Lew Hodgett wrote:
Too_Many_Tools wrote:
It has always concerned me when the young amoung us are not taugh basic
skills such as how to change a tire, how to use a saw, how to...well
you get the idea...there are basic skills that one needs to deal with
the world we live in.
snip

It is impossible to work on the modern car without a lot of very
specialized equipment.

Few doctors make house calls any more.

Might find it a little difficult to raise and butcher your own hogs in
most places where people live these days.

Times change, people change, the skills required to live in a modern
society keep changing.

Think the process is called "life".

Lew


That's the first response to this thread I fully agree with. The fact
that fewer and fewer people have workshops in their garages doesn't
really concern me.

The fact that I have one is really what matters. If someone down the
road can use the yellow pages, as Ed pointed out, then that's fine. And
if some neighbour kid wants to look over my shoulder to see what I'm
doing, that's ok by me. OTOH, if he (or she) would rather build a web
page that's also ok.

One argument is that it's where people's interests lie. The other side
of that, as pointed out by the single mother reference, is that how can
a kid know where their interests lie if they're not shown? The 26 year
old who bought the condo in Chicago found his interest - albeit a bit
late, but he's still fumbling his way around, and he'll likely make it
through. I was over 30 when I bought my first house, and scrambled to
find the tools (and skills) to bring the house up to par.

There will always be people like that. If they have a leaning that way,
they will eventually spackle over wallpaper, realize their mistake, and
do a better job next time.

We can't have a myopic view of what we do for either a hobby or
profession. The reason we do this kind of thing is that we either love
it or we have a special talent for it. Hopefully it's a big dollop of both.

Tanus

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