Recently, there are have been several news stories circulating about a new kind of curriculum being taught in schools around the U.S., including some in Kentucky.

Many schools are now adding classes aimed at demystifying “adulting” for students.

Most recently we read about “adulting” classes taught at Fern Creek High School in Louisville. According to WAVE 3, “seniors take three days and learn basic household tasks, life skills, how insurance works, and how to save money for retirement, among other things.”

While it’s important for students to learn algebraic equations, U.S. history and more, many schools are failing students by not adequately preparing them for life after school.

We’re not saying all students are focusing on already in school is not important.

But there are certainly aspects of adulthood that should be taught more often in our schools.

These are skills students will likely need each and every day of their adult lives, while other skills will come in handy in emergency situations.

Here are some topics we think schools should focus on teaching students to prepare for adulthood:

— Finances: Students should learn about the basics of banking, credit, interest, how to write a check, how to balance a check book, how to budget, how to file taxes, investing, retirement savings and more.

— Housing: Students should learn about how to rent or lease an apartment, how to buy a home, how to budget for household expenses like utilities, etc.

— Automobiles: Take a poll and many adults will admit they don’t know much about how to do basic maintenance on their vehicles. Students should learn how to check their oil and fluids and refill them, how to change a tire, what to do if they break down, how to purchase a car, etc.

— Healthcare: Students should learn about the importance of maintaining health insurance, how to acquire it, what it might costs, and that despite having insurance, they might still receive a hefty bill in the mail for medical care, so healthcare savings are important.

— Others: Students could learn basic cooking, cleaning, sewing, laundry, and more.

These are just a few of the many topics that might be helpful for students to learn.

We appreciate all that our educators are already doing, but believe state education officials should make a more aggressive push to implement programs that teach life skills that will be integral to our students’ success after school.

We would love to see this type of program adapted for our local schools, and maybe even start as early as elementary schools.

“Adulting” isn’t easy, but a little education can go a long way.