I can also understand that penmanship, spelling, multiplication, and diagramming sentences - drudgery that was deemed important when I went to school, are last century skillsets.I can't possibly agree that penmanship, spelling, and multiplication are obsolete skills. BUncle, you likely weren't around on CFC some years back when there was a thread about cursive writing. I was absolutely appalled at how many people there who were baffled at the idea that learning to write - write, not print - is important. They said, "Oh, I don't need that. I have my computer." They couldn't imagine ever not having their computers, or enough electricity or batteries. The computer does the printing and spell checking for them, and who needs to know how to multiply when you've got a calculator? ::)
They have been replaced by typing and computer proficiency.
But effective communication is one of those things that doesn't change. Being clear, concise, persuasive and memorable are timeless skills. One has to understand spelling and grammar well enough for the computer to recognize it. Oh, sure, colleges ask for essays on applications, but how many of those do the students do entirely on their own? Making them answer essay questions under controlled conditions seems like the best way to evaluate communication skills to me.
Then again, I never attended college, so what would I know?
We must be about the same age, Valka.I've made 50 trips around the Sun. ;) I learned to use a slide rule in Grade 10 math. I still have mine somewhere, although it's been a few decades since I last used it.
Can you use a slide rule? I must admit I've forgotten how.
I agree that people won't be able to function without electricity any more, so I'd hate to see that happen.
Otherwise I mostly mastered what I was taught. These days, I'm feeling increasingly obsolete and out of place.
It's useful to have mastery of these classic skillsets, but I don't think it is necessary to go beyond the basics any more. Employers have different ideas these days. Nobody cares if I can handle a double entry ledger in ink, spell without a spellchecker, or do math in my head. They think I'm a show-off trying to make them look bad. Using paper is immoral, because it hurts the environment by killing trees.
Being able to type quickly is more important that being able to write legibly.
Being able to set up a spreadsheet to do the math automatically is more important than being able to do it in your head.
Being able to open and answer a text message is an expectation.
But that's the workplace.
I don't know about college these days, and college doesn't always prepare people for the workplace. Can anybody get a 4 year college degree any more without a computer? Tanj if I know.
I'm 49. How did I avoid the slide rules? Is it a northern thing, or me being retarded at maths and avoiding them?For me, it was a case of being completely inept at regular algebra and having to transfer from the academic math stream to an independent progress class with more emphasis on practical math and more basic stuff. In that class I learned slide rule, geometry, basic business math, how to cope with the metric system, and some algebra that wasn't so brain-twisting (I can't cope with math that doesn't have some practical application I can see; imaginary numbers are just nonsense). That class enabled me to get back to the middle stream of math the following year. I squeaked through Grade 12 math in the last class allowed to use Math 33 to get into college. The following year the requirements changed, and I wouldn't have had a chance. And since I was in the B.Ed. program I had to take a math course in college, but managed to fail that spectacularly. I haven't taken a math course since - that was over 30 years ago.
I would be so dead in that system... :-\As far I know, most of the actual dissection has been removed from the classroom and is done virtually instead. I have taken several Geology courses in order to fufill several requirements for my major and physical science transfer requirements. In order to fufill Life sciences, I have taken an Anthropology course. The professor for that course was particularly interesting and funny. Thank you BUncle for the offer, but I am certain that I have a handle on the English and History homework. The worst part of English 101 for me is the in class work that she gives us. It is boring to me and not particularly interesting to do.
When it came to choosing a lab science, at first I opted for Organic Chemistry (I'd done decently well in that in high school). Five minutes into the first class, the instructor grinned and said, "There won't be too much calculus in this class..."
I'd never taken any calculus at all, so I knew I'd never be able to handle that class. I dropped it and had to figure out some other course to take. Biology was out because for reasons of conscience I refused to take any course in which dissection would be required, and while I'm interested in physics, again it's a case of not being mathematically-literate enough to cope.
So I ended up taking physical geography, which was a perfect mesh with my new major - anthropology. I had a wonderful time in those geography courses, and it was great to finally know how to decipher a weather map and on my next trip through the Rocky Mountains, I actually knew what I was looking at (besides spectacular scenery) and why it is the way it is.
Oh, and that chemistry instructor? I ended up taking his astronomy course several years later, as an auditing student. I was free of the worry of actually passing or failing, so I could relax and really get into it. I did the assignments and the tests, and had a great time. As a bonus, that was the year comet Hale-Bopp visited. :)
This was over 25 years ago, and even nowadays there are still a lamentable number of high schools, colleges, and universities that dissect real animals.I would be so dead in that system... :-\As far I know, most of the actual dissection has been removed from the classroom and is done virtually instead.
When it came to choosing a lab science, at first I opted for Organic Chemistry (I'd done decently well in that in high school). Five minutes into the first class, the instructor grinned and said, "There won't be too much calculus in this class..."
I'd never taken any calculus at all, so I knew I'd never be able to handle that class. I dropped it and had to figure out some other course to take. Biology was out because for reasons of conscience I refused to take any course in which dissection would be required, and while I'm interested in physics, again it's a case of not being mathematically-literate enough to cope.
So I ended up taking physical geography, which was a perfect mesh with my new major - anthropology. I had a wonderful time in those geography courses, and it was great to finally know how to decipher a weather map and on my next trip through the Rocky Mountains, I actually knew what I was looking at (besides spectacular scenery) and why it is the way it is.
Oh, and that chemistry instructor? I ended up taking his astronomy course several years later, as an auditing student. I was free of the worry of actually passing or failing, so I could relax and really get into it. I did the assignments and the tests, and had a great time. As a bonus, that was the year comet Hale-Bopp visited. :)