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Honestly I think there are some things that we grew up with that kids today do need to learn. Even something as basic as how to count change back, how to do things without a calculator or computer. How to entertain themselves without video games etc. It's disturbing to an extent to see how the youth of today are.
I agree. We are tough on our kids. My husband and I have the mindset that if we don't teach our kids how to make the right choices, we failed them and their futures.
It is always amusing to see the things that old geezers think are important. I actually think it is annoying when a cashier (usually of an advanced age) wastes my time doing that strange counting back thing. On the rare occasion that I use cash, I want the correct change as quickly as possible without the archaic ritual of counting it back piece by piece. I can't even imagine what it was like when everyone did this with every purchase.
Why would anyone need to learn to do things without calculators, computers or video games? Are they going to disappear sometime soon never to be seen again? It is like saying that kids today suck because they aren't capable of traversing the country in a covered wagon. Or that society was headed down the crapper ever since people lost the ability to create their own stone tools.
You bring up a great point; however, there are many of us today who are not millennials who also work in tech and other sectors and continue to do what millennials do to keep our skills sharp in order to survive, so I am not sure that survival instinct is exclusive to millennials.
True, but I think millennials are the first generation where they're starting their careers in this type of fast-paced climate. Older generations are just as much in the mix, but they mostly started and built their careers in a very different professional world where expectations were more reasonable.
Also, millennials in the US face much more competition than their predecessors did, what with offshoring, rampant H1B program abuse, and automation.
Older generations face this reality too now, but millennials are facing this from the beginning of their careers.
It is always amusing to see the things that old geezers think are important. I actually think it is annoying when a cashier (usually of an advanced age) wastes my time doing that strange counting back thing. On the rare occasion that I use cash, I want the correct change as quickly as possible without the archaic ritual of counting it back piece by piece. I can't even imagine what it was like when everyone did this with every purchase.
Why would anyone need to learn to do things without calculators, computers or video games? Are they going to disappear sometime soon never to be seen again? It is like saying that kids today suck because they aren't capable of traversing the country in a covered wagon. Or that society was headed down the crapper ever since people lost the ability to create their own stone tools.
Believe it or not it's a skill I learned in high school. Even today the registers, computers do go down and calculators don't work. It's actually quicker to count change back. There has been several times when I've counted change back when the cashier gives it to me and they still get it wrong. A friend of mine had a girl at a register ask her what a dime was a couple of weeks ago.
I will never forget being 8 months pregnant and having to do the assistant front end managers job because they didn't know how to do take registers down without them being powered or do hand written tickets nor figure out how much change is needed. That is why it is important to know those skills. Which my kids are learning them at home.
Older generations are just as much in the mix, but they mostly started and built their careers in a very different professional world where expectations were more reasonable.
You're kidding, right? Women were discriminated against when we started our careers in men's fields. We had to prove ourselves by fire. It was a ***** for many years.
We didn't cry if someone criticized us or gave us ****. We never required a 'safe space' or sued for being harassed. On the contrary. We were tough as nails in our determination that we were as good at our jobs as men.
The Millennials will grow up someday. They will just obtain adulthood later in life because they had a delayed adulthood. Their parents kept them children for too long.
Last edited by texan2yankee; 08-23-2016 at 01:45 PM..
Believe it or not it's a skill I learned in high school. Even today the registers, computers do go down and calculators don't work. It's actually quicker to count change back. There has been several times when I've counted change back when the cashier gives it to me and they still get it wrong. A friend of mine had a girl at a register ask her what a dime was a couple of weeks ago.
I will never forget being 8 months pregnant and having to do the assistant front end managers job because they didn't know how to do take registers down without them being powered or do hand written tickets nor figure out how much change is needed. That is why it is important to know those skills. Which my kids are learning them at home.
How can it possibly be quicker to count change back rather than just putting the correct amount in my hand without the extraneous commentary? Have you used a modern cash register or POS terminal? They all have this convenient feature that calculates with 100% accuracy the amount of change required in any given cash transaction, no human counting skills required.
What good does it do to know how to operate without electronic cash registers when nobody carries cash anymore? Despite your Hawking-esque skills in performing math by hand, you can't process a credit/debit card transaction with a pen and a pad.
Let me guess, you think learning to write in cursive is important too? Do you still do math calculations with a slide rule or abacus? Do you have a sundial or old school mechanical watch available in case every digital and analog clock fails? Do you prefer to do your gardening with a mule team and hand tools to keep those skills fresh? You never know when every technological advance of the last 100 years will be wiped out and we will all be living like its 1850 again, right?
Whether you like it or not, the things you learned in high school are becoming obsolete and unnecessary. If you had your way, American kids would be wasting time learning outdated skills due to nostalgia while their counterparts around the world are learning skills useful in modern society.
It's a really good discussion. One premise is that the rise of intelligence has been accompanied by the rise of stupidity. Stupidity isn't talked about as much as intelligence but is really another side of the civilization coin.
Anyway, during one line of inquiry they talk about Competitive and Complimentary Cognitive Artifacts. It's worth listening to the whole thing, but the discussions at 52:35 (self-driving cars and other elements) and at 56:25 (cursive writing) are particularly appropriate.
When you eliminate or fail to learn certain skills you aren't just losing the ability to perform that particular function, you're also failing to develop certain related forms of cognition. We are slowly giving away our need to do things manually and expend effort learning to do things at all, in favor of automation of tasks. The result over time is less-capable minds.
And that's probably okay as the computers will be in charge within 50 years. Pictograms
Incredibly unbelievable. I guess they are hoping that in the future, we are devoid of any individuality and we all think, do, and feel everything exactly the same.
How can it possibly be quicker to count change back rather than just putting the correct amount in my hand without the extraneous commentary? Have you used a modern cash register or POS terminal? They all have this convenient feature that calculates with 100% accuracy the amount of change required in any given cash transaction, no human counting skills required.
What good does it do to know how to operate without electronic cash registers when nobody carries cash anymore? Despite your Hawking-esque skills in performing math by hand, you can't process a credit/debit card transaction with a pen and a pad.
Let me guess, you think learning to write in cursive is important too? Do you still do math calculations with a slide rule or abacus? Do you have a sundial or old school mechanical watch available in case every digital and analog clock fails? Do you prefer to do your gardening with a mule team and hand tools to keep those skills fresh? You never know when every technological advance of the last 100 years will be wiped out and we will all be living like its 1850 again, right?
Whether you like it or not, the things you learned in high school are becoming obsolete and unnecessary. If you had your way, American kids would be wasting time learning outdated skills due to nostalgia while their counterparts around the world are learning skills useful in modern society.
The point is this- stuff people did years ago as a common practice, it's still good to know how to do and how to use. There have been so many times I've seen ladies in their 20's ask for someone to "translate" their grandma's recipe cards. It's becoming a lost art that is not taught in schools anymore unless the state law makes it mandatory because damn common core takes up so much time. Did you know science and social studies are an afterthought now too? In some school systems those two subjects are only taught if there is time outside of Math and English language arts.
If someone in their 30's is an "old geezer" and things they learned in school are now "obsolete and unnecessary", please explain to me why when we sit down with our kids to help them with their homework because they are in tears and they don't understand it. Once we explain our "old geezer" and "obsolete and unnecessary" ways, it magically clicks. What a concept. By the way....this "old geezer" is in her 30's has worked jobs where registers and computers were involved. At each job, if the computers went down we were screwed. At 2 of the jobs, when the technology went down we had to go back to the "obsolete and unnecessary" ways to get the job done.
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That is why it is important to know those skills. Which my kids are learning them at home.
