So many lost skills - Page 4

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

@Laura14 wrote:

You are so right about the lack of actual communication skills. Luckily they are young enough that they thought it was funny and we busted them right away. None of them have their own phone yet so it was a thrill to be on their parents' devices but it's coming in the next year or two.

I'm actually waiting until they do get a personal cell phone so their aunt can blow them up with texts. Kids never turn off their phones so I'm looking forward to a whole decade's worth of embarrassment. My sisters put their whole lives on Facebook so I have a treasure trove of
photos that may just pop up from time to time. And, since I only talk face to face, they'll have to hunt me down to ask me to stop that.

Laura14,

Thank you for your kind words. I have always been an optimist and see only good things happening.

As for your young nieces? I love your plans for their future connecting to you,

Thanks again

hckynut(john)

ChynnaBlue · ‎05-22-2012

Reading a map wasn't a skill most people had long before GPS. I used to work in a job where we analyzed maps and property all day. I worked with the company for 13 years and spent 8 of those years training people. Each new hire went through a 2-week training course to learn about the different types of maps, learn how locate the same property on a street map, a plat/property boundary map, a survey, a FEMA flood map, and aerial map. They had to learn to read the different scales on maps and even learn how to measure exactly where a house was on a lot using all of those maps.

We had a lot of people who couldn't tell East from West even with a north arrow on a map. I even encountered three people, including a city planner, who couldn't tell North from South. Many of the people who came in had little to no experience reading maps. I remember reading maps as part of my elementary school classes, but it appeared that schools must no longer cover this information.

And this article is from 1993, decades before GPS in most cars and every smart phone: http://articles.mcall.com/1993-08-05/features/2934587_1_cartographers-franklin-maps-social-studies

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proudlyfromNJ · ‎05-01-2010

@hckynut Hope everything works out ok. Wasn't your wife away? Please keep us updated.

mstyrion 1 · ‎09-18-2014

When these kinds of threads come up I always have to wonder why, if you think a skill is important, you don't just teach your kids yourself. Cursive writing, making change, reading a map...

All things a parent could easily teach.

They don't teach embroidery or crocheting or knitting in school and haven't for decades. People managed to pass these skills on without relying on schools to do it.

I don't understand why all the angst about "lost" skills as if losing them were totally out of one's control.

~Enough is enough~

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@jackthebear wrote:
well people don't ride horses to town anymore either, life moves on

Don't know where you live, but people still ride horses to town here. And I'm not kidding.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Desertdi wrote:
Times have changed...........I take shorthand, and operate office machines such as teletype machines, addressographs, multiliths, accounting machines such as the Marchand................ Nobody has even HEARD of this stuff....at least not in recent history (!)

@Desertdi

You are making me feel old! While not operating machines listed, I do remember them!

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@qualitygal wrote:
Good take!! How about the people interviewed on the street, who do not know, common questions or not able to identify people by their faces and these are voting age people, some college students, parents, etc. They can access so much now electronically in the snap of a finger and yet, so much is missed.

I began to wonder if the calendars we have now, that show say WWII anniversary dates of things in history. I just feel like, when did they quit teaching history? Current events? etc.

I guess if it doesn't apply/it doesn't interest. I get that. But then, when I went to school, it wasn't about that. What happened, electronics. Some good, some not so good.

@qualitygal

Some of those 'man on the street' questions about government in particular, are really frightening. People in college, who don't know who the Vice President is, or know nothing about the most basic of our government functions and processes. And to think they allow them to vote. You have to pass a test to do someone's hair or nails, but people don't have to have even the most basic understanding of government/history to elect our leaders.

Frightening!

Puzzle Piece · ‎06-29-2010

Don't know if this was mentioned but how about Geography. I know here in the Los Angeles School District that Geography is taught and hasn't been taught for years. The students haven't a clue what a continent is or where one is. Nor where the states are located. Sad.

Never Forget the Native American Indian Holocaust

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@violann wrote:
Typically, "cradle raised" computer users will say

"I can find the answe to ANY QUESTION by simply using my computer"

Here's a problem as I see it- many of the people in the "cradle" group have no idea what they're asking about, or how to ask.

Or know how to find those same answers if there is on computer/internet.

Research skills and problem solving are really being lost.

Trinity11 · ‎11-16-2014

@mstyrion 1 wrote:
When these kinds of threads come up I always have to wonder why, if you think a skill is important, you don't just teach your kids yourself. Cursive writing, making change, reading a map...
All things a parent could easily teach.

They don't teach embroidery or crocheting or knitting in school and haven't for decades. People managed to pass these skills on without relying on schools to do it.

I don't understand why all the angst about "lost" skills as if losing them were totally out of one's control.

Well said! I taught my children cursive, how to make change.....I remember Fischer Price had a little cash register and playing with real money I taught both my children how to shop and make change. They were both around seven at the time when I introduced them to reading a map because we were going to visit a museum and I wanted them to help me find it on a map. It made a lot of wonderful memories for me...