I always felt that all schools (both Bais Ya’akovs and standard yeshivos) should teach more practical life skills. I agree that there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to learning more and more meforshim on Tanach at the elementary/high school level. While I think that Nach is important (I think our girls’ schools overdo it and our boys’ schools grossly under-learn it) and while I also agree that Gemara should be the main focus of the boys’ programs, I think that there should be some additional lessons on basic life skills. High schoolers of both genders should learn how to balance a checkbook, understand how credit cards work and understand the difference between a stock and a bond, and what a mutual fund is. Both genders should be taught cooking (to different degrees — girls should probably have more advanced lessons, but I think that boys should be able to fend for themselves and make something more advanced than peanut butter & jelly in the kitchen in a pinch).
The Wolf