Counting Change: The Lost Skill
Published on April 23, 2026
Published on Wealthy Affiliate — a platform for building real online businesses with modern training and AI.
I went out to a big box store this morning and made a purchase. I paid in cash and asked for my change to be counted back to me. Simple request, you'd think, but you'd be wrong. Kids are no longer being taught to do simple task such as counting money.
A manager overheard my request and came by to see what was going on. I just told him that I just asked the cashier to count back my change. He then took over the transaction and counted it back for me. He said, under his breath while looking at me and shaking his head, "These Kids." As I was leaving, I heard the cashier asking GPT for videos on how to count back change.
I thought to myself, at least he is about to learn. Then I thought, why is this becoming a forgotten skill? It is basic math.
What does this signal for our future? If teachers are not teaching the basics anymore. What exactly are kids learning in these schools? What does this say about our future of society and the reliance on LLM's to solve problems and teach us what schools do not.
What are you thoughts on this? Let me know below.
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