On Self-Reliance

There are a few things I want every person in the United States to have done by the time they turn 25 (in no particular order):

-Build something with a hammer (a birdhouse works, but a cabinet works better)
-Cut something substantial with a saw (like a hole in drywall for a walljack)
-Change their own oil in their cars
-Wash and Wax their own cars
-Shoot a gun at a range
-Format and install everything on their computers from scratch
-Take something apart and put it back together in working order
-Cook your own meal, start to finish, and clean up afterwards.
-Sew something together using both a machine and hand-sewing

Yes, it means that I want every high school kid to take Shop Class, Home Ec[onomics], a computer course, and a car care course (or any other courses that cover these areas). I think it's key that everybody know how to do these things with confidence so that they can take care of themselves, without having to learn the hard way or on-the-fly. I also think that knowing how to do these things rounds a person out pretty well--at least they'll have done them, so that they know what's going on when they pay someone else to do them. And possibly they'll know enough about what needs to be done that they won't have to pay someone to do it for them.

I've been thinking of this list for some time now because at my job I was given the task of installing hardware for a third party. I was to mount a plasma TV, re-mount a pair of overhead projectors, and run some cable from one room to another. These are pretty simple things that can basically be done by anyone.

Anyone except the people who hired us, my manager, and the other developer on my team--they really had no idea where to begin, or how to go about doing anything related to this job. What really pissed me off about it was not that it was manual labor, but that my manager is in his 30's, and the other developer is two years older than I am and has his own house! Neither of them had a clue! How would they fix something if it broke in their houses?

I actually found my mind boggled, and to this day (two, three months later) every time this particular place or the particular job is mentioned I actually physically, involuntarily cringe, and the words "Not again!" flash through my mind.