life skillz
Check out Tim Burke’s list of topics to be covered in a life-skills class:
- The insides and workings of a computer, and how to replace and add components to one.
- How an operating system works. How to customize an operating system. File systems. How Internet works. How to set up a router. Internet safety and virus protection. Online commerce.
- How to operate important software applications: word processor, spreadsheet, image management, presentation software.
- Best practices for searching for information online.
- The basics of investment and personal finance.
- How to file tax returns. How to read a paycheck.
- Basics of how to start and manage a small business.
- Price comparisons and management of monthly budgets.
- Cover letters and resumes.
- Basic first aid. Proper use of medicine. Common illnesses. When to call for expert medical assistance.
- Basic cooking.
- Basic evaluation of food quality in markets. Food safety, especially cross-contamination.
- How to drive, including stick-shift. Basic auto maintenance.
- How to read a map. Knowledge of mass transit systems.
- Basic power and non-power tool operation. Safety training in tool use.
- Care of plants. How to plant, including use of shovel and other garden implements.
- How to paint interiors.
- Basics of home mechanical and electric systems.
- Basics of carpentry.
- Basic self-defense, including watching for trouble signs from other people.
- How to swim.
- How to ride a bicycle.
- Dealing with poisons, hazardous chemicals, insect bites, common irritants.
- Sewing and clothing repair.
- Legal rights, small claims courts, basic familiarity with civil and criminal provisions.
- Condom use, safe sex, reproductive health.
- Simple diagnostics and repair of appliances.
- Cleaning of home environments, clothing.
- Reuse and repurposing of household items.
As I commented on Tim’s site, this is not nearly as cool a list as the fourth grade curriculum of the Camiroi — see also here — but I still like it. It would be an interesting exercise to cut these down to a most-vital dozen.
One could live without knowing “how to paint interiors.” And who doesn’t know how to use a shovel?
— Conor Friedersdorf · Mar 18, 06:53 PM · #
About eight years ago I interviewed a man who was dying of HIV/AIDS. He was in the shade of the family homestead, surrounded by his children. His wife was dead a few months earlier and the children were weeks, perhaps days away from being orphans.
Not wanting to lose the opportunity, I asked him, “What do you want to make sure your children know before you die?” I suppose I hoped he would answer with something about wanting them to know that he loved them, or something about not losing hope, or whatever other cringe-inducing pathos tends to insinuate itself into these sorts of projects, even when you try to guard against it. Even as the words left my mouth, I wished I hadn’t asked them, but it was too late.
The man answered me in earnest, and held forth with a list not unlike the above, but tailored to the various requirements of keeping a homestead running in the impoverished soils of Zimbabwe’s (so called) tribal lands. Swimming was not on the list; applying the right fertilizer to the crops at the appropriate stage of growth was; as were cooking and cleaning and budgeting. Listening to him recount the “life skilz” he hoped he had taught his children left me feeling humiliated by my own naivete and ashamed of my own lack of perspective. It was almost more than I could bear, and only by the barest margin was I able to prevent myself from indulging in tears.
Recounting his list sapped the man’s strength, and I was thankful for the excuse to conclude the interview. But before I could, he gathered himself and offered one more stanza.
“And I also want to that they should be good to each other. That they have to take care of each other. And they should be good to other people too. I want them to know that God loves them and they should love each other. That’s what I want them to know.”
None of this made it’s way into the final cut, but not for lack of trying. These things can’t be force, even if you want to very badly.
I’d add something about boats to the list, and maybe a little animal husbandry.
— Tony Comstock · Mar 18, 07:06 PM · #
I am more than happy to outsource about half of those items. Maybe a basic life-skill is knowing how and when to outsource?
— Kevin · Mar 18, 07:11 PM · #
I think driving a car is a life skill. You don’t necessarily have to own one, but not being able to drive at all is a pretty severe impediment.
— Bobar · Mar 18, 07:11 PM · #
We just had a new baby. The doctor told us that babies had to learn how to burp. It was a skill not an instinct. Until he learned how to burp he was pretty miserable with gas pains. No one had to teach him how to fart, though. He was a natural.
For me, I would love to learn how not to procrastinate. Tveryone would be thinking, “where’s cw? He hasn’t commented lately. The American Scene is just not the same without his trenchant musings.”
— cw · Mar 18, 09:14 PM · #
I was already missing you, cw.
Maybe Tim should add some conditional topics: “If you haven’t yet learned to burp or fart, this is your chance!”
— Alan Jacobs · Mar 18, 09:18 PM · #
Logistics and time constraints would eliminate learning to drive, swim, and probably ride a bike from the practical realm. ‘Reproductive health’ would sadly condemn the entire project to life as a bloody shirt in the ‘culture war’. The rest could probably be squeezed into a year.
But why aren’t people learning these things from their parents?
Carpentry and painting can probably go, but I would add remedial plumbing — like how to clean out a P-trap.
— sidereal · Mar 18, 11:13 PM · #
But why aren’t people learning these things from their parents?
What is “Because they are both working 50-60 hours/week outside the home in the name of giving their children the good life” Alex?
— Tony Comstock · Mar 18, 11:24 PM · #
How to write a thank you letter, a letter of condolence and Small Talk 101 can ease one’s passage through life. Being able to take a reasonable photograph is helpful too.
— ell · Mar 19, 11:08 AM · #
Out of fear of not knowing what to say, I failed to write a letter of condolence to a friend who had lost a loved one. That failure haunts me still, but subsequently the dread of ever feeling that way again has provide the motivation to send notes that have been well-received by the bereaved. Mostly I’m not a fan of negative reenforcement, but I’m a pragmatist, or at least I try to be.
— Tony Comstock · Mar 19, 01:09 PM · #
Take risks.
— Kevin · Mar 21, 10:38 PM · #
Kenny Rogers has you covered:
You gotta know when to hold em
Know when to fold em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
You don’t count your money
When you’re sitting at the table
There’ll be time enough for counting
When the dealing’s done….
— Thunda · Mar 21, 10:59 PM · #
Basic handgun and rifle/shotgun loading, operation, and cleaning, along with a healthy respect for firearms.
— Matt · Mar 21, 11:42 PM · #
Where are you people from, the hills of South Carolina?
Basic handgun use as a life skill?? Being able to drive a car????
These are two of the most useless (not to mention dangerous) life skills I can think of. Let me remind you most Americans live in cities where guns endanger us all and that driving is often less convenient than taking the subway.
— Stephen · Mar 22, 01:20 AM · #
The basics of how to start and manage a small business? Not just “personal finance, medical billing, and basic tax knowledge.”
I gotta say, things like “how do I maintain cashflow and obtain a loan structured to fund payroll?” and “how do I go about even identifying the specific market for my product or service?” are basic small business issues. And thinking they’re also somehow basic life skills is just some sort of weird fetish.
I’m going to assume that “how an operating system works” is more like, “how to use the interface of your operating system,” because the workings of an operating system are not simple, and they’re not basic life skills. I’d be very surprised if any but a small minority even realized that Windows is essentially a program launched as a shell for DOS, which is still the real filing and executable system. And you know, who needs to know that?
As for basic carpentry, well, I’d say that applying a basic knowledge of carpentry to a lot of household problems can lead to un-basic mistakes. Do you also need to know “basic roofing?”
— Nick · Mar 22, 11:28 AM · #
Nothing about art? How to read for pleasure? How to look at paintings? How to make time for music?
What a world.
— nyc · Mar 22, 01:03 PM · #
“driving is often less convenient than taking the subway”
Didn’t realize that there’s a subway reasonably accessible to all of the 20 miilion + Californians living in metro areas. Do you actually believe that most Americans live in Manhattan, Brooklyn and DC?
— huh · Mar 23, 02:36 PM · #