult responsibilities from an early age, which is why so many people are struggling as adults nowadays. Lindsay Rowe Scale, age 32, said:
"In job interviews, they're always asking 'Where do you want to see yourself in five years?' And I never know how to answer that because I'm always thinking on how to survive today and next week and what's coming up."
The younger generations don’t seem to be getting the same lessons in school that older generations did. Schools don’t often offer shop classes or home economics classes anymore. No one is teaching these kids how to be a responsible adult when they grow up, and it takes time to learn these things.
That’s why, despite the few criticisms, most people are still seeing this school as an opportunity for millennials to get their life back on track and even learn how to pass that on to the next generation. Holly Swyers, a professor from Lake Forest College and adulthood research, emphasizes the importance of having a place to learn these adult skills:
"We go through this age-graded system, and it tells us just do this and you'll be fine, and then you graduate from high school or from college, and suddenly, there are no more rules about, if you just do this step, that's what comes next."
Now the question we want some answers to is: what do you think about The Adulting School? Would you support your children if they told you they wanted to attend those classes? You can share some thoughts in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
