This article is one of the winning submissions from the New York Post Scholars Contest, presented by Command Education.
NYC high schools are failing their students—not academically, but practically. Until the 1960s, NYC high schoolers learned to cook, clean and sew as part of their standard curriculum. In 2025, they’d be lucky if they knew how to do their laundry. For decades, home economics was a staple in NYC public school education. Boomer-generation teenagers mastered the art of household work, as the Department of Education (DOE) wanted to ensure teenagers knew how to properly “adult.”
As the Women’s Revolution grew in the 1960s, a cultural shift away from home economic classes reflected changing societal norms around gender roles, and marked a shift to prioritize college and career prep courses. This rapid turnaround has had enormous benefits, including an explosion in women pursuing postgraduate education. However, it has also had unintended consequences on high schoolers’ lack of readiness and ability to tend to basic life skills. What today’s youth need are “Adulting 101” classes.
Home economics once taught students how to wash clothing, prepare food, clean a home and notably how to support a family and raise children. During this era, women were often expected to understand these skills while their husbands worked and provided an income for the household. Many argue that the removal of home economics was necessary in order to reshape education to fit a changing society. However, while this essential and progressive step enabled women to advance and become leaders, this move left behind access to crucial skills for students of all genders.
The competencies that home economics courses taught are still applicable or could be reimagined to suit contemporary needs. Today, NYC high schools are designed to prepare teenagers for college, where they can acquire degrees in specified fields of study. This system sets up students to one day enter a career path, but often leaves many feeling lost or intimidated by everyday life skills outside of their occupation. Young adults are now either coddled by their parents, as they live at home longer, or are forced to navigate adulthood without basic household skills that older generations understood from an earlier age.
As a student at the NYC iSchool, a small public high school offering original and innovative courses, I often ponder why home economics does not have a larger presence in my school. Furthermore, a lack of these skills makes youth feel adrift once they enter the “real world.” I recently spoke with a relative who moved into his college dorm last fall. “I had no idea how to cook real meals,” he admitted. “I survived on takeout and instant ramen.” His story isn’t unique—countless young adults are thrown into independence without the ability to care for themselves.
To earn a high school diploma, the NYC DOE requires 44 credits, including math, science and government. At my school, many classes allow us to receive these credits in creative ways. For example, one of the classes offered at my school is called “Pop-Up Restaurant,” which tasks students with creating a one-night-only restaurant within our school. This aims to educate students on the business fundamentals of the service industry while providing hands-on experience, which is something I am eager for.
While this is a thoughtful start to developing practical, real world capabilities, a more comprehensive approach would benefit students greatly. One might wonder why a NYC public school offers classes like “Pop-up Restaurant” but not other key aspects of home economics. The simple truth is that these courses cannot easily be classified under any of the NYC DOE required credits.
Oftentimes, teenagers go from being in situations where they have a parent or guardian to cook their meals and do their laundry, to being left to fend for themselves, which can be a lifestyle shock. This should come at no surprise, as a survey conducted by Braun Research found that while 82% of parents reported doing chores as children, only 28% had their children doing chores, showing that these tasks are a new, unfamiliar experience for countless students.
While aspects of the home economics courses of the past might not be entirely relevant in 2025, the concepts that could be taught in an “Adulting 101” class would be worthwhile to virtually everyone today. Gender roles are far less rigid now than they were decades ago, so all students would benefit from the lessons taught in these classes, especially if they are adapted to address modern-day needs.
In a 2020 Yale University survey of high schoolers, almost 80% said stress was the feeling they experienced most often during a typical school day. This indicates why a modern-day home economics course should be used to address mental health. Indeed, if these courses were reinstated in NYC schools today, they could cover essential topics like stress management, nutrition and self-sufficiency expertise. Students are often ill-equipped to deal with these issues, even though they are vital to one’s well-being. Many high schoolers spend their days consuming energy drinks and eating Takis, frequently stressed about homework and anxious about friend drama, without realizing the destructive impact and vicious cycle of their cumulative habits. Contemporary home economics could approach this and provide essential coping techniques. Seventy-five years ago, life skills may have meant caring for the home, but today, it means that, plus self-care, in our ever-changing and complex society.
Currently, domestic science higher-ed programs provide more advanced educational options by exploring various aspects of child development and family well-being. High schools must follow suit and require a curriculum that teaches students the fundamentals to eventually manage a household and themselves, setting them on a path to success for what comes next as they enter adulthood.
While taking chemistry and geometry is undoubtedly crucial, what happens to a graduate who leaves high school with a strong understanding of mathematics but cannot cook a nutritional meal? My school is taking a step in the right direction by designing courses that adapt to the needs of the 21st-century, but more must be done. The NYC DOE needs to reinstate a modernized version of home economics courses that support teenagers’ health as they transition into adulthood. If schools are designed to prepare students to succeed past high school, it’s time they provide all the tools to do so.
A 10th-grader at NYC iSchool in Manhattan, Leitner wants to pursue travel writing and business.