[Daisyjane69]

This won't make your coffee taste better, I promise.

[Tax-chick]

I see her reaching for a can that requires a can opener, and her shoulders slump and she goes for something else."

And you've never taken two minutes to teach her to open a can, Susan? It looks like you're a big part of the problem. All my kids can use a can opener. I think even the dog can use a can opener.

[caver]

“Are we raising a generation of nincompoops? And do we have only ourselves to blame?”

Yes and yes.

[SF_Redux]

we DID raise a nation of idiots, does that count?

[rlmorel]

Sigh. I live up here in Boston, and last week was listening to Michele McPhee on 96.9...she characterized our grandparents as "The Greatest Generation" and this generation as "The Dumbest Generation". She invited callers to call in with their anecdotes to buttress this claim.

There was one unbelievable call that had the undeniable ring of truth to it. A man called in and said he was a supermarket manager. He said he had to force his cashiers and baggers to place their phones in lockers at work, because they were constantly texting and talking on the phone. He said:

"Many of you just won't believe this, but I had more than one young employee who complained that they wouldn't know what time it was if they didn't have their phone. When I pointed at the clock on the machine for punching in and out, the kids had stared blankly back at me and said they didn't know how to tell time from a clock with hands. When I told them I wanted them back at the register at 'half-past six', they had no clue as to what that meant."

Just unbelievable. This isn't to say there aren't bright kids out there, because there are, but...just...wow.

[spodefly]

It certainly explains “The Obama Phenomenon” ...

The worst part about it is that “progressives” are pathologically certain they are smarter than everyone else, and I would wager that the “kid who can’t tell time” are products of these “super smart” Obama voters ...

[SkyPilot]

Every generation has its worst, and best.

Technology changes in every lifetime. Just because you didn't know how to use every item in a livery stable didn't mean you were a "momcompoop" in 1918.

Is the overall character of the nation less religious, less moral, and less focused on the Almighty today than it was in 1860? Yes.

In some generations, there are heroes, and in some, the dregs. I could argue that the baby boom generation had its share of heroes and dregs.

It is always dangerous to seek group salvation, whether it be in a "generation" or a moral indignation judgment of others via age alone.

There are many young Christians in their 20's who are loved in God's eyes, and a lot of 60-70 year olds of whom He is ashamed and who have not come to Him.

[KingLudd]

...mechanics of a clothes hanger. That’s funny. I just oiled and adjusted all of my pants hangers last weekend. They work so much better now. (I admit that I had to buy one of those store-bought hanger adjusting gauges)

There was a story here about some chick who’s keyless entry battery died and was locked out of her car. Some old guy (probably a freeper) helped her out and unlocked it the old fashioned way....with the key attached to the same ring as the electronic unlocker. Funny. Pathetic.

[catfish1957]

My first thoughts were in agreement, then I realized every older generation says that about the younger generation. Think about it.

[IamConservative]

Comparatively, my father knew how to hitch a team of horses to a plow. I know how to adjust the mechanical injection pump on a tractor to get an extra 100HP out of it. My son knows how to program the new tractors with a laptop. We all got the fields plowed.

Times and technology change. We focus our energies on learning things we need to survive.

What worries me more about the current generation than what technology they know is their sense of entitlement. Newsflash - your parents don’t owe you anything and life isn’t “fair.”

[Wolfie]

Somebody make a note now to NOT water the crops with Brawndo.

[MichiganConservative]

The government schools had a lot to do with it. But hey, most FReepers will agree that free babysitting is the best, even if it produces an illiterate, socialist, unthinking moron who can’t fathom a can opener.

If you have the kids, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure they can function without professional government handlers.

[Graybeard58]

We’ve had an electric can opener hanging on the kitchen wall for at least 20 years that I never bothered to learn to use. When I need a can opened I get an old fashioned opener out if the drawer.

[raybbr]

Gee, Ms. Mushart, WHO is the person that didn’t teach your children how to use a hanger or a can opener?

[deadrock]

The ‘smartphone.’ Never has a device made an individual both in touch with the world, and simultaneously, oblivious to their surroundings.

[Condor51]

Susan Maushart, a mother of three, says her teenage daughter "literally does not know how to use a can opener.

Don't worry Susan. Most guys, let alone 'boys', don't know what this is either:

Maybe one of the greatest little inventions since the Paper Clip

[Labyrinthos]

Are we raising a generation of nincompoops? And do we have only ourselves to blame? Or are some of these things simply the result of kids growing up with push-button technology in an era when mechanical devices are gradually being replaced by electronics?

Some, perhaps, and yes. I'm sure the grandparents and parents of baby-boomers said the same thing: "My kid doesn't know how to butcher a chicken, build an outhouse, harness a horse and buggy, or change the wick in a latern. I've raised an idiot and it's someone else's fault."

[goodwithagun]

My son is only two, but he “helped” me put the garden in this year. He will help next year, and so on. He is in the kitchen when I can, and in a few years he will understand how to do that as well. I think it is so important that my son knows how to feed himself, that food does not come from a grocery store shelf. Her kid can’t use a can opener? Pathetic.

[TexasFreeper2009]

More like the nimcompoop grandchildren of nimcompoops.

The baby boomers destroyed the world, and we will all be paying for it for a loooooooooooong time.

[reagan_fanatic]

What worries me most about kids today is not knowing basic practical skills that they will one day wish they had. Most teens have a car, but how many know how to check the oil or coolant levels? How many will one day own a house but lack the knowledge to fix a water leak, replace a toilet, troubleshoot a power failure or replace a light fixture?

My Daughter’s 19 and has her own car, but she had no idea how to check the oil or or even where the dipstick was until I showed her. I guess she thought the car would simply take care of itself.

[Will88]

Most cans come with pull-tops these days.

Most soft drink and beer cans have pull-tops, but most canned vegetables and other foods don't. Kids who don't know how to use a can opener have seldom done anything in a kitchen, and whose fault is that?