We don't teach children how to make fire with sticks, and most of us probably couldn't do it either. We, as a culture, literally forgot the first step that enabled all our industry. Is that a problem?
Sure we do. In the Boy Scouts for example, though I just learned it from a book. I suspect a large percentage of people on HN would know how to start a fire from scratch.
Would it really be only 1% of kids who join the Boy Scouts, or Girl Guides, or Boys Brigade (or whatever your country's equivalents are)? I would have guessed it was much higher than that.
And then you'd have people who learned in some outdoor survival course, etc. Obviously this will vary from country to country, but surely it's higher than 1%?
Friction fires aren't necessarily always the easiest way to start a fire, if you have any common metal, lens or reflective surface to hand there are way easier techniques