Should Kids Learn to Clean in School? Singapore Thinks So

In America, learning life skills in school can seem antiquated, if not outright sexist. Many home economics programs have gone the way of the dodo, as education systems slowly recognized that teaching women (just women) to cook, clean, and sew buttons was not the best use of school hours. But “cleaning time” has long been a famous staple in Japanese schools, where students do the tidying up instead of adult custodians or janitors. (“For every action, like sticking gum under a desk, there must be an equal and less pleasant reaction, like removing it,” The New York Times reported of Japanese school lessons in 1995.)

And on Thursday, Singapore’s Ministry of Education announced each and every student in the city-state will be required to clean, too. By the end of the year, the Straits Times reports, all children and teens between primary school and junior college in Singapore will be involved in the program, which is meant to “inculcate in students good habits such as a sense of responsibility and care.”