Specialization is for insects

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. -Robert A. Heinlein

Have we as a society forgotten the important skills which one should have in life? I think so. It makes me sad to see college students, people who are supposed to be intelligent beings, unable to perform the simplest of tasks like boil water for pasta or work a washing machine. We spend so much time trying to get our children to absorb the "important" lessons like history or advanced mathematics that we forget to teach them how to perform the important, simple tasks that we need in day to day life. I've met people getting their masters degrees in sciences like computer science and engineering who can do amazing things in their field, yet don't know the proper way to hold a hammer.

I understand that in this highly globalized society we have too much information to learn and not enough time to learn it, but there are some things which I feel people should have learned at a young age. I almost wish there was a mandatory class for freshmen entering college entitled Common Sense 101, teaching them the important information that I seem to lecture my friends about on a regular basis - you don't ingest dairy if you have a fever or congestion problems (it curdles in your stomach and increases the amount of phlegm in your throat), just because people in commercials don't rinse dishes before they put them in the dishwasher doesn't mean you can do it too, and when you're stacking a bookshelf you start from the bottom shelf with the heaviest things and work your way up.

I challenge every one of us to find the places in life where we are lacking usable skills, and work our hardest to fix this blind spot. I think I'm going to learn how to change a tire. :) Maybe that will give me incentive to learn how to drive.