"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
...
On Oct 23, 11:09 pm, "Robert Green"
wrote:
stuff snipped
My thought is that younger folks are the exception here because;
1. it's Usenet fer god's sake!
2. youngsters are more likely to rent than buy
3. those who buy are
a. hiring somebody to do their repairs
b. are too damn smart to wade through all the off topic crap here
for the occasional nugget.
3b. You mean like this thread (couldn't resist, sorry!)
OTOH-- I do recall a few pretty smart 'young 'uns' dropping by over
the years. And by smart I mean that they knew how to ask a question
and 'work the room' for the most information out there.
They are as rare as women are here, as far as I can tell. I blame lawyers
for that. There have been so many schools sued for injuries kids sustain
in
shop class that many schools have just eliminated them from their
programs.
I, on the other hand, went to a technical high school that had a machine
shop with lathes, milling machines, a metallurgy shop and a foundry. The
lathes were powered by an overhead belt and pulley system that were
labeled
"Dept. of War" - that's how old they were. We started by creating a
drawing
of a tool (a spanner wrench) freehand, then we learned to make mechanical
drawings from which we made a wooden pattern of the wrench, cast it in
green
sand in the foundry and then machined it in machine shop. It was a great
way to learn engineering and I doubt very many students get their "hands
wet" like we did anymore.
--
Bobby G.
"There have been so many schools sued for injuries kids sustain in
shop class that many schools have just eliminated them from their
programs."
I've got a friend who teaches high school music in a tony nearby suburb and
his belief is that it was lawsuits and the sense that "trades" weren't
classy enough. They want everyone to be "rocket surgeons." (-:
At:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/ma...24labor-t.html
the author says "High-school shop-class programs were widely dismantled in
the 1990s as educators prepared students to become "knowledge workers." . .
.. The Princeton economist Alan Blinder argues that the crucial distinction
in the emerging labor market is not between those with more or less
education, but between those whose services can be delivered over a wire and
those who must do their work in person or on site. The latter will find
their livelihoods more secure against outsourcing to distant countries. As
Blinder puts it, "You can't hammer a nail over the Internet." Nor can the
Indians fix your car. Because they are in India.
So it could be that the folks that have managed to acquire a trade despite
the "knowledge worker" bias of schools will have the last laugh. And the
last jobs.
hmm...I wonder if that's why so many Art and Music classes have been cut
too. You know, I'm leaning towards budget cuts as opposed to lawsuits.
It's probably a combination of multiple factors, but there's no doubt in my
mind that school administrators are keenly aware of the potential
liabilities of shop class injuries and just don't want to take the risks.
My high school still has all three because we keep voting to have them
funded.
Good for you. Too bad it's not the same all across America.
Besides, I thought it was the parent's job to ensure that their kid's
learned these types of life skills. My kids boys both took shop, but
the vast majority of what they learned about taking care of their cars
and houses either came from me or was introduced by me and then they
took it the next few steps.
Shop class taught me a lot about safety and other things like measuring
twice and cutting once. It filled in a lot of other skills I didn't learn
being the flashlight holder and tool fetcher for my dad when he worked on
the family car. But both types of exposure "set the mark" and enabled me to
learn on my own.
I once showed my youngest son how to change his brake pads and the
next thing I knew he was doing a full brake job - rotors, calipers and
pads - on a junker that his older brother bought.
A guy I worked for only got tools for his Christmas and birthday presents
but those gifts paid off in him being able to do almost all his own auto
work: full brake jobs as well as a lot of other tasks. His dad was a
mechanic on Air Force One, hence the tool gifts.
Sometimes they just need to be introduced to the subject matter and I
think that that introduction is my responsibility.
Kids are incredibly imitative. I recall showing my friend's kid something
ONCE on the computer (how to turn it on, log on and open his speak and spell
games) and he was able to do it himself the very next day. So I agree, it's
important to get them started and the problem is that there are fewer and
fewer people doing repairs and maintenance so there are fewer and fewer kids
being exposed to it. I think part of the problem is that so many things
just can't be fixed anymore without sophisticated tools or replacement
parts.
Anyone who's been to Cuba can attest to how creative good mechanics can be.
The island is filled with cars from the 60's still running with close to a
million miles on them. They may be godless commies, but boy can they
stretch a car's useful life out by an extra 30 years.
--
Bobby G.