Everyday Things

Sometimes, you come across some article in the news and start to ponder the ultimate meaning of the article.

Today, I was reading a piece that the British insurance company Aviva wrote up.  They put some guys up on a study of household functions and surveyed 2000-odd people.

Roughly 20-percent of people don't know how to change a bulb.  Roughly one-third of people admitted they couldn't cook a true dinner from scratch.  37-percent said they were sure about being able to change a tire, while the rest were either unsure or definitely not able to change a tire.

Roughly two-thirds of people surveyed said they could read a map.....leaving you to wonder about the remaining one-third.

Just above one-third knew how to check the oil level in their car.....leaving you to wonder about the other two-thirds, and if they ever checked their oil.

I got to near the end of the actual report (something you can read in 30 minutes) and there's this interesting thing about do-it-yourself skills, and where people picked these skills up.  Fifty percent admitted that it was trial and error situations where they attempted to do something and learned from the mistakes. Only 12-percent said they got this skill from TV, and 20-percent said it was via YouTube videos.

I have this opinion that along the last year or two of your grade school experience.....there ought to be a mandatory two-hours per day dedicated to oddball skills which aren't really things you'd normally pick up....like: map-reading, investing, understanding loans, rewiring a plug, replacing a florescent light bulb, changing tires, changing oil, or painting.

In some ways, if you read through this Brit research project, you kinda wonder about the knowledge level of just normal regular people.  If you introduced the BREXIT deal to them....could the group make a wise decision on voting (for or against)?  Could the same group grasp how to use their vote and put the right people into leadership positions?

In the end, Aviva leaves you with some distrust of society....that we might not be capable of handling the majority of things in our lives.