Necessary skills: typing, statistics

You should also press them on art, including visual arts and music. We're nothing without healthy right brains. But to your point of math, study of music inherently reinforces understanding of math...timing, rythm, scales, etc.

remember in "star trek iv: the voyage home" when they go back in time to 1986 and scotty didn't know how to use the computer with the keyboard and the mouse. at one point he was speaking into the mouse, "computer?, computer?" that was funny.

Max, I agree with you about music and the right brain. But it's very possible to love music, read music, play instruments, and still be utterly lost in math--as I am. The trouble is that for all the relation between the two, math features formal knowledge and tools that don't just alight in our musical brains.

Thank you for saying that out loud.

In a world where we're manipulated endlessly by an ongoing stream of incomplete, skewed, or inconclusive informational "evidence", we have to constantly be on guard against getting "played". A grasp on statistics could possibly be vital to the optimum functioning of a democracy.

I am a Keyboarding teacher, and I would have to say that I find some flaws in your statements. First of all not all students can just pick up a laptop and start typing. I have students that come into my class typing 12 wpm! If you take the time to teach them correctly (without relying on software programs) and with practice, they can greatly improve their speed. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule such as your children. However, there are plenty of musicians who never took music lessons and are just amazing. Does that mean not taking piano lessons works for everybody? It is this negative misconception that students can pick the skill up on their own that will be detrimental to students in their future. Parents who never learned how to type, are impressed with a child typing 30 wpm. In today's day and age students should be typing at least 60 wpm. Almost everything is done on the computer. We are moving to a paperless world! I highly suggest signing your children up for a Keyboarding class. There is always room for improvement!