http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/09/27/are_we_raising_a_generation_of_nincompoops/

"Second-graders who can't tie shoes or zip jackets. Four-year-olds in Pull-Ups diapers. Five-year-olds in strollers. Teens and preteens befuddled by can openers and ice-cube trays. College kids who've never done laundry, taken a bus alone or addressed an envelope.

Are we raising a generation of nincompoops? And do we have only ourselves to blame? Or are some of these things simply the result of kids growing up with push-button technology in an era when mechanical devices are gradually being replaced by electronics?"

.....
link

There are a lot of kids around that don't meet minimum standards of age-appropriate competence. I for one work to ensure that my children, at least, will not be counted among the nincompoops.

I recently read that California used to have one of the best public school systems in the WORLD. Now, decades later, California has one of the worst public school systems. What happened?

While I agree somewhat with the article's conclusions, how many of have all the skills and abilities of our parents? Or think of it this way, how many of your parent's skills are obsolete now?

That being said, we are trying to install in our kids a strong skill set including math, science and engineering. I keep thinking that someday those that understand the world will rule the world...

-Blast

Behind every nincompoop kid are nincompoop parents.

Seems every generation thinks the young'uns don't measure up in some ways.

Reading, writing, talking, listening, math, science, engineering, swimming, shooting, driving, hiking, camping, cooking, animal care, laundry, running, bicycling, budgeting, saving. Without making jokes off of Heinlein's list http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?SpecializationIsForInsects, what am I missing?

I cannot overstate how much I agree with this.

In another (fake) news report I just wrote:

Fairfax, VA -
Area man Jim Johnson, 66, asks his grandson, John, age 11, to help him add a contact to his cell phone. In addition, Jim is unable to upload a video to YouTube and, despite hours of trying, his son Jack Johnson, 44, has given up trying to explain to his father how to use Skype.

"It's a shame he can't really manage to use Skype, because we'd love to do video calls with him so he can see his grandkids. He just can't seem to understand how to use it" said Jack.

"I gave pappy my iPod Touch, he didn't even know what do do with it!" said John.

Indeed, many of the technological innovations of today are simply lost on the grandparents of today. While their kids are blogging and texting and making well-edited home made videos of their kids and their grand kids are living in a state of constant awareness and continual information flow, today's grandparents simply haven't grown older - they have remained firmly stuck in a mental model of communications and technology that was passive and consumption based, not participatory and collaborative. It's not just about being unable to work the digital camera - it's not being able to conceptualize the basic workings of technology....


(I just made that up, but it kind of reminds me of this:

http://www.satirewire.com/features/siliconpines/acf.shtml

I don't have kids. However, I was a Sergeant in the Army for a while and acted in loco parentis for more than one troop.

18 y/os who:

Couldn't balance a checkbook. Didn't understand what an overdraft was, or know the bank charged them for using the ATM if it wasn't their bank.
Had no clue how to get car insurance or even register a car.
Had never applied for a job, never mind a loan.
Had no clue what it took to get married, nor clue one where the courthouse was.
Couldn't cook a simple meal (females included).
Had no clue how to do laundry, or iron.
No basic tool skills at all.
ONe young lady in particular - "I've never mowed a lawn, we had gardeners do it" "Cool, consider yourself a gardener today, now mow"

I consider those all basic life skills. I won't even get into what I considered basic field skills. Good thing we'd gone to MREs which are tear open, some of those kids couldn't have worked a P38 if they had too.

And btw, although I'm not an X gen, I can build a PC, lol.

Long gone are the days when school was like this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1DtY42xEOI

Check out all the Joe90's...

I doubt that there are many 14 year olds today who were trained like myself to field strip and reassemble a Bren Light Machine Gun whilst blind folded in less than 2 minutes; probably because there isn't much call for it today. The cold war is over.



I suspect the same teenagers could probably setup their parents email clients or facebook page (whatever that is) for them though.

And there still are some teenagers who can handle themselves out in the wilds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd8pCpNUIiU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydNMl6jmgtw