Not all that long ago, not knowing how to drive a stick shift was a statistical oddity. Plenty of automatic transmission cars were sold, but just about everyone learned to drive a car with a third pedal. Heck, it was even advantageous to have one; automatic transmissions usually had only three or four gears until the 1990s and a 5-speed manual got you marginally better gas mileage.
Then there’s the sheer fun of manually shifting gears.