Nosce te ipsum

Seth's Blog: The top 1,000 things to know -

There was a great piece entitled The Top 1,000 Things To Know published over at Seth Godin's blog. Lots of good food for thought here folks.

So what are they? What are the one thousand teachable things that every third grader ought to start learning so she'll know them all before before she graduates from high school?

Here are twenty to get us started.

1. How to type.
2. How to speak in front of a group.
3. How to write clear prose that other people actually want to read.
4. How to manage a project.
5. The most important lessons from American history.
6. What the world's religions have in common.
7. Evolution.
8. Formal logic.
9. The 15,000 most common English words.
10. Conversational Spanish.
11. How to handle big changes, with grace.
12. How to run a small business.
13. Basic chemistry.
14. Not arithmetic, but algebra.
15. A little geometry, a little calculus.
16. The most important lessons from ten other world cultures and their history.
17. Speed reading with comprehension.
18. How to sell.
19. Pick one: how to paint, write a poem, compose a song or juggle really well.
20. Understanding the biographies of 500 important historical figures and 200 fictional ones.

Following the links out - there was a modified version of the list posted over at Reactuate that I liked quite a bit. Here's the just of what they had to say:

This has special meaning to me because I home school my kids and I could make sure they learn all these things. I hope Seth is planning a total list of the 1000 things when it is done.

He starts a the list, here are a few of my additions.

You need to know how to cook, for yourself and for a group.
Basic first aid. How to stop bleeding, put on a bandage, clean a wound, perform CPR.
Be able to swim 500 feet and/or stay a float for 30 minutes at a minimum.
The basics of good nutrition.
How to diagnose a computer problem and figure out where the problem really is.
How your country's political system works on a macro level. In the US you should at least know how a bill becomes a law.
Basic accounting. How to balance a check book. How compound interest works for and against you.
How to make a difficult decision. Weighing pros and cons.
Everyday law. How the courts work.
How taxes work. Who taxes what and how.
How to take responsibility for your actions.
And to steal a quote from Robert Heinlein:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - Robert Heinlein, writing specialist

UPDATE: Can't get this one out of my head. Here's some more. Basic personal hygiene. How to bathe, wash and brush your teeth.

Apple fights RealNetworks' 'hacker tactics' | CNET News.com: " 

 Apple Computer has quietly updated its iPod software so that songs purchased from RealNetworks' online music store will no longer play on some of the Mac maker's popular MP3 players.

The move could render tunes purchased by many iPod owners unplayable on their music players. For the last four months, RealNetworks has marketed its music store as the only Apple rival compatible with the iPod, following the company's discovery of a way to let its customers play their downloaded tunes on Apple"