Prior to reading “Youth Lack Life Skills” by Brielle Black, I hadn’t really thought of “life skills” as being a school subject. But now I realize how important things like sewing and cooking are. The article explains that, today, teenagers don’t have life skills, hence the name. About 30-40 years ago, a home economics class was required in high school. Brielle Black states that she believes a class like this should be mandatory today as well. She says that before these classes existed, families taught their children or grandchildren domestic skills. And today, because of technology, teenagers are expected to learn these skills online because they use the Internet for everything else. However, she says that the last thing on teenagers’ minds is Googling how to cook.

I also never realized how important these domestic and self-organizational skills are. Brielle persuaded me to agree with her that a class like “home ec” is necessary for several reasons. She explains that basic skills like cooking, sewing, cleaning, car maintenance, and manners/etiquette help discover hidden interests, such as a sewing class exposing an interest in the fashion industry. In the article, Brielle also states, “A college student who can cook will save more money than the one who eats out or purchases a full meal plan. Knowing these life skills creates self-confidence and self-reliance.”

Now that I think about it, this is extremely important. Learning how to provide for yourself in college and for a family after that all starts in high school. I remember my dad recently telling me about a cooking class and an automotive shop class that he took in high school. Becoming competent of cooking for him started in high school, and that lead to cooking dinner for us.

Brielle says that part of the reason home economics are ignored today is because a) of technology, and b) a more academic focus. High school today is about SAT preparation and college applications. However, life in high school could quite possibly be the last time a teenager is taken care of by parents. If they then go off to college, they need to now how to cook. On the other hand, if they immediately join the workforce, they need to know how to organize themselves and how to act during a job interview. Studying trigonometry, biology, and history doesn’t help.

All in all, teenagers are, frankly, ignorant when it comes to basic domestic skills. This, nevertheless, is not their fault. Brielle Black, as well as myself, agree that a home economics class should still be obligatory today.