Robert Sturgeon wrote:

On Sun, 06 Aug 2006 08:34:47 -0400, LiRM
wrote:

On 5 Aug 2006 07:27:58 -0700, "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. Well this article shows what that lack of
training, due to whatever reason, means as they get older.

When I drive through a neighborhood, it is a rare garage that has
anything like a workshop within it anymore....a reflection of the lack
of interest or knowledge of the homeowner to work with their hands?

Do your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, the generation who
is succeeding us, have the basic skills that are needed in the world
today?

TMT

I grew up around an uncle who literally rebuilt his entire house.

My father literally built his house -- cement work,
plumbing, framing, siding, wiring, roofing, everything. I
am somewhat embarrassed that I will probably hire my roof
replaced. It comes down to 2 factors: he HAD to (no money);
and I don't want to. I'm sure I could redo the roof if I
really needed to. I used to do stuff like that all the
time. Now I'm lazy (and old) -- and I want it done right,
not cheaply.

(rest snipped)

--
Robert Sturgeon
Summum ius summa inuria.
http://www.vistech.net/users/rsturge/

In many cases those factors are changing. You may have the money to hire
someone, but it is becoming increasingly difficult in some areas to find
someone to hire who will actually do the job correctly. In more and more
cases I'm finding I have to do a job myself to get it done right.

In once case I had an auto repair done several times by several
different dealers (some under warranty) that all failed again in short
order. I finally got fed up and did the job myself, found evidence of
how incompetent they were while tearing into it myself and have not had
a recurrence of the problem since I fixed it correctly myself.

Pete C.