While the term “adulting” may be associated with their millennial predecessors, classes on “how to adult” have popped up at multiple universities in the U.S., aiming to teach Gen Z key life skills for adulthood.
Why It Matters
Whether it’s stretching the truth in job interviews, lying on job applications or doomed to doom scroll, many alarms have been raised about Gen Z’s ascent into adulthood.
Between 2019 and 2023, anxiety among young adults nearly tripled. Gen Z has quickly developed a negative reputation in the workforce, with a recent Intelligent.com report finding that one in six businesses said they were hesitant to hire recent college graduates. For a generation that grew up online, entry into the “real world,” one shaped by rapidly changing tech, a cost of living crisis and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, hasn’t been easy.
What To Know
Now, educators and Gen-Z students are tackling this head-on.
At Michigan State University, the University of California, Riverside and JCI Santa Clarita, “adulting” classes are being introduced to help equip young people with essential life skills.
Upcoming events at Michigan State University include workshops like ‘International Travel on a Budget,’ ‘Mastering Meal Planning,’ ‘Navigating Life: Addressing and Handling Peer Pressure,’ and ‘Professionalism: Communicate, Dress and Deliver With Confidence.’
Over at the University of California, Riverside, the Adulting Program “supports students’ ability to succeed with their basic needs, career readiness, and financial wellness.”
The program has three key areas of focus: “Basic Needs, Career Development, and Financial Wellness.”
JCI Santa Clarita meanwhile provides a “simulation” project. It provides “participants with an identity that includes a career and salary,” and participants then visit booths which offer goods in order to help them learn how to live within their means.
What People Are Saying
University of California, Riverside in the ‘Basic Needs’ Program Overview on their website: “Through a combination of workshops, resources, and mentorship, the program will equip participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate basic needs, financial and career challenges to achieve their personal and academic goals.”
Michigan State University, in the ‘Adulting 101’ Program Overview on their website: “Adulting 101 programs help high school students and beyond demystify the obscure reality of being an “adult” through engaging educational sessions. Each session is packed full of important life skills and tools necessary to live independently. Topics include: money management, community engagement, conflict resolution, career and future education, home skills and more. “
What’s Next
These classes have already been adopted at multiple universities; whether they grow in prevalence remains to be seen. Some of these projects have already been running for multiple years, reflecting success of these initiatives.
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