By Jamie Parker | News Editor
“Adulting (v): to do grown up things and hold responsibilities such as, a 9-5 job, a mortgage/rent, a car payment, or anything else that makes one think of grown-ups.” This is how Urban Dictionary defines the phrase that has blown up among millennials, especially on social media. Saying things like, “I scheduled a doctor’s appointment AND paid my credit card bill today, I hate adulting,” is intended to be completely harmless, and even used as a funny anecdote to relate to other millennials. But let us get something straight; adulting is a terrible trend. It makes the entire generation look not only immature, but also unwilling to participate in the responsibilities that come with growing up. So how did this happen? Were we just born a bunch of lazy degenerates who expect the world on a silver platter? No. This is the result of not being pushed towards responsibilities at a younger age, and not being given the proper education to prepare us for adulthood.
According to a report by The Pew Research Center, 32% of people ages 18 to 34 still live at home. To put that into perspective, during the 1960s that number was at 20%. Now to add to this most millennials who still live at home do not really have to help contribute to household expenses such as groceries, bills, etc. This does not teach us how to take care of our own finances, homes, or what we need in a home. Like most baby boomers say, we are a coddled generation, but not in the way they assume. We are coddled in the sense that we have gone so far in life without knowing what it is like to have a mortgage, or how to do our taxes, or how to even cook basic meals for dinner. How could this have been prevented? Well our parents had something that our generation is lacking. The proper education.
Back when most of our parents were in high school, there were many elective classes that revolved around life after school. Classes like Financial Literacy, and Home Economics classes were immensely popular. These classes are what taught the next generation how to do things that the current generation lacks knowledge on. Since then schools have shifted to be much more focused on college preparation rather than life preparation. While it is important to prepare teenagers for their academic future, there are some essential skills that we are missing out on. Baby boomers always like to comment on our “lack of basic knowledge,” but do not understand where it comes from. Well I say we need a serious education reform. Bring back “Life Prep” classes. Let people decide if they want to take on that extra AP class, or if they want to take Weekly Meal Prep 101. Maybe then we can find a balance between academic knowledge, and how “adult.” Adulting can finally become a thing of the past, and we can finally stop saying things like, “Ate something for dinner that wasn’t Nutella today! #adulting.”
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