Hmm. Well, firstly, I would expect that this would be among the skills that people pick up along the way from family, mentors, good managers, etc. In addition, I was taught it in 8th grade by several teachers, then again in high school speech class, and then used it at many points in University, long before my first full-time job. I know that many people fail to realize this or at least to practice it (like the example someone gave here of yelling at someone in order to try to get them to help you), but I would think that most people on this list who have significant work experience would already know these simple points. You are certainly right that it seems that education to many people today seems to mean simply learning a particular set of skills in one field, and that "people skills" or "human skills" are very important - it's just that it seems strange to me that people have to be taught these in an explicit class on them - it should be a part of growing up. Sean On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 10:36 PM, Sergey Dryga wrote: > Sean Breheny cornell.edu> writes: > >> >> Wouldn't this kind of idea (e.g. know your audience when making a >> persuasive argument) =A0be pretty obvious to any educated, intelligent >> person? > It should be, although it rarely is. =A0Maybe because "educated" often me= ans "has > a degree in a particular field". =A0To my knowledge when people get BS, M= S and PhD > degrees, they are not taking classes on "human skills", only minimum requ= ired to > get the degree. =A0I only had such classes as a requirement in an MBA pro= gram, not > when I did MS and PhD (in molecular biology). =A0I also found very helpfu= l a class > on public speaking and presentations. =A0Often it is available at local > universities, without the need to enroll into a degree program. > > Sergey Dryga > http://beaglerobotics.com > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .