Yes, first of all, the fact that this recession is slated to be rather jobless for a while. Of course, the fact that previous predictions have pretty much been flat out wrong might actually give those without work some hope. :^) (having personally taken part in the Reid/Pelosi/Obama economy, that is my prayer for those who are currently doing so)
What really scares me is on the fourth page of the link, where one woman admits that she has ten bags of pinto beans and no idea how to cook them. More or less, she's admitting that....
...she doesn't know how to boil water. Now I'm not arguing that the person in question is stupid; just the opposite. Her quotes show good intelligence. What I'd suggest, however, is that our culture--schools, jobs, government, etc.--has apparently so inculcated a culture of dependence that this poor woman is freezing at the thought of cooking dried beans.
To continue a "mantra" that readers of this humble site have seen "a few" times, yet another reason to educate your children at home, teaching them to soak, drain, boil, and then salt and spice the beans with other vegetables, meats, and such per one's taste. Unfortunately, a four hour soak of dry beans doesn't fit well in a one hour home economics class in the goverment schools.
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Okay, I think I have to say that the issue of public education is completely irrelevant to this. Anyone, no matter where or how badly their child is educated, can show a kid how to throw a bunch of beans into pot and fill it with water, and then come back the next day to cook it. I'm pretty sure that many of the people over the past several generations, the vastly overwhelmingly majority of whom were educated in government-run schools, learned basic cooking skills in the home. It's something quite other than public education, or even the "let the experts do it" mentality that public education fosters, that leaves an intelligent woman unable to cook beans. Jewish immigrant mothers who self-consciously worshiped at at altar of public education 100 years ago nonetheless managed to pass on cooking skills to their kids.
I agree it's a crying shame that people can't manage to do this, but if people as deeply infected with the public education mentality as those of two, three, and four generations ago managed to do it, I don't think that's where the blame lies.
Besides, home economics classes in the government schools? Where?
Two responses; first of all, the government school of today bears little resemblance to the school-houses of 100 years ago. It is a factory in a way that the one room schoolhouse never was.
More importantly, I'd suggest that the effects are cumulative. Generation 1 had their kids educated at school, Generation 2 forgot Grandma was educated at home, Generation 3 gave up making sausage and butter, generation 4 forgot how to cook altogether.
Jewish women in Manhattan who thought that education was going to be the salvation of their families weren't sending their kids to one-room schoolhouses -- nor was most of the population at the turn of the 20th century. Just for accuracy's sake.
I agree with you that there's been a generational declension, but I think there's been more going on than public schooling. I think the French have had public schooling for a while....
Certainly it's part of it, but I really think that the reason people don't know how to cook has to do with a lot more things than that public schools can't effectively teach practical cooking. Public schools never taught home repair or automotive maintenance to most students either, so it can't be claimed that people learned to rely on the schools for it -- yet the skills in those areas are declining as well.
People don't know how to cook beans because most people don't cook beans like that. Beans come in a can. We open the can, dump out the contents, warm them and eat 'em. Convenience!!!
I think this dovetails with your complaint about the public schools. Public schools, like beans in cans, are the result of our relentless desire for convenience. Educating our own kids is hard. It's much easier to send them off to the specialized institution.
So then, how do we foster a desire in people to eschew convenience? By teaching them to make beans of course!
That will be the sweet music of freedom....at least a few hours after the beans are consumed!
I think I'm with W.B. -- public school and incompetent cooking certainly have a common thread, but I don't think the history and the order of events bears out the PS ---> incompetent cooking relationship. Maybe in some individuals, but not as a cultural phenomenon.
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