In Portland, Maine a new establishment teaches the tips and tricks all adults should know. The name? The Adulting School.

The founders, Rachel Flehinger, Katie Brunelle and Rachel Weinstein teach financial basics, make-it and fix-it skills, health and wellness, and relationships and community — all things everyone should probably know how to do.

Their webpage consists of stories about themselves, what they teach, and even a quiz  that  tests adult judgment and calculates an adulting IQ.

My result: I call my parents too much.

But considering that I am 17 and I still live with them, my result isn’t far off from reality.

After 12  years of attending school, sitting, learning math and science, English and history, I find myself with  a lack of knowledge of the adult world.

Instead of knowing how to fold a fitted sheet, I can solve for x.

Instead of knowing how to fix a flat tire, I can tell you what year the Louisiana Purchase occurred (1803).

Instead of knowing how to build up my credit, I can tell you that rust is caused by a chemical reaction.

Instead of knowing how to change a career path, I can annotate a speech to find rhetorical devices.

While knowing core subjects is necessary, public school systems do not inform us effectively on the importance of real life skills.

And while these women opened this school just last year, they have the right idea about the need to teach basic survival skills and how to be a useful member of our society.

Baseball coach and avid teacher Bruce Cox feels managing money is an important skill schools should teach high school students.

“When you get to college you will be bombarded with credit card offers,” Cox said. “Because most people don’t have a lot, you go put it on a credit card and graduate with debt.”

Managing emotions is another skill Cox feels is important because as he notes, “life sucks sometimes.”

These are just two of the many things the The Adulting School teaches, two of the many things K-Park should teach.

K-Park graduate Victoria Gatling has spent her first year of college learning first-hand what it’s like to be thrown into new situations as a young adult such as being responsible for your own interviews, deadlines on assignments and staying on a schedule that reflects your best interests.

“Growing up can’t really be taught,” Gatling said. “You make your own morals and standards for yourself as you grow and find out who you are as you change into who you become.”

Benefits can come out of teaching students skills, or at least showing them a little of what might be ahead.

It gives them a heads up and time to prepare. So, when when later comes, they’ll be ready.