"Adulting School" for Millennials Teaches Them Basic Life Skills Like Handshakes, How to Talk on the Phone and Change Oil in Car

Victor Skinner : May 17, 2017
EAG News

"Technology is changing some of the things ... like giving a good handshake, making eye contact, having a good telephone manner. Some of that is changing because so much is happening online with emails and texting. We need to keep up with some of those old-fashioned skills." -Rachel Weinstein

(Portland, MA)—[EAG News.org] The Adulting School is really taking off. (Screengrab via WGME)

The school for adults in Portland, Maine was launched last year as a modern day "Home Economics" class for millennials to learn how to become adults, and it's now evolving into live streaming lessons over social media as its founders prepare to launch an online version of the school.

And it's all centered on the very basic skills parents are supposed to teach their children, such as giving a good handshake, talking politely on the phone, balancing a checkbook, and other "old fashioned" skills.

The school, founded by therapist Rachel Weinstein and educator Katie Burnelle, currently offers a wide variety of lessons locally throughout the week under four major topic areas: Finances, Make it/Fix it, Health & Wellness, and Relationships & Community, Fox 21 reports.

"I think they cover almost everything that is essential adult skills, and we'll have different courses underneath that, but we have live events and we are also launching an online school that is also a community where people can get together and just talk about what's challenging," Weinstein said.

"Technology is changing some of the things ... like giving a good handshake, making eye contact, having a good telephone manner," she said. "Some of that is changing because so much is happening online with emails and texting. We need to keep up with some of those old-fashioned skills."

Many locals who spoke with WGME said they believe the adult skills are lacking with some millennials, and liked the idea of a local resource on how to live life.

"Bills, social life, not being a kid, I don't know, it's a concept you're not ever really taught about," millennial Courtney Greenwood told WGME. "I didn't even know how to balance a check book. I don't even use a check book. I don't know ... what is a check for?"

"It looks really interesting and I think it could be very beneficial for our generation," Kelcey Briggs added.

WGME reports classes on "how to" seem to be the most popular, including lessons on how to change the oil in a car, or how to create your own face moisturizer.

Other popular topics center on advice on getting a job, which features lessons with advice from experts and employers about how to build a good resume or how to talk during a job interview.

"They [new employer] just tell you ... you're going to have benefits and make sure you know what you're doing and we really don't know," Briggs said.

The Portland adulting school isn't a first. (Photo via EAGNews.org)

It was reportedly inspired by another similar outfit called the Society of Grownups in Massachusetts, which was once an actual place where millennials could learn financial planning, art collection or other grownup things.

But the Adulting School seems to be learning from the mistakes made by the Society of Grownups, which converted into an online only school about a year after it launched, according to Quartz.

There's other schools to learn to be an adult, as well.

"In New York City, financial firm Stash Wealth teaches an occasional workshop called 'ADULTING 101: The Last Class You Should Have Taken In School,' directed at 20- and 30-somethings who want to 'get their [financial stuff] together.' A public library in North Bend, Oregon, offers a course called 'Adulting 101: Basic How-Tos for Ages 16-25,'" Quartz reports.