Evergreen skills vs time-sensitive skills or context sensitive skills

A hypothetical case for discussion sake:

A child who did not get to attend formal schools to learn the academic disciplines is likely be disadvantaged going through the career paths compared to another child who did. The child could also have this alternative scenario during the missed school years:

• developed strong observation skills while learning from play and interactions outside of classrooms
• has opportunities to exercise reflection and have long conversations about those reflections with good trustworthy buddies 
• been exposed to challenges and struggled with finding the solutions
• needed to survive through persistence and in the process developed grit and agility
• learned to negotiate with people and circumstances to move towards life goals
• experience many failures and learnt from each one
• stronger sense of dangers and more accurate assessment of risk
• developed creativity to overcome obstacles
• exceptional keenness of the 6 senses 

One child is booksmart and other is street smart. Both have different strengths and different opportunities. The measure of success for both, when they enter the workforce will be quite different. The ‘paper tiger’ will flourish in certain types of organisation culture while the ‘street tiger’ will flourish in other types of culture. 

The one with mental strength and tenacity needed to handle bad circumstances with minimal resources from a disadvantaged position, is what employers will treasure to handle the increasingly stressful macroeconomics. The academic certifications can be added on later.

The 2 hypothetical cases above are not that far from reality.  The evergreen skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, systems-thinking, resource management, communication etc. are not limited to certain context or time. Anchor oneself with these skills to be more employable. The time-sensitive or context sensitive skills are functional skills which varies.