15 Social competence is a skill we often take for granted.
(A) We often consider social competence to be a skill that needs to be taught.
(B) We often assume that social competence is a skill that comes with us effortlessly.
(C) Social competence is a skill we take from God.
(D) Some people are gifted at the skill of relating to people.“In Bogota, Colombia, there is said to be what amounts to a college for pickpockets,” says Det. KennethKleinlein, a pickpocket-prevention specialist with the New York City police special-fraud squad. The course of studyreportedly lasts some six to eight weeks at the “School of the Ten Bells,” named for its final exam. A mannequin,dressed in a man’s vested suit, is said to hang by a wire from the ceiling. Stuffed in each of the suit’s ten pockets arevaluables, and attached to each pocket is a bell. The “students” must extract all the contents without jingling a bell. “Ifthey can do it, they ‘graduate’ and fan out to Boston, New York, and other big US cities,” says Kleinlein.Crime experts say that pickpockets focus on department stores, buses and railroad stations, sports stadiums,parades—wherever there are crowds. Most work in teams, watching you to see where you put your wallet after atransaction. Or in a crowd they may “fan” you, running feather-like fingers over your clothes until they locate yourwallet.