It doesn't hurt to learn. Everyone has their own way of learning new things like knitting or crafting. I assume applied skills is like home economics (cooking, sewing, life skills, etc)? I had cooking when I was 12-13 and it was an easy grade. ;P
I'm actually knitting a scarf right now. It's for my manager who wanted to display her employees' projects on the store's window for the customers to see.