# Essential skills our children won't need. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 25, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706 "2011-10-25T03:06:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/81 "2011-10-26T02:25:45Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Did you never need to write out a hand-written note of condolence or congratulations, or add meaningful words to a birthday card? I don’t think many people do that anymore. Yesterday I wished a friend I’ve known for over 20 years a happy birthday - on Twitter. She seemed okay with that. ---
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/82 "2011-10-26T04:16:08Z")
Pulling into the shady gas station in the bad part of town to ask directions because you are totally lost Writing a school report from the limited information you find in the 20 year old encyclopedia in the school library ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/83 "2011-10-26T04:39:31Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I, for one, hope cursive writing doesn’t die out. Did you never need to write out a hand-written note of condolence or congratulations, or add meaningful words to a birthday card? Do you want it to be legible? Or do you expect to print? I don’t just expect to print, I do it. Why not? I don’t know anyone my age who writes in cursive, or who can read it easily, for that matter. I’ll add: Typing on phone keypad; I expect all phones will have qwerty keyboards in a decade or two. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/84 "2011-10-26T07:02:09Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Knowing how to fill out a check. OMG…I didn’t read the rest of the thread after this but had to jump ahead to when I bought my most-recent car (last year) and went to pay for it with a check and found I had absolutely no memory of how to fill one out! (I’m 40, and we were actually TAUGHT this in like…7th grade?) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/85 "2011-10-26T08:57:42Z")
> [@Bosstrain](#): > > Math…I may have missed it but I didn’t see anyone mention math. I knew when I was 5 that I wouldn’t need it, the damn calculater’s right there, google even has it’s own. Confusing math and arithmetic should die out, but I doubt it will any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/86 "2011-10-26T10:31:01Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Think about it for a minute. The federal government one had a requirement that you had to lick their products. How weird is that? I’ve seen stamp-wetting sponges in pictures of office settings dating from the 1920s. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/87 "2011-10-26T11:51:40Z")
> [@runcible\_spoon](#): > > Typing on phone keypad; I expect all phones will have qwerty keyboards in a decade or two. Or voice recognition. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/88 "2011-10-26T12:04:16Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Think about it for a minute. The federal government one had a requirement that you had to lick their products. How weird is that? Fortunately, the Clinton adminstration ended that requirement. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/89 "2011-10-26T12:13:07Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Fortunately, the Clinton adminstration ended that requirement. Now you had to suck. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/90 "2011-10-26T12:20:49Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Reading, period. > Writing, period. > Arithmetic. Using a slide-rule, even. > Thinking. You realize a big reason we are in the current economic mess is because a lot of people couldn’t be bothered to read the terms of their mortgage, couldn’t calculate whether they could afford it and didn’t think that buying a $300,000 house on $45,000 a year salary might be a bad idea? > [@Canadjun](#): > > Originally Posted by PunditLisa > \*Calling a number for the weather and time. > > I phone up the weather recording all the time and will probably continue to do so until either my watch shows me the forecast or they get rid of the service. I like finding out the weather when I am getting dressed in the morning and my cordless phone is quicker to get to than my computer. So many anachronisms…☹ You know they have weather aps on smart phones these days? ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/91 "2011-10-26T12:29:03Z")
Dad took me hunting sometime back in the late 1980’s…We rented a bedroom in the bottom of some guy’s house. While Dad was getting ready, I turned on the black and white TV to see if there were any channels in Podunk Nebraska broadcasting before 6am. The one channel I got was a camera, pointed at three gauges: Temp, Windspeed/Dir, Clock. No clue where those conditions were for, but there ya go. Anachronism time. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/92 "2011-10-26T12:57:03Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Reading, period. > Writing, period. > Arithmetic. Using a slide-rule, even. > Thinking. Why is this becoming a bash-the-young thread? Kids still learn to read. Handwriting is less important, but if you can write on a computer, you can write. The “thinking” thing is almost not worth commenting on. Kids haven’t been using slide rules for a generation or so. > [@](#): > > My grandmother’s childhood chores in the little town of Perushkov, tending the family geese. Mother (that is, my great-grandmother) chose one for dinner, Father (my great-grandfather) slaughtered it, then they cleaned and plucked it. You young’uns just don’t learn those skill, do you? It sounds like you and your mother didn’t learn them either. Am I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/93 "2011-10-26T13:27:18Z")
Taking 10 books out of the library to write one report. Taking any books out of the library for any reason. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/94 "2011-10-26T13:30:14Z")
> [@Cryptic\_C62](#): > > Err… what? Last I checked, my shoelaces are still shoelaces. Ahh, but I see many people in their 20s and even 30s, as well as teenagers, who don’t tie their shoes! Is it a trend, simply leaving the shoes untied, or is it because they’ve already lost the skill? ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/95 "2011-10-26T14:20:10Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > OMG…I didn’t read the rest of the thread after this but had to jump ahead to when I bought my most-recent car (last year) and went to pay for it with a check and found I had absolutely no memory of how to fill one out! (I’m 40, and we were actually TAUGHT this in like…7th grade?) I mail my landlord a monthly check for rent. When I’ve had roommates, they’ve also paid by check. I’ve never heard of a landlord taking electronic payment. As a young person, unless you are electronically paying a mortgage, you’d better know how to write a check. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/96 "2011-10-26T14:27:25Z")
You can pay a lot of bills electronically, but not all of them. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/97 "2011-10-26T14:54:31Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You can pay a lot of bills electronically, but not all of them. My bank has a free service with which I can electronically order them to send a physical check to the address of my choosing, on the repeating or one-time schedule of my choosing. The only checks I’ve written in the last year were to the babysitter, when I didn’t have cash for her. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/98 "2011-10-26T14:57:28Z")
How is rolling down a window a skill? A retarded monkey with asses for hands could roll a window down. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/99 "2011-10-26T14:59:29Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#): > > Ahh, but I see many people in their 20s and even 30s, as well as teenagers, who don’t tie their shoes! Is it a trend, simply leaving the shoes untied, or is it because they’ve already lost the skill? It’s the same type of trend as the “belt below the butt” thing, usually found on the same people. Doesn’t mean they don’t know how to tie their shoelaces. > [@](#): > > I, for one, hope cursive writing doesn’t die out. Did you never need to write out a hand-written note of condolence or congratulations, or add meaningful words to a birthday card? Do you want it to be legible? Or do you expect to print? Err, when I need to write something I just write it normally. :dubious: Why would cursive ever be \*more \*legible than print, unless you just have terrible handwriting? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706/100 "2011-10-26T15:09:53Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > …because little kids these days aren’t allowed to go to school with shoelace-shoes, they’re required to have Velcro. Something about the teachers not having time to tie everyone’s shoes. (\<---- I lived with a single dad for a short time, this was the policy at his son’s school.) But they’d have to learn eventually. I teach 7th grade and all of them know how to tie their shoes. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Telling time on an analogue clock. Already been said and kind of dismissed. Why would they not need know this? Analogue clocks are everywhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-skills-our-children-wont-need/600706.md?page=6)