Being an adult isn’t easy. You have to cook your own food, clean your own clothes, and pay your own bills. So it’s no wonder why so many young people these days are having trouble transitioning into adulthood. “Adulting,” as the kids (and by “kids” I mean millennials who spend $200 a week on yoga and eat a lot of brunch) call it, requires skills. If only there were a school that’d teach you how to do it. Well, guess what? Now there is.
As its name implies, The Adulting School is a place where adults go to learn how to be adults. Lessons include: how to make a bed, how to manage your finances, how to change a car tire, and a bunch of other stuff that people back in the day were just sort of expected to learn on their own. But learning on your own is, like, so 20th century, unless, of course you live under circumstances where your survival depends on it (yuck!).
The Adulting School was started by Rachel Weinstein, a psychotherapist, and Katie Brunelle, a former public school teacher. In a recent interview with NPR, Weinstein explained that in her work as a psychotherapist she noticed that a lot of millennials were struggling to make the leap from childhood to adulthood. They couldn’t quite figure it out. So, like any good American, she decided to capitalize on their shortcomings.
“You know, when you see 10 people feeling like they’re the only one, and they’re all struggling with the same thing, you think, let’s get these people together so they can learn stuff and not feel so isolated and ashamed,” Weinstein told NPR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPLxTAtRsxg
To enroll in the The Adulting School, you must first take a quiz, called the “Adulting IQ Quiz.” The point of this quiz is to help you determine whether or not you #adultlikeaboss. Most of the questions have only two answer options: Yes or No. There are 39 questions total, each posed as a declarative sentence, such as “I feel confident in my job interviewing skills.” And “I get my car registered and inspected on time.” If you fail the quiz, you don’t #adultlikeaboss, which means you’re a giant man-baby and should probably enroll in the school.
The school is based in Portland, Maine, and hosts live events at local bars and restaurants, where young adults come together to learn how to stop depending on their parents for everything. There are also remote learning options in the form of webinars, social media groups, and blogs. If you can’t afford the $19.99 enrollment fee, don’t worry, you’re in luck. There’s a way to learn all of the things The Adulting School will teach you for free. It’s called Google. And common sense.
You can take the quiz here.