Thursday, March 8, 2007

The Areas of Our Expertise

I was reading the Dilbert blog and hit his Smarter Than a 5th Grader post and I realized something important in what the people were commenting on.

There are groups of skills and knowledge to learn.

At the very center are the Core Life Skills:
Learning
Sensemaking
Cooking
Cleaning
Spirituality
Driving
Swimming
Finance
Working
Computer use
First Aid


These are the survival skills of the 21st Century. These are the things you need to know if you want to at least survive in the urban jungle.

Then you have the General Knowledge Skills:
History
Chemistry
Physics
Biology
Public Speaking
Influence
Social skills
Critical thinking

These are the skills and knowledge you need to be prosperous. They are also foundational to the next level.

Finally the Specialized Knowledge Skills:
There isn't really one list for this as it includes anything required to become good at something, like medicine, engineering, entrepreneurship, art, or whatever the passion your children have to be the best they can be have. We need to take the time to introduce our children to a multitude of different professions and crafts to help them find what there is inside themselves to greatness.

But this isn't very well rounded, either. There is also the need for balance in other areas: Literature, mathematics, music, arts, business and sports. The heart, mind and spirit all need nourishment and exercise.

None of these lists are complete and I would love to hear what you think are important things to know.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you have swimming on the list. Maybe that surprises some people. Look at this embarassing statistic for the United States:

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mor_dro_and_sub_whi_in_swi_poo-drowning-submersion-while-swimming-pool