Dear Crabby, If you could make up a school subject, what would it be?

Dear Crabby, If you could make up a school subject, what would it be?

Sincerely, Study Hall Fan

Dear Study Hall Fan,

I didn’t care much for school, so that may be a tough one to answer. Of course, things have changed. Math, the new math, and the newer math – so many ones to sell the same thing – 2 plus 2 is still 4, no matter how you do it, right? I think they do that just to make dads look dumb when kids ask them for help with their math homework. My kid gave me the same look that I’m sure I gave my father – somehow, the answer is the same but the way you get there keeps changing. Ugh.

Science was fun when we got to do experiments in chemistry and biology. From exploding volcanoes to dissecting frogs, it was a good time. I don’t think we learned anything valuable, but it was fun. What you call history, we called current events. And English was just reading a bunch of boring books.

Many of the valuable classes are gone now, such as typing. Little did I figure I’d need such a girl-like skill. I mean, I wasn’t planning on being a secretary or receptionist. But lo and behold, I’m a writer now and we sure don’t use pen and paper anymore, as least not for writing newspaper columns like mine. Home ec is gone to. That was a really girly class that I never had to take, but Mrs. Crabby did, and that’s where she learned to cook, clean, sew, and take care of home chores. They must have taught her management skills as well, since most of the time she orders everyone around to get the chores done. But her cooking is amazing!

Read: Dear Crabby, What Was Your Favorite School Subject

Other valuable classes were woodworking, metal shop, auto shop, gym class, and driver’s training. These classes taught you useful skills for life, kept you fit, and allowed you to drive. Now you have to do that on your own time and we now have a bunch of college-ready kids who don’t know how to change a spare tire, fix a chair leg, write a check or balance a bank account, sew a button on, cook an egg, or parallel park a car.

So, to answer your question, I guess I’d make up of new class from all the old ones we used to have and call it Learn to be the spouse your future spouse really wants, or Life Skills for short. Something that will get out of study hall and into a class that will teach you something you can really use.

Sincerely, Dear Crabby

Stuck in a rut? Need some biased advice from a crabby old baby-boomer? Then email me your question at dearcrabby@rochestermedia.com. You can also head on over to my Facebook page and tell me how wonderful I am.