The problem is, there is so much more to learn than there was when we were in school. And so little time. Schools, I believe, try to do the best they can with the time they are given.

Seems like it has been awhile that home ec and shop are no longer required classes.

My kids are in their 30s and though I know my son took a shop class in junior high and made a few things we still have - a sturdy wooden stool and a parquet chess board among them - but I'm not sure whether or not my daughter ever took a home ec class. I'd lean toward saying she did not...

Which would more than explain why they discovered in college that they were the only one of their dorm acquaintances who had ever shopped for food, knew how to make at least a half dozen basic meals, had any idea how to select a good cut of meat create a healthy balanced meal, read food labels, etc.

And let's not even begin to cover laundry and clothing maintenance! (Wash clothes or sew on a button? OMG!)

Of course, when I made each of them learn this stuff in grade school and high school the training was often accompanied by a lot of grumbling and complaint... though they usually enjoyed the cooking part.

As soon as they had a driver's license, I took them to the grocery store a few times to teach them these things - then assigned them the task of food shopping. I still made the list, but they did the actual shopping and check writing. (I did this because it's what my mother did with me and my sibs, and it seemed to make sense.)

I was finally vindicated, but not until they got to college and discovered the value in the fact that they knew how to shop for food while their peers did not.

IMHO, if schools are no longer having time to teach these subjects, we need to be sure people learn them at home. But there may be a generation or two of parents who don't know how to do this - so would have no idea how to train on it...