Not worthless, obviously, I was maybe being a tad overblown ;)

But I do think that as we move forward with technological tools for this kind of mental task, that we should embrace them in our education system. If we have to teach every generation from first principles then we won't get them comfortable with the actual tech they'll be using in their lives.

thanks for the clarification on sign language :) One of those things on my bucket list that I keep meaning to learn but never get started on.