9 years ago
10
American Millennials are among the world’s least skilled
We hear about the superior tech savvy of people born after 1980 so often that we tend to assume it must be true. But is it? Researchers at Princeton-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) expected it to be when they administered a test called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Sponsored by the OECD, the test was designed to measure the job skills of adults, aged 16 to 65, in 23 countries.
Continue Reading
http://fortune.com
Join the Discussion
This revelation does not surprise me at all. At age 29, I feel like I don't really belong to one of the named generations. I'm old enough that I grew up before video games, cell phones, and even internet was all that popular. However, I'm young enough that I grew up when things were more disposable. If something broke, it wasn't necessarily fixed. It was replaced instead. I think the fact that I never had to fix things as a kid deprived me of many skills that people born before the 80s take for granted.
People younger than me appear to have even fewer skills than me.
Here is a little hyperbole as far as cars go, my dad is proud of himself for taking apart an engine/transmission and putting it back together in working order... I'm proud of myself for swapping out a spark plug or changing the oil or other routine maintenance... Younger people are proud of themselves for remembering to take it to get an oil change or tuneup.
At the end of the day its about the necessities of life. We grow up and adapt to the environment we are surrounded by, the rest I would consider hobbies / special interests. Then again, I would LOVE to be able to take a car apart and then put it back together again. Also, you would be shocked how many you-fix-it videos float around youtube. Whatever problem you may have, just pop it on your laptop and you're set.
Youtube videos are basically how I make repairs, but I wish I would just know how.
Don't we all wish we just magically knew how, like in the Matrix!
No matter when you were born, all of those people who do know how to do things had to learn it from someone or somewhere. We should consider ourselves extremely lucky to live in an age of easy access to a vast resource of knowledge... Before the internet you literally had to go to school, work or to the library to learn new things. Now its literally a click away.
what happens when more and more people rely on youtube videos and fewer and fewer people are available to actually make the videos because they never learned how to do something since they are only one click away from that information?
Robots driven by advanced AI is the most likely course of action, there is obviously always going to be people with a passion for these types of skills so I doubt we will run out of "professionals" or even "hobbyists", but given where technology is headed... I wouldn't be surprised if many of these tasks are performed by machine intelligence in the next 30 years.
/edit - Fixed a couple typos.
I see what you are saying, and for the most part, I agree. However, it feels wrong when I'm perfectly capable of learning a hobby/craft, but never bothering to because it's just a click away. Also, I did say I was hyperbolizing earlier.
Nothing is stopping you from taking the time to "learn" those skills. Honestly, I applaud people that take their time to learn a new skill and not just using youtube.
you're right. the only thing stopping me from learning them is the fact that I don't have to. It's the gift and curse of the Information Age. I rely on the internet too much. I like to think I live pretty simply compared to most, but a lot of my lifestyle would have to change if I lost access to the internet.
Exactly. The information age is well into its 2nd decade now and it's only going to get more advanced and of course more intellectually complex. Now instead of learning how to fix a car or a washing machine, people are learning to code, build their own computers and figure out how to use some of the dozens of new gadgets released every month. There is only so much the human mind can handle, and with all the new stuff we need to learn to keep up with where society is moving towards, especially one that is driven by advancing technologies on such an exponential level.
There is really one thing that we can collectively do, and that's to dump some of the old knowledge for new knowledge (and skills). For instance, how many people you know that can operate a horse and carriage? :)