Interdasting!  I know most of them, but don't know another language, can't play an instrument, and am only a neophyte at horse riding.

A checklist for becoming a proper man.
This was published in the March 1933 issue of Harper's Magazine.
The writer, Robert Littell, details the abilities, skills, accomplishments, and extra-curricular proficiencies that every man should have if they are to become a self-sufficient and well-rounded human being, ready for life, and eventually, marriage and raising their own children. The learning starts from a very young age.
Here is the (short) list:

1. He should know how to swim at least a mile, dive creditably, and not feel panicky under water. He should be able also to revive those less skilful than himself by rolling them on a barrel and pumping their helpless arms.

2. He should be able to drive an automobile well. And he should not be altogether helpless when a car breaks down. He must know how to change a tire and offer some sort of diagnosis when the engine sputters and dies.

3. He ought to know how to clean, load, and shoot a revolver or a rifle.

4. As for self-defense, a man should certainly be able to take care of himself in a scrap. He need not learn jujitsu   old-fashioned boxing will be enough.

5. He ought to know the rudiments of camping, how to build a fire, how to chop wood, how to take a cinder out of his eye, how to deal with a severed artery, how to doctor himself for ordinary ailments.

6. He should also be able to take care of other people in emergencies, to apply first aid, set a broken bone, revive a drunk or a victim of gas, deal with a fainting fit, administer the right emetic or antidote for a case of poisoning.

7. And he should be able to feed himself, to cook, not only because some day he may need to, but because cooking is one of the fine arts, and a source of infinite pleasure. He should be able to scramble eggs, brew coffee, broil a steak, dress a salad, carve a chicken, and produce, on occasion, one first-class dish, such as onion soup. The more he can do, in these days of the delicatessen store and the kitchenette, the better. It is not effeminate, it is not beyond him, and the best chefs are all men.

8. He should know how to use paint brushes, a saw, a hammer, and other common tools.

9. He should also have a beautiful and distinguished handwriting. But the bulk of his writing, particularly if he is a professional man who has much of it to do, should be done on a typewriter, capable of turning out three thousand words an hour.

10. He should play one outdoor game well, and have a workable smattering of several more. An American who cannot throw and catch a ball seems pathetic and grotesque.

11. The bicycle has gone, yet every young man should know how to ride one.

12. He should also be able to skate, sail a boat, and handle a canoe passably.

13. Fishing is a specialty, like chess.

14. Walking is a noble but neglected sport. Americans "hike" once in a long while but seldom walk.

15. He should know a great deal about animals and how to take care of them.

16. He should know how to ride a horse.

17. He should learn how to stay in a saddle with pleasure to himself and a minimum of annoyance to his mount.

18. He should learn how to dance.

19. He should know to play at least one card game.

20. He must have knowledge of how to tip naturally, justly, without fear and without reproach.

21. On the matter of alcohol, he should learn his capacity and stick within its limits; he should know something about the different kinds of drink, and which drinks produce chaos within him when mixed.

22. Where s:x is concerned, nature clearly intended us to make many mistakes in her hope that some of them would be productive.

23. He should know the rudiments of gambling. But gambling might be placed on the same plane as drink   the less use one has for it the better.

24. Higher than almost any other accomplishment on the list is knowing music. There is no reason why any young man who is not absolutely tone-deaf should not learn how to play one musical instrument well enough for it to be a self-resource and a tolerable pleasure to others.

25. A civilized man should know how to read. The ability to read, or rather the habit of reading, is very rare even among intelligent people, and has to be taught and kept up if it is not to become rusty.

26. He should have knowledge of at least one foreign language. French or German preferably both. German children learn an amazingly good brand of English without ever crossing their borders. Why can't we? For one thing, we don't really want to. Yet we should. An American who knows only English is blind in one eye.

27. He should know to travel well, efficiently, without fuss or complaint.

28. A young man should be able to express himself clearly before a crowd of strangers, without shyness, muddle, or a pathetic resort to "so much has been said and well said" or "I did not expect to be called on."

29. The British adult can get to his feet, propose a toast, introduce a stranger, voice a civic protest, heckle a windbag politician, and give utterance to an unembarrassed thought.

30. A man should command the elementary tool of written language, and be able to put simple things on paper in clear words.

31. He should have a good workable understanding of the structure of business, investments, and banks.

32. Let every educated man, as a necessary part of his education, be thrown into the muddy stream of American industry and see what it is like to swim alone on daily wages.

33. He should before reaching twenty-two have done something because he wanted to, whether other people wanted him to do it or not.

34. He should not acquire property unless he needs it. Insensitiveness to his personal property, unless of course it is extraordinarily beautiful, is a desirable skill for any man to have; It must be learned and worked at.

35. Unusual though this young man may be, he should not seem so. Is not a parent's basic ambition for his child that he be very different from other people, yet manage to seem almost exactly like them?

I already fail at #1.

87% of GD fails that list.

I can do most.

I can’t set a broken bone but number 22 is covered

Can do most, if i sever an artery i might be fucked. Also toasting a crowd is gay.

In before the 6'4", commercial pilot, black belt, forklift certified, 3 plate club meme.

I can't dance

Swimming a mile is no joke.

I can't dance. I pretty much have everything else, depending on the definition of "passable."

Had an unplanned child, did we?

Yup.  Pressure on the wound, get 'em to a hospital, let the doctors do the embroidery.

Happy healthy son and daughter, snipped at 28. So yeah I learned haha

Am curious to know if Robert Littell could honestly check all those boxes.

Tbh that's all i could hope for.

I'd say young men today only know 1/3rd of that list.

In 1933 it should have said they all need to be able to take out two commies with each bullet.

I can do everything on that list.

If it was written in cursive, two thirds could not READ that list.

interdasting list. I wonder if OP found it on The Art of Manliness? It's an interesting site, containing much of the wisdom of, well, becoming a worthwhile human being.

OP's copy/pasted list is a shortened and bastardized version of an actual article.

Original article here

I can do everything on that list and a lot of it often. Minus one thing. Handwriting well. I've worked in the engineering field for 35 or so years. If I wrote any worse I'd be a Dr. Good thing for numbers.

Once upon a time young men and young women went to finishing school or specific casses to learn a number of things on that list. "Charm" school or other such classes to learn some of the stuff.

Sorry, I’m not pumping anyone…..especially after bending them over a barrel.

I can do a little bit of most, more of some, none of a few.

I don't dance, I have ridden a horse once, but I don't count once as having done it.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Robert A. Heinlein

In college if you went through the program I did a local business would pay for your summer class between junio and senior year that was done in the field. Room and board and tuition. You were required to write the CEO a thank you and show up at the banquet appropriately dressed. A number of people decided it was easier to let their parents pay full price and skip the "hassle". They were in for a surprise you were required to give a talk a number of times in your senior year at a conference appropriately dressed and such or you didn't graduate.

There were 40 or so people that should have gone. The secretary at the company told me about a dozen didn't turn in anything and had to pay for it themselves (or their parents). A paragraph.

If I sever an artery, I'm applying a TQ and hauling ass to the nearest ER.

Last time I rode a horse we were returning to the barn. The horse saw the barn and took off. There was a steep ravine at the end of the road and the gate was parallel to the road. I was wondering how the animal was going to negotiate things when the saddle started slipping to the right. When it got to 30*-45* I bailed. I guess I hit the ground ok since I'm not paralyzed.

I was required to take home economics in 7th grade.

I grew up in the woods.

I have a majority of that covered, the few deficiencies are well offset in other categories, or otherwise made up for by virtues not on the list.

The author seems to place operating a musical instrument on a high pedestal; and while not tone deaf by any means, every attempt to do so has been a dismal failure. I’m just gonna take the “L” on that one

most that say they can, cant.

Might add, That in 1933, the shit going on in Germany right now will be going on in the U.S.A. in 2024

In lieu of running a mile around the track before school for minor offenses in high school; Some opted for the pool version.

We would switch between the options. The pool option took longer. It was nice in the warmer months.

I got all those except #24, never learned to play an instrument. Still have time though.

Never too late.

Yep

I could swim 100 yards.....if I REALLY had to

Americans have definitely become softer and dumberer relatively speaking.  This reminds me of that 5th grade math test from like the turn of the 20th century that many adults today couldn't pass.

Sadly, as to self-defense and MA, the author left out the Steven Seagal reference.

I did it once, but I didn't like it. It's surprising how much the fear of imminent drowning can push you those last couple hundred yards.

As for the rest, I can --or could when I was younger-- get by on at least 60-70% of the ones I read before getting bored at around #20. My handwriting has always sucked.

That's a good list. I'm not in my 20s, but I can check a decent amount of those boxes. Not all,  but decent.

Although they do have post apocalyptic utility, I could easily put every horse on ice until after the radioactive clouds settle.

Now, I can ride; but being mounted up on a means of conveyance that’s operating on it’s own programming is something I’ll reserve for tougher times.

In dairy pastures, the trees are tightly trimmed (eaten) underneath to a level that the average cow can reach.  This makes a very dense, and tight line of foliage that is much like an old, shaped shrub.
The old horse I used to bring the cattle to the barn was fitted with a fiberglass English saddle, complete with stirrups tied on with baling twine, and no pad for the rider.
No matter what level of rider input was applied, that four legged asshole would mosey a beeline to the trees, scrape my ass off the saddle, then stay just out of range to reclaim the reigns. Together, we’d walk back across the 40 acres, pushing the cows back to the barn.

Wise,  I need iTunes to make music though.

Trick is to take your time.

Open water or a pool? Neither are easy, but there's a big difference between the two

Not an unreasonable list.

I'm 6'5.

Can do everything but play an instrument.

Water temp makes a big difference, as well as surface conditions.

Yeah, I know HOW to do it.  I just can't actually do it.