Cooking for Independence Canadian high schools should do far more to teach young people how to feed themselves properly once they leave home. Many schools already run science labs and even the odd budgeting lesson, so why not add a solid course in everyday cooking and nutrition? A teenager who can balance a chemical equation should also be able to plan a week of healthy meals and cook them on a modest budget. The reasoning is straightforward: today's graduates move into their first apartments with little idea of how to shop, cook, or eat well, so they lean on costly takeout and packaged meals, and to protect both their health and their wallets, high school students need to learn to cook.

I raised this with a school principal, and she said it would smack of coddling: "Our job is to prepare students for university and demanding careers, not to run a glorified home-economics class." But shouldn't every capable adult be able to put a decent meal on the table without reaching for the phone, and what is so coddling about looking after your own health?