Just think about how many unique professions are required before your daily job even starts to make sense. Someone is being paid to monitor a tank of fluorine compound so that it can be used to etch silicon wafers.
I don't think specialization by humans is bad, but I agree that specialization can go too far sometimes. If the person being paid to monitor a tank of fluorine loses the ability to do their own laundry or hold a conversation because they are spending so much of their time developing fluorine tank monitoring skills it's kind of a waste. Part of the human experience is learning and doing lots of different things. Even if our economy rewards hyper-specialization that doesn't mean that a person's entire life has to be focused on their hyper-specialized job.
Also, humans are the only species that can run a marathon, swim a lake, and climb a tree. We are generalists.
-to change a diaper
-plan an invasion (navy officer)
-butcher a hog
-conn a ship (navy, engineer)
-design a building (engineer)
-write a sonnet (writer)
-balance accounts (numerate)
-build a wall (engineer)
-set a bone
-comfort the dying
-take orders (officer)
-give orders (officer)
-cooperate (officer)
-act alone (probably)
-solve equations (engineer)
-analyze a new problem (engineer)
-pitch manure
-program a computer (engineer)
-cook a tasty meal
-fight efficiently (officer)
-die gallantly (officer)
15 / 21 ain't bad, and the remainder aren't implausible either. A little googling suggests he was born in 1907 in Missouri, so he probably gets butchering a hog and pitching manure. Cooking a tasty meal is a fairly low bar for any functioning human to meet - that's 18/21.
He didn't have kids, so I'm not willing to grant him diaper-changing without a reason to. I can't find any medic training, so I won't give him setting a bone. And I'm not sure anyone knows how to comfort the dying.
18/21 is quite plausible. The remaining three are possible.
> - to change a diaper
Ok? What if one never intends to have kids.
> -plan an invasion
For goodness' sake, why is that important outside of the military?
> -butcher a hog
Irrelevant to most people.
> -conn a ship
So? Are we in the navy or maritime service? A gent in Montana has no need of this,
> -design a building
Design, engineer, or build?
> -write a sonnet
Popular for schoolchildren. Says little. Interpretation of sonnets says more.
> -balance accounts
I'll give heinlein that.
> -build a wall
So?
> -set a bone
Useful enough, sure.
> -comfort the dying
Yeah, that's good.
> -take orders
Still not in the military
> -give orders
Still not in the military
> -cooperate
Sure!
-act alone
Sure!
-solve equations
What kind of equation? Arithmetic, algebra, calculus, analysis?
> -analyze a new problem
What kind of analysis? This is extremely specialized.
> -pitch manure
If manure matters in your life, otherwise: so what
> -program a computer
Useful to me, but not relevant to most people
> -cook a tasty meal
Sure.
> -fight efficiently
Still not in the military.
> -die gallantly
Baloney. The Great War should have cured him of this dream.
"Heinlein really likes the military" is my take away. Most of his vaunted list is deeply irrelevant to outright obnoxious to me. It's like reading a "bet you couldn't solve these problems 1850s kids had to solve" thing. Anchored in the past and a different priority system.
Should you be able to provide first aid, cook well, and work with others? Yes. Do reading, riting, and rithmatic? Yeah, sure. That's kind of what the point of the school system is for.
Honestly. No one will know everything, and no one should strive to be ignorant, misanthropic, and uncultured. I could size up my life and write a similar list, but it'd only be a reflection of my priorities in life.
Then...one should still have that skill. I mean, I didn't have kids until my 40s and the only decade of my life where I didn't apply that skill was the first.
> -plan an invasion > For goodness' sake, why is that important outside of the military?
It's not, but Heinlein—and while some of the list might be more Long-the-character than Heinlein though the broad outline is clearly Heinlein, including at least the outline of the military focus of not the particular examples—(hardly uniquely in US history, one might note—this was a common belief among the founders) viewed military service, including leadership, as something one should be prepared to assume at need (whether on behalf of or against one’s government, as dictated by the need) not a profession for a distinct and isolated caste whose skills the rest of society could afford to neglect, and viewed the contrary view as incompatible with liberty. (I imagine that, had our adulthooda overlapped, as they didn't quite, I'd have been pretty far from Heinlein politically. But on this point, we could agree.)
> The Great War should have cured him of this dream.
That someone should be prepared to die gallantly at need does not imply that the Great War (or war generally) is particularly the occasion where such death was most likely to be called for. Certainly while Heinlein clearly believed it was possible that that could occur, one could hardly read his body of work without recognizing that he saw that possibility outside of war and, likewise saw much, if not most, death in war as pointless and unnecessary.
> Anchored in the past and a different priority system.
It may have been written a half century ago by someone whose formative years were a century ago, but I don't see anything particularly dated about it. It may speak to a different set of ideals than you hold, but I don't know why it is surprising or irritating that disagreement on that level exists.
I wouldn't take anything Heinlein put in Lazarus Long’s—or any other fictional character’s—mouth as representing his simple literal view unless Heinlein also said it directly in a nonfictional context.
(Carver Mead's "tall thin person", or the IBM "T-shaped" knowledge, is still possible, however.)
One does need some general skills, some of those listed above, but you'll definitly need first aid skills like stopping bleeding before learning how to set a bone. School is about the only place that systematically teaches general skills to everyone, not just people with paretns with enough time, skills and energy to do so or hire someone to do that for them.
Interesting.