I have recently had some free time to walk around the city I now live in and observe the inhabitants. There is not much manufacturing here, and whatever steel industry used to be in town is now either closed or highly automated. Most of the jobs are either skilled services (financial, legal, governmental related, etc) or menial labor & unskilled services (store clerks, custodial, fast food, etc).
With all the terrorist warnings and such, I wonder what would happen to all these people if a catestrophic event several magnitudes worse than 9/11 occured, causing loss of electricity, water, gas, communications networks, and transportation. I do not think modern Americans would cope well with such losses.
Less than 2% of the American workforce works in food production (according to the occupational outlook handbook I think the number is around 650k or so). Electricity and clean water are taken for granted. Now I don't think that Americans should revert back to early Colonial-era lifestyles, but I do think that maybe people should be taught some basics in school. I remember learning about First Aid in 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th grades. Why not other practical things?
Here is a list of things that I think are important: Gardening, camping skills (fire starting, water purification, waste disposal, local plants & animals), clothing & shelter building.
Edit: This applies to other areas of the world where modernization has caused the populace to become very specialized and often disconnected from the production of necessities.
With all the terrorist warnings and such, I wonder what would happen to all these people if a catestrophic event several magnitudes worse than 9/11 occured, causing loss of electricity, water, gas, communications networks, and transportation. I do not think modern Americans would cope well with such losses.
Less than 2% of the American workforce works in food production (according to the occupational outlook handbook I think the number is around 650k or so). Electricity and clean water are taken for granted. Now I don't think that Americans should revert back to early Colonial-era lifestyles, but I do think that maybe people should be taught some basics in school. I remember learning about First Aid in 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th grades. Why not other practical things?
Here is a list of things that I think are important: Gardening, camping skills (fire starting, water purification, waste disposal, local plants & animals), clothing & shelter building.
Edit: This applies to other areas of the world where modernization has caused the populace to become very specialized and often disconnected from the production of necessities.
This is true. I don't know what the literacy rate or average reading proficiency of the inner city population is, but I imagine it can't be very good, as the high school dropout rate is about 50%.
Facebook
Twitter