If the SHTF, what educations will be the most valued

[RobertB]

Its kind of funny to think about, but my wife's educational background (MBA and CPA) would be just about worthless in this kind of scenario, but all of the redneck skills she learned as a little girl on her grandparents farm would serve us well.

She has the ability to can food, smoke hams and other meats, is a kick ass gardener, and can sew clothing from scratch.

Oh, I think I'd want to bring my pops along too. Cranky old guys who grew up on a farm/ranch and who also have 50+ years gunsmithing experience are always useful!!

This is a good point. My IT skills would be worthless, and I grew up too "city boy" for a lot of the other stuff. I'm working on learning more of those skills so that come that time, I can pass it on to my kids. I know it's just a thought experiment and don't forsee a TEOTWAWKI, but it's not at all hard to imagine the slow crumble instead.

Hey Friday, not to take your thread off topic, but I just thought of a book you might enjoy which ties into this theme. It is called Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. It was written in 1948 and is about a post apocolyptic world where the lead character, Isherwood Williams, tries desperately to re establish civilization. It is very similar to Steven King's The Stand, minus the supernatural elements of that book. In fact, King was accused of "ripping off" the story from Stewart. Anyway, it is one of my favorite books. If you are interested in reading it, I will be happy to lend it to you.

It's been a decade or more since I read The Stand, but I didn't think they were all that similar -- the initial scenario IS similar but they deal in vastly different actual plot and timelines. For Earth Abides I thought it was a bit easy for the survivors at first, but he did have a thoughtful take on their interests and their laziness getting the best (worst) of them. I found the ending quite sad. Very definitely worth the read, great philosophical perspective.