Why life’s basic skills are dying

kburra

kburra

Senior Member
Location
GB
Why life’s basic skills are dying

There are things we all used to know how to do. It was part of growing up. But these everyday skills are being phased out in this digital age.

Here’s a question: Do your kids/grandkids know some of life’s most important basic skills?

It’s shocking just how many, under the age of 40, have no concept of the most basic of life’s skills. Think for a moment: A handwritten note or letter is unheard of. So is writing a check.

On the whole, the under-40 crowd has poor basic spelling skills because of autocorrect. Most millennials cannot use an encyclopedia or a dictionary, can’t locate most major countries on a
globe or use a compass, change a car’s oil or even a tyre, or figure out which way they’re going by the sun’s position in the sky.

They have no idea how to bake bread or cookies from scratch, the names of common trees, flowers, and insects, the concept of pounds and ounces, or starting a fire without matches.

This is what we’ve lost in two generations. However, the under-40 crowd knows how to shoot and edit videos, take selfies and text fragmented sentences and how to FaceTime.

The question is, is that enough?
 

Interesting point of view. I guess my experience of younger people is different. In a largely metric world, pounds and ounces are becoming increasingly obsolete. My kids, and many of my clients are millennials. Most of the skills you mention they are more than capable of doing. (I can’t determine direction using the sun myself.) Forty percent of Canadians are university

graduates,many with more than one degree. This speaks to their life skills. Also, today’s under forties are far more comfortable with their emotions than previous generations. Rather than living unhappy lives and passing that on to their families, many of them take the brave step of seeking therapy. As for botany, campfire skills, etc. Many younger people are into outdoor activities, and consequently have picked up survival skills.
 
and here I thought it was the other way around....I better tell my grandson to git it together and start rubbing sticks until fire appears, but I'll wait a bit 'til he forgets he showed me how to turn on the sound to my monitor
 

Basic life skills have always been changing.

Years ago if you gave a kid a cow and a bushel of wheat they could make you a hamburger.

Today a kid can go to the phone and order a hamburger to be delivered in under thirty minutes.

It seems like all through history we have had a few folks that hang back from the herd and continue to keep those basic survival skills alive. Maybe that is nature's way of assuring human beings continued survival.
 
"Basic skills" are relative to the times one is living in. The op might be surprised, were he to be transported back in time, to find he lacks the skills those in that time period considered basic. Nothing to be gained by lamenting, because you deem only the skills you're competent at to be basic, while failing to see that younger folks can run rings around you demonstrating the skills their peer group view as basic. Move on, adapt.
 
I don't know about the lack of basic skills today.......many young folks graduate our of colleges and universities with Masters and Phd Degrees. They sure didn't get that far and not know certain things.

Times have changed. There are those Seniors that absolutely don't like the change and those that have no problem keeping up, and doing, the changes.

I've stated this before and will again: Today, we talk about all of the drug use amoung the younger generation, yet, what did many of us do during the Woodstock era........use drugs. I wasn't there to do it, but smoking pot was a big thing in Vietnam.
 
kburra said:
Why life’s basic skills are dying

There are things we all used to know how to do. It was part of growing up. But these everyday skills are being phased out in this digital age.

Here’s a question: Do your kids/grandkids know some of life’s most important basic skills?

It’s shocking just how many, under the age of 40, have no concept of the most basic of life’s skills. Think for a moment: A handwritten note or letter is unheard of. So is writing a check.

On the whole, the under-40 crowd has poor basic spelling skills because of autocorrect. Most millennials cannot use an encyclopedia or a dictionary, can’t locate most major countries on a
globe or use a compass, change a car’s oil or even a tyre, or figure out which way they’re going by the sun’s position in the sky.

They have no idea how to bake bread or cookies from scratch, the names of common trees, flowers, and insects, the concept of pounds and ounces, or starting a fire without matches.

This is what we’ve lost in two generations. However, the under-40 crowd knows how to shoot and edit videos, take selfies and text fragmented sentences and how to FaceTime.

The question is, is that enough?
Click to expand...

Here is a funny thing - I just posted the following opinion "elsewhere :confused::

One skill that was maybe always in short supply is the ability to listen to and learn from the older generation, and if you listen to so many advertisements or government campaigns it seems to me to be the main focus is to get the older generation to accept whatever preposterous nonsense is being put forward as progress.


Scepticism of whatever anyone wants you to think is a life skill isn't it, and one we maybe know can only really be learnt by experience, though we might try to tell our children not to accept everything they are being told by teachers or whoever as gospel.


I was encouraged to read George Orwell's book, but I wonder whether children are given that kind of advice or they try to understand the possibility his nightmare vision of the future may come true?


On the other hand I am very happy to hand over internet search duties to my friends thirteen year old son wherever possible, as he'll find the info in a fraction of the time .
 
When I was in high school, we had a Consumer Economics class. I do not remember everything we were taught in the class, but I remember there were basic skills like check writing, keeping a household budget and that kind of stuff.

Hey ladies, speaking of a dying art, did any of you take shorthand in school? I never got the hang of it.
 
Marie5656 said:
When I was in high school, we had a Consumer Economics class. I do not remember everything we were taught in the class, but I remember there were basic skills like check writing, keeping a household budget and that kind of stuff.

Hey ladies, speaking of a dying art, did any of you take shorthand in school? I never got the hang of it.
Click to expand...

Yes, I took a year of shorthand 56 years ago. I got pretty good at it, but never had to use it. All I can remember now are the squiggles for "Dear Mr. Jones" and "Sincerely Yours", which only comes in handy is you're writing a sincere letter to Mr. Jones.
 
If I have trouble with Excel or Word, I run to my 70 yr old wife whom definitely knows both programs better than I do and I do pretty good on both.

Some young folks are taught to respect and listen to the older generation aka older Baby Boomers and generation before, and others aren't. If I start telling a young person about the things I done before computers came along, like Inventory Control on 3 x 5 cards, typing out Purchase Orders on a typewriter, using a UPS/Fed X book for shipping, writing out Bills of Lading for Common Carriers, using a payphone to call and even back when I drove a forklift that used gas from a pump...……..they lose interest very quickly and say "darn you're old!". I say, "yep I am, but I'm not 80 yet".
 
Marie5656 said:

Hey ladies, speaking of a dying art, did any of you take shorthand in school? I never got the hang of it.
Click to expand...

I took Gregg shorthand in high school, did good with it but never used it after that. I agree with the OP, it seems like basic life skills are dying out.
 
Speaking of shorthand, I remember a friend and I used to like to write down lyrics to songs, so we could sing along. Kind of a Kareoke before it was cool. She would have her mom sit with her, listen to the song, and her mom would write out the lyrics in shorthand then transcribe.
 
SeaBreeze said:
I took Gregg shorthand in high school, did good with it but never used it after that. I agree with the OP, it seems like basic life skills are dying out.
Click to expand...


dying out because they are just not needed any longer? I agree with some of them the OP noted, but some ? Just lost to technology . Do we really want to stop the advancement of technology ? LOL...I don't really want to go out to the 'privy' on a cold Ohio winter day. Or do without A/C today....Predicted to be hot & high humidity.
 
I wonder if the electric grid went down in the US and there was no electric or computer services, how many people would be able to survive on their own making due with the resources they had available?
 
Were there similar conversations when the writing and printing presses were developed? I'm sure people were worried (rightfully so, I think) that the ability to memorize long stories and attention spans would be affected...I'm given to understand that cursive writing was developed because it greatly reduced ink spotting on paper that could happen after quills were dipped into liquid. So problem solved with ballpoint and gel pens; keyboarding skills are more valuable at the moment. And who needs written signatures when digital signing, PINs and facial recognition are in place? And what is that handle thing on the car door, and where's the button to make the window to go down? :D
That's the world the younger folks live in and know.
Would be interesting (but not desired) to see what would happen when a major solar flare-up disrupts digital systems...
Every once in a while, I watch "Collosus, the Forbin Project", just because.
 
SeaBreeze said:
I wonder if the electric grid went down in the US and there was no electric or computer services, how many people would be able to survive on their own making due with the resources they had available?
Click to expand...

Solid question....and I'm not sure I could??

Yeah sure I'd like to think that I could...but put to the test ? Age, physical limitations, having grown soft via conveniences ? I have my doubts. And....I hate admitting that.
 
SeaBreeze said:
I wonder if the electric grid went down in the US and there was no electric or computer services, how many people would be able to survive on their own making due with the resources they had available?
Click to expand...

That is my biggest concern. After being without power for 2 weeks after Hurricane Ike, I can't remember ever being so miserable. (Mostly the oppressive HEAT; I missed my air conditioning the most.)
 
kburra said:
Why life’s basic skills are dying

There are things we all used to know how to do. It was part of growing up. But these everyday skills are being phased out in this digital age.

Here’s a question: Do your kids/grandkids know some of life’s most important basic skills?

It’s shocking just how many, under the age of 40, have no concept of the most basic of life’s skills. Think for a moment: A handwritten note or letter is unheard of. So is writing a check.

On the whole, the under-40 crowd has poor basic spelling skills because of autocorrect. Most millennials cannot use an encyclopedia or a dictionary, can’t locate most major countries on a
globe or use a compass, change a car’s oil or even a tyre, or figure out which way they’re going by the sun’s position in the sky.

They have no idea how to bake bread or cookies from scratch, the names of common trees, flowers, and insects, the concept of pounds and ounces, or starting a fire without matches.

This is what we’ve lost in two generations. However, the under-40 crowd knows how to shoot and edit videos, take selfies and text fragmented sentences and how to FaceTime.

The question is, is that enough?
Click to expand...

Posts like these disturb me greatly. I remember being the younger generation that older generations loved to complain about, and now see members of my generation doing the same. Yuk.

Life skills are what are needed to navigate during one's own lifetime, not the lifetime of someone who lived 50 or a 100 or 1000 or 5000 years earlier. So what if checks and handwritten notes are largely out of fashion - dare I say approaching obsolescence? Future generations are entitled to carve out a world that they're comfortable in, just as previous generations did. For all our blowing and going about what a swell generation we were, we're leaving our descendants an ecological disaster to sort out.

BTW, I have three kids who are Millennials. All have at least bachelor's degrees, are gainfully employed and self-sufficient. Not that it matters, but all can - and do - cook and bake from scratch. Maybe they're tired of a lifetime of our generation's corporations who have been force-feeding them processed and junk foods via advertising and poor example.

Whatever it is that they can and cannot do belongs on the doorsteps of previous generations. We raised them and by our hand they learned what to value.
 
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My grandchildren are very smart. The oldest is in the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, one of the younger ones is 15, has been taking college course since the age of 13 and we're expecting she'll enter college on a full scholarship due to her grades (she's above a 4.0 average). In this day and age, I think the young-uns best learn what it is that will make them employable, be able to fend for themselves financially and yes...how to cook, clean, iron, do laundry, etc. Their parents and me are helping with these things. I'm the go to person in the family when it comes to finances. All of my grandchildren have asked me to guide them in that respect. My 13 year old grandson loves to cook and is thinking about becoming a chef.

I believe some of the things you mentioned are covered in science and geography classes. Years ago I worked for and with people in my age range (I'm 71) who couldn't spell a lick. Why do you think executives depend so much on their secretaries? I didn't really learn to cook from my mom even though she gave me plenty of opportunities. I learned to cook after I had my child and had to feed him. If we get hit with a solar flare which is not out of the realm of possibilities,, then those "basic" basic skills you mention would definitely come in handy.
 
Marie5656 said:
When I was in high school, we had a Consumer Economics class. I do not remember everything we were taught in the class, but I remember there were basic skills like check writing, keeping a household budget and that kind of stuff.

Hey ladies, speaking of a dying art, did any of you take shorthand in school? I never got the hang of it.
Click to expand...

I learned short hand but was never very good at it. Fortunately I never needed it

A basic skill many of us had was turning a pound of ground beef into dinner for six.
 

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