Just curious, TC, as I didn't experience the US educational system, but did those "health" classes involve exams or just something the kids had to attend? My impression for UK schools is that in recent times schools are funded based on the exam results they produce, so I believe there is less incentive to teach life skills but concentrate more on the subjects that are examined. UK schools have moved toward the US system over the years, for better or worse, but am just interested to learn how things used to be.
On the other hand, I just looked at my old school's curriculum. There are many more subjects now that people of my generation never studied:
https://brakenhale.co.uk/learning/curriculum
Back in the day it was humanities, maths and science with a sprinkling of other subjects (PE [2 hrs per week], religious education [1 hr a week], and ad-hoc social education [1 hr a week by age thirteen).
On the other hand, I just looked at my old school's curriculum. There are many more subjects now that people of my generation never studied:
https://brakenhale.co.uk/learning/curriculum
Back in the day it was humanities, maths and science with a sprinkling of other subjects (PE [2 hrs per week], religious education [1 hr a week], and ad-hoc social education [1 hr a week by age thirteen).