This also reminds me of a Robert Heinlein quote I recently read:

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.

Can't we do both? In a way, I prefer specialization. Then I don't have to think so much about what I'm doing, and can spend more time thinking about more interesting things.

It's interesting how now we think being a fulfilled person means being able to do a bunch of stuff. That just seems exhausting to me. People aren't really so interested in the skills, anyways. It just makes them look cool to others, which is what they really care about. Then the process becomes self perpetuating. It's a very roundabout and unsuccessful way of making good friends.

"Can't we do both?"

Yes. If I may interpret Heinlein, he wasn't saying that you need to be an expert in each of those things... he was saying you should be able to do it.

You still can be an expert in some things too, as long as it's not at the expense of those things.

(I'm not saying I agree; I don't entirely disagree or agree. I'm just trying to explain what he was saying, as best as someone else can divine his opinions.)

Yeah, I think that's a good reading.

17/21. Guess I'm a B- human :/

I would say you are also with David Brooks on this one. He is saying precisely that there used to be strong institutions in American life, and that they are all waning now.