Basic Life Skills No-One Has Anymore

[InnerRebellion]

I have had six---SIX!---ex-girlfriends to whom I have had to teach the skill of "how to write a check."

As far as basic sock repair and knife sharpening and whatnot, to steal a line from Huxley: "Ending is better than mending."

I saw that and instantly thought, "Dude, they just wanted your money."
OT: I dunno, but being a boy scout for a few years taught me some good skills (but I still can't tie those funky knots).

 

[ultrachicken]

Parents not passing it down, and kids not being willing to learn.

 

[tkioz]

I'm amazed at the number of people who say "just buy a new X" rather then sharpen or repair the old one... I guess we really do live in a consumer society.

A simple sewing kit will set you back around $5-10 at most, that's a few needles, some thread, etc. and it's enough to last you years, It takes maybe 5mins max to fix a hole in a pair of pants, sew a button back on a shirt, repair a sock, and you've got extended life on that item, you don't have to buy a new one, and you've saved money and time if you were going to make a trip just to buy that item.

And cooking is cheaper then buying fast food, I know it doesn't seem like it, but for $10 I can make enough food to feed me for 4/5 meals if I really wanted, good meals at that, that's what? One trip to KFC? It's also better for you generally.

Every now and then I do a "cooking day" when I make up a half dozen dishes, simple stuff, and pack it away in the freezer, usually sets me back around $50, and when I'm feeling lazy out comes the stir-fry I cooked last month or the chilli or the fried rice, and into the oven it goes.

The knife thing is even more about saving money, a decent set of knives if $50-60, and if you take care of them they will last you years, replacing them all the time is going to cost you a lot of money and "it's sharp enough to cut" comments... well I hope you like blood loss, a dull knife is actually more dangerous to you then a sharp one, chances are much higher it will slip when cutting, slicing, or dicing.

I guess I really must be a high-tech hick, I skin an animal, and build a computer with the same proficiency.

 

[Korolev]

Where did you grow up? We don't need to sharpen knives anymore, because by the time they get dull it's time to buy a new set. I've been using a set of knives for about 8 years now, never had to sharpen them.

My father still sharpens his pen knife, but he bought an easy to use automatic sharpener which is just as good.

And as for stitching together sock holes, who needs to? The holes don't bother me, and when the sock breaks apart, I just buy a new pair. They're not that expensive.

Let me ask you this: Do you know how to find, trap and skin an animal? Not many of us do. Do you know how to build a mud hut? Do you know how to grow crops or plough a field?

As technology advances, we all become specialists. The definition of "basic life skills" grows smaller with EVERY generation. 200 years ago, learning how to take care of a horse and ride it was essential for men living anywhere other than the countryside. Now, we no longer need to, and that's a GOOD THING.

You might say we are "forgetting" skills, but we're not - it's just that not everyone needs to know because we live in an industrial society. And we are gaining newer, better skills - like computer programming skills, or scientific skills which the older generations didn't have.

There's nothing to worry about. It's simply the march of progress.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

You asked someone if they had a whetting stone? Do you live on the frontier? Absolutely no one in my city is likely to have one.

 

[Sharky200]

Many things my parents showed me but many i had to learn on my own . My mom work all the time didn't have time to teach me to cook I try to do that on my own. same with other things like mending clothes. I agree with you. Half the people today wouldn't be able to survive in the wild with their skills. Let alone know what to use in case of an emergency. sad day.

 

[tkioz]

Doesn't that mention of 'Hachet' kind of deflate your point a bit though? That is, if it's supposedly about about at boy who didn't have those skills before hand and yet adapted and survived. Wouldn't that be more an illustration of the survivability of humans without any prior training?

The book is actually demonstrating the opposite of what you think it is. But hey, it's fiction, I'm sure anyone who got into that situation in real life without survival training would be dead within hours, right?

Fair point. Looking back on my post I realise I left out a rather critical point that I intended to go after my mentioning of Hatchet.

What I meant to say was that a lot of people in today's society seem to be pre-programmed to replace rather than repair and when anyone challenges them to do such a simple thing as sew on a button or change a wheel, their immediate response seems to be "I wouldn't know where to start!" even though, if they at least stopped and thought about it, they might surprise themselves. OK so Hatchet was fiction but it still has a valid point to make in that the simplest skills and tools can come in very handy and we should all take the trouble to at least try and learn them.

Wardy

True enough, although, education has to start somewhere, and to it's failure, school often doesn't provide in this regard very well. Home Economics for example should be mandatory, as in many schools not only does it teach cooking and sewing, but also how to run a household and budget (at least, the one in my school did), however, because of the limited amount of spaces, it was not feasible to have it as a class for everyone, and as for myself, I was advised not to take the course because: 'Chefs don't get paid well', as if that were the limits of the class. :/

I wouldn't bother, one of my younger cousins is taking what use to be called Home Economics, which is no longer about cooking, cleaning, sewing, you know useful stuff... but now about "gender equality in the home" and other useless non-practical topics, she made exactly one meal in the entire of year of study so far, and it was bloody spaghetti! A retarded monkey can make spaghetti.

 

[aseelt]

How about handwriting?

There was an article on Gizmodo (I think) that stated some young Chinese people forgot how to write certain characters.

Dude, that's Chinese, one of the most complex languages to write. Give them a break.

Sure, I'll give them it is a tough language. But how much does it suck that you forget the script of your mother tongue?

It's bad enough that handwriting is getting awful, worse that people forget it entirely

 

[aseelt]

How about handwriting?

There was an article on Gizmodo (I think) that stated some young Chinese people forgot how to write certain characters.

Dude, that's Chinese, one of the most complex languages to write. Give them a break.

Sure, I'll give them it is a tough language. But how much does it suck that you forget the script of your mother tongue?

It's bad enough that handwriting is getting awful, worse that people forget it entirely

Well, that's my point. That's how bad that language is.

Well it isn't a bad language. Wouldn't call any language bad.

Except maybe esperanto (sp?)

 

[science girl]

No idea how to cook, I can fry an egg but it ends there!

 

[Theninja'skatana]

i can sense this going to cross into mmo-ish territory soon. If we had to learn skills games hell' all media would be nonexesistent because we'd be in the damn middle ages.
yes a lack of useful skills in today's society scares me especially if zombies came about.
Then again i don't think car maintenance and lvl 5 vacuuming would help me not be a zombie appetizer o more realistically help me fix my iphone 4gs of bad reception

 

[tkioz]

I'm amazed at the number of people who say "just buy a new X" rather then sharpen or repair the old one... I guess we really do live in a consumer society.

A simple sewing kit will set you back around $5-10 at most, that's a few needles, some thread, etc. and it's enough to last you years, It takes maybe 5mins max to fix a hole in a pair of pants, sew a button back on a shirt, repair a sock, and you've got extended life on that item, you don't have to buy a new one, and you've saved money and time if you were going to make a trip just to buy that item.

And cooking is cheaper then buying fast food, I know it doesn't seem like it, but for $10 I can make enough food to feed me for 4/5 meals if I really wanted, good meals at that, that's what? One trip to KFC? It's also better for you generally.

Every now and then I do a "cooking day" when I make up a half dozen dishes, simple stuff, and pack it away in the freezer, usually sets me back around $50, and when I'm feeling lazy out comes the stir-fry I cooked last month or the chilli or the fried rice, and into the oven it goes.

The knife thing is even more about saving money, a decent set of knives if $50-60, and if you take care of them they will last you years, replacing them all the time is going to cost you a lot of money and "it's sharp enough to cut" comments... well I hope you like blood loss, a dull knife is actually more dangerous to you then a sharp one, chances are much higher it will slip when cutting, slicing, or dicing.

I guess I really must be a high-tech hick, I skin an animal, and build a computer with the same proficiency.

Ok, but just buying frozen food will save you money and if you know what brands to buy (Smart Ones for example) can actually help you LOSE weight. That's right, you can lose weight and only eat frozen food.

The cheapest I've seen frozen food is about $3, and that's on sale, and I wouldn't eat that crap if it was free, once you start scaling up, i.e not just making one, but five, it's actually cheaper to make your own "frozen" meals, better for you, and doesn't taste like crap.

 

[dlawnro]

It's all because most of us don't need these skills. 50 years ago, if I didn't know how to cook or didn't live with/near someone who could cook, I'd be a lot more screwed than I would be in the same situation today. It's easy to get new clothes, it's easy to get food, so why bother learning relatively extraneous skills you're not going to use?

 

[superbatranger]

Most of the skills I've acquired over the years I've either learned myself or were passed down from my parents. My stepdad, for instance, showed me a lot when it comes to taking care of my car.

 

[PissOffRoth]

I'm not even sure that those are learned things so much as they are common bloody sense.
Step 1: Crack egg
Step 2: Open egg over pan or other really hot, flat surface
Step 3: Wait until it looks not-raw anymore
Step 4: Remove egg from pan or really hot, flat surface with something that isn't your hands

Rocket science.

 

[laststandman]

In the digital age? The ability to write a letter.

I agree with this statement to a massive degree. I still write letters because I think more emotion is captured in the written word than is in the typed word. Plus writing a letter takes more patience and dedication, which makes whatever is written so much more substantial.

 

[SimuLord]

My (female) cousin knows neither how to use a washing machine, an iron, a dishwasher, or a cooker. Her mother does everything for her. I was... Horrified! She's 19 now, she has no intention of moving out of home nor of learning those things. Basically, my aunt and my grandparents spoil her horribly. She never needed to learn if there is always someone to do it for her. :/

Please tell me that wasn't basically saying that's all that women should know how to do, since every one of those is a stereotypical housewife chore. I'm male and I hate sexist fucks who think like that.

Housewife chore, my ass. I'm a man who lives alone, and I'd damn well better know how to use a washing machine, iron, and dishwasher unless I want to never use my kitchen, go to job interviews in wrinkled and dirty clothes, and otherwise be a bum. Not sure what you mean by a "cooker" though. A stove? An oven? A rice cooker? I can use all of the above because man cannot live on Del Taco alone.

Little miss 19-year-old is going to find herself caught between a rock and a hard place when she doesn't have auntie and grandma to take care of her...she won't have the life skills to take care of herself and she won't have the domestic skills to get a man to take care of her.