Knife Skills = Life Skills?

danbot

danbot

Joined
Oct 31, 2009
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From reading some of the threads here recently and from my own experiences, it seems that simple knife skills are sorely lacking with many people these days! No wonder so many people don't cook for themselves! I probably wouldn't either if it was a 2 hour task :eek: just to do the prep work for a soup or stew!

I think it would be great if our high-schools offered knife skills classes. This would include knife selection, proper grips, slicing and dicing, knife safety etc. and the all important edge maintenance!! There is nothing that increases the joy of cooking like quick prep work skills with a wicked sharp knife!

I feel that knife skills are just as important as Math skills, critical thinking, organization, relationship skills etc.

What's your take on all this? What are some of your experiences? (Could a school even offer such a class these days without hiring armed security inside that classroom)? o_O:)
 
I think thats a great idea.
Prepare kids for life.
My parents always talked about home ec class. they would have to make food and cook during class. My mom went to a regular high school, and my dad a vocational school. He learned more about butchering and meat processing in one or two of his classes at his agricultural high school.
I went to a vocational school and took the culinary exploratory (1 week) freshman year.
Learned a decent amount. But i learned most of my cooking skills from boysouts.
I would have loved a home ec class. I enjoy cooking if im in the mood for it.
 
Well, I don't agree that knife skills are as important as math skills, critical thinking, organization, or relationship skills. None of the people I know who I consider successful in various modes of life have knife skills except me.

And actually, that includes the people who cook regularly and/or well.
 
Couldn’t agree more brother.
But if any school here in NJ even attempted something like that, our soccer moms would burn the school to the ground.
Why???? Because their precious off spring might get a scratch. They will then sue the entire state.
Had one of those useless individuals dial 911 because my sons and I were shooting air rifles in our back yard.
Knife awareness will never ever make it here.
Also, how many times have your friends and relatives cut themselves when using a truly sharp knife??
One of my sons has 2 room mates and both will NOT touch his kitchen knives that I sharpened for him.
They told him Knives that sharp are dangerous.
We are talking 25 year olds here.
Ugh.
Joe
 
SpySmasher said:
Well, I don't agree that knife skills are as important as math skills, critical thinking, organization, or relationship skills. None of the people I know who I consider successful in various modes of life have knife skills except me.

And actually, that includes the people who cook regularly and/or well.
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Well, we can agree to disagree there. But to be clear, I don't think knife skills are more important than other life skills. Maybe even not as necessary, but important none the less.
 
danbot said:
I feel that knife skills are just as important as Math skills, critical thinking, organization, relationship skills etc.

What's your take on all this?
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I disagree. Being able to use a tool properly (screwdriver, hammer, knife) is less important than all of the other skills you mentioned.
 
I dont think our schools even do a decent job at preparing our children for life with life skills, general education or critical thinking. I take that on myself with my children.
Look at drivers ed for example, driving is a huge responsibility and you take lives in your hand any time you get behind a wheel.
Drivers Ed and drivers training is a joke in the schools.
Im not sure I would want my kids learning knife skills from these same institutions.
just my 2 cents.
 
morvlorv said:
I dont think our schools even do a decent job at preparing our children for life with life skills, general education or critical thinking. I take that on myself with my children.
Look at drivers ed for example, driving is a huge responsibility and you take lives in your hand any time you get behind a wheel.
Drivers Ed and drivers training is a joke in the schools.
Im not sure I would want my kids learning knife skills from these same institutions.
just my 2 cents.
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Good point! I wish more parents would take it upon themselves to teach their children important life skills. Unfortunately many leave that almost entirely to the school system.
 
our local schools offer home ec as an options, although they call it something else nowadays.
the tech school also offers culinary classes.

however - for a recent fundraiser, we used the home ec kitchen to cook in - and the knives are anythign but sharp. i dont know how you can learn to chop, slice, or peel with such an instrument, but like has been noted, let one kid chop a finger and nothing good will come of it.
 
I would personally benefit if more people cooked at home frequently and were skilled in the use of the tools used in the process. Modern society has changed, though, and that way of life is on the decline. People just don't have the time for it, or choose to spend their free time doing something other than food preparation.

By all means, though, lead the charge and get everyone back in the habit of cooking at home using fresh ingredients that need to be prepared rather than frozen dinners you just heat up or pop in a microwave. It would ensure my livelihood for a few more years.
 
I'm kind of in line with morvlorv, I think the responsibility should fall on the parents. I live in a pretty rural area and my Dad taught me a lot of the basics on how to properly use and handle a knife. I think that's the way it should be.

I'd rather teach my future mongrels how to use a blade myself. Learning how to field dress a deer with your Dad is damn near a rite of passage around here and it's something you'll then be able to pass on to your children.
 
I learned my culinary knife skills mostly at home, cooking with my mom. I learned other knife skills with my dad and with boy scouts. There are a lot of life skills that my folks taught me that have served me well, from changing a tire or the oil in a vehicle, to driving, to balancing a checkbook. They never expected the school system to teach life skills.

Raising my own kids, knife safety is just one of the things I naturally taught them from an early age as they saw me using knives. (This forced me to drop some bad habits, like occasionally cutting towards myself, so I am a better example...usually) Due to my daughter's interest in cooking we even got her a set of kitchen tools, by Curious Chef, that are plastic/nylon and includes a nylon chef's knife and utility knife. I would not use them for slicing or dicing anything, but for rough chopping veggies and teaching knife safety without much risk, they work. She uses them with supervision, and is almost to the point of getting to use my kitchen knives for finer work.

As I do other stuff around the house, if the kids express any interest, I try to teach them as I work or explain what I am doing and (more importantly) why, by asking them questions and getting them to think a bit. This goes from dusting baseboards, to building fires in the fire pit or grill, to working in the garage, to sharpening knives, to folding clothes. When they are able to do tasks safely, I let them try and learn by doing. As a result, even my 4 year old can (and does) help with things like vacuuming with a hand vac, or making his bed, or washing dishes, or a bunch of other things.

I expect the school system to teach the 3 Rs, some basic social skills, and anything beyond that is a bonus. The rest falls on my wife and I, our family, and friends and is just part of parenting, as I see it.
I know there are gaps in what I know, and I try to fill them by learning myself, getting help, or letting others teach my kids. I also know that there are a lot of adults who never learned some important life skills while growing up, so they can't teach their kids, which can lead to challenges.

I hope my ramblings at least give another perspective on this for you.
Enjoy.
 
SpySmasher said:
Well, I don't agree that knife skills are as important as math skills, critical thinking, organization, or relationship skills. None of the people I know who I consider successful in various modes of life have knife skills except me.

And actually, that includes the people who cook regularly and/or well.
Click to expand...

If I could put a X2 on that post to amplify it, I would. As an employer for almost 40 years, I don't care about knife skills, what knife one of my employees might be carrying, what steel it has, or anything else to do with cutlery.

I wish they had been taught personal integrity. I wish they had developed a sense of humility. I wish they had learned how to conduct themselves as adults. I don't care about whether the cut themselves with knives or don't know how to sharpen them properly.

I think their life skill set should include showing up for work whether they want or not, and on time. I think they should learn that by staying home with Monday Morning Flu (hangover) they ARE NOT doing me a favor by not coming to work because they feel so bad. I would like their personal life skills to include the fact that they should learn how to manage their money and not ask me for advances, and that they should learn that their fights with their wives and kids are not my problem as well. They should learn that their divorces are not to be looked at as a mutual burden we should all bear... man up! It would be nice for them to develop the skills that teach them respect for their fellow workers and managers, and to show some generosity towards one another.

Even though I use edged tools all day and have for a decades (hands on construction), and do some light catering (no more than 250 people), I would have to say that personally knife skills fall so far away from my concerns I just don't care about other folks having them.

Robert
 
midnight flyer said:
If I could put a X2 on that post to amplify it, I would. As an employer for almost 40 years, I don't care about knife skills, what knife one of my employees might be carrying, what steel it has, or anything else to do with cutlery.

I wish they had been taught personal integrity. I wish they had developed a sense of humility. I wish they had learned how to conduct themselves as adults. I don't care about whether the cut themselves with knives or don't know how to sharpen them properly.

I think their life skill set should include showing up for work whether they want or not, and on time. I think they should learn that by staying home with Monday Morning Flu (hangover) they ARE NOT doing me a favor by not coming to work because they feel so bad. I would like their personal life skills to include the fact that they should learn how to manage their money and not ask me for advances, and that they should learn that their fights with their wives and kids are not my problem as well. They should learn that their divorces are not to be looked at as a mutual burden we should all bear... man up! It would be nice for them to develop the skills that teach them respect for their fellow workers and managers, and to show some generosity towards one another.

Even though I use edged tools all day and have for a decades (hands on construction), and do some light catering (no more than 250 people), I would have to say that personally knife skills fall so far away from my concerns I just don't care about other folks having them.

Robert
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Seems like you have become quite cynical! Can't say I blame you though.
Thanks for sharing.
 
Edge maintenance for sure... When I go for a knife in my kitchen to cut something and it's dull as a butter knife it really pisses me off. My wife uses them for everything and does not ever sharpen them.

I usually use whatever EDC I'm carrying for my kitchen duties, that way I know it will do the job.

Schools do not teach life skills. I look forward to teaching this to my kids.
 
These have all been very interesting replies so far. Thanks to everyone!

I guess the main reason I value knife skills and place importance on them is because they help teach you and enable you to take care of yourself. In taking care of yourself, you will also be able to take care of others and hopefully pass those skills to the next generation.

Did I rank it too high in importance in my OP? Maybe so.
 
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