what is the minimum education an American adult needs?

I've been an adult living in America for 23 years. Here are the essential skills I use often:

-literacy (rarely above the 8th grade level)

-basic computer skills 

-driving

-handwriting (not as important as it used to be)

-arithmetic and algebra

-hygiene

-laundry

-cooking

-basic knot tying 

-money management

So that's the bare minimum. I think the average person could learn all of that in a few years or less.

The following skills are good to have, but not essential:

-swimming

-first aid

-driving a stick shift 

-map reading

-a foreign language

-hand-to-hand combat

Here are some things I spent much time studying which rarely or never came up:

anthropology, astrology, biology, calculus, chemistry, dinosaurs, economics, entomology, etymology, French, Greek, history, Japanese, Latin, linguistics, literature, marksmanship, music, philosophy, physics, poetry, Shakespeare, Spanish, statistics, thermodynamics, trigonometry

I'm glad I studied all those things and more, but they are mostly irrelevant to my daily life. 

Modern American education is mostly about keeping kids busy until they're old enough to work. This is a serious mistake. About 50% of students should stop going to school after the 5th grade and about 80% should stop after the 8th grade. Only the top 20% belong in high school, and only the top 10% belong in college. 

Every kindergartener should be given an IQ test at the end of the year and put on the appropriate track. I don't expect that to happen, but it should. Americans really need to rethink their view of egalitarianism.  

What should all these emancipated students be doing instead? I suggest things like sports, art, music, drama, computers, woodworking, auto repair, etc.