How ‘bout basic personal finance? This is something I still have trouble with, more on a runway level than conceptually (I know I shouldn’t spend more than I earn, but what if the cat needs surgery?). But I think a lot of people have trouble with it on a conceptual level, too. Things to cover:

• How to make a budget
• How to adjust your budget to reality and vice versa
• That loan terms shouldn’t exceed the useful life of the product
• How mortgages work
• Why carrying a balance on a credit card is best avoided

I see valid arguments on both sides of this issue, where Trev & Merlin stake out opposing views. On one hand, I find myself wishing I’d been taught time management in high school — on the other, I probably would have (as Kim says) regurgitated the answers to pass the class then promptly forgotten about it.

Then again, the same class that taught time management would probably have been a good place to teach money management. And how to change a tire or iron a shirt, for that matter. When I was a kid, “home ec’” was mainly a cooking class — even then, I wondered what was the “economics” part of it. We learned more about money management in shop class, where we had an assignment to list what tools we would/could buy with $100 then had to justify our choices.

Having a cool teacher turn me on to GTD and hPDAs as a teenager would have been a godsend. Then I would have been efficient enough to party like a rock star and STILL get top grades! But to respond to Trev, partying and goofing around and shagging everything that moves all come naturally to teenagers. They don’t need to be TAUGHT that. But helping them develop solid time management skills could give them useful tools for life, tools that transfer across multiple domains. Can’t say that much about most of what I “learned” in school, I’m afraid. Sometimes I think the only useful skill I learned in high school was typing. And THAT was an elective that my mom made me take. (I have since thanked her both profusely and repeatedly.)

As for my own personal wish list, basic scientific literacy and critical thinking would be my number one priority. Just reading selected chapters from Carl Sagan’s “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark” would be a good start.

While time management would be great, why not have the parents take charge of that at home? Schools have enough on their plate without adding curriculum that could/should be learned from mom/dad. The last thing schools need is accountability for children’s time management - whew!

I dunno, Trev. I suspect that with some focused help on learning how to create and meet reasonable expectations on time, one may actually find more time to “get drunk” and “fall in love.”

Your strawman is folksy and very “Cool Dad,” but, personally, I think it’s still a strawman. IMO, it sucks to have to learn this shit when you’re middle-aged and have actual skin in the game.

Two things I wish I had been taught in school (in some sort of home economics class or something):

• How to change a tire
• How to iron a shirt

Practical things like this are, arguably, just as important as who the 12th President was.

Unbelievable line-up of health and fitness professionals come together to create a health and fitness resource like never before.

Time management classes would only benefit and inspire those students who already have that bent. I’ve always been a maker of lists and annotater of books. Good study skills as far as some ideas beyond making an outline would be good in middle school. Also things like how to brainstorm and pick out which ideas and themes make for a cohesive paper.

There are some classes that should be added to the core curriculum at university, and Kim mentions them in the article (they’ve been echoed here). There needs to be one on manners or being gracious and one glorious course on managing as an adult that would encompass time management, personal finance, and life hacks like how to keep the house clean by doing a few minutes a day. Lucky me, my bank does Life 101 classes on things like starting to save/invest when you get your first job, how buying cars and houses works.

Kim’s suggestion is tantamount to child abuse and he is a pervert.

One thing i would add is how to relax.