American here and my comment speaks only about America. I don't have the faintest knowledge of the school system in other places.

My high school DID have a mandatory class for Juniors, all the way back in the mid 2000s, that taught all this stuff. How to properly write resumes and cover letters, balancing your checkbook / managing your finances, doing your taxes, how to properly read a contract and always reading the fine print and how you can nullify or change certain parts of the contract and have the other party agree on it, all the important adult stuff. I don't even remember the name of the class because I was too busy thinking about getting stoned after school with my friends, but I do remember it being interesting enough to remember what they were teaching. We also had a mandatory Government class that taught about the branches and how they all work, all the basics, what lobbying actually is and how you can do it, etc.

The truth is, when you offer this information to moody overworked teenagers -- 80% is taught already -- there is almost nothing they give less of a fuck about at the time, save for maybe the nerdy A+ across the board overachiever kids. The ones that partially cared remember it as well as they do binomial fractions. Basically, that it exists. Maybe. It's only later on when they now have to do the research themselves and it's not hand-curated for them that they bitch why didn't school teach me the important things?!

They did. You were busy not listening or caring.

Anyone that wants to challenge me on this, don't just downvote me. Name your high school and this week I'll pose as a reporter from a small paper calling to ask about the "important life skills kids need to know after high school" - the aforementioned topics, and ask if they have classes that cover it and how long they've had the class, and also whether they're elective or mandatory. I'll give you the name of the person(s) I spoke to, and proof that the call took place and then you can call for yourself to verify.

The point of school is to give you a large amount of background knowledge that you can later recall the name of and look up yourself even if you don't remember exactly what they taught you. AND to train you as a good worker in the capitalistic system, yes, but I'm not arguing that they don't -- we do live in a capitalistic system, after all. But they also teach you about all the other types of economic systems.

And you wonder why some of your teachers aren't the kindest people to everyone with calm demeanors, even though they purposely chose -- maybe decades ago -- that they wanted to help kids learn.

This is all retrospective from someone in his 30s of course. I hated school too and said all the same things. I'm just trying to drop some knowledge for those of you that are young enough that this might apply. Pay attention to the material, and check your electives. I'm positive some American schools don't teach any of this, particularly in poorer areas, but if you go to a school that isn't rated horribly, they probably have a class about this stuff for you, if you want it.