We made our oldest learn how to drive a manual for a couple of reasons. One was sometimes you can get great deals on manual cars and the other was that we didn't want her to be stuck anywhere because she didn't know how to drive it. We had a neighbor that when she married her husband, he had a manual car. If he ever needed to take her car (a van), she was stuck at home because she didn't know how to drive his car. I figure it's better to know how and not need it, then need it and not know what to do.
I think context matters. I've driven several manual cars, as I like them. But in America, do I NEED to know how? And remember, the original article is 'NEED' - not 'somewhat helpful.' If you don't live in America, the manual drive thing is more important. I went to Europe several times, and wanted to drive, but couldn't. And I can drive manual. The problem is English cars are opposite of American cars, except for the pedals. Which is weird. I've never looked up the recipe for disaster, but I'm guessing 'opposite shift, steering wheel, same pedal set up' and 'opposite side of the road' are all ingredients, so I didn't drive there. If there had been an automatic, I would have driven, because then I'm only worried about being on the opposite side of the road. I digress. Europeans have a better need to drive manuals, Americans do not.
Or maybe it's not a false economy because the "monkey" in question simply turned around and sold the car to someone who didn't have an irrational prejudice, and got the car checked out by their own mechanic to verify it all looked good, since service records are a lousy way to tell the current state of a vehicle.