"Brian Reay" wrote in message
...
wrote:
On Wednesday, 4 December 2019 18:03:51 UTC, ARW wrote:
This year we have 2 third year apprentices. Neither of them can fit a
back box straight, wire up a two way lightswitch etc etc.

Could I suggest that being able to wire up a two way lightswitch should
be an *entry criterion* to being an electrical apprentice?

Fairly sure I could have done it at 16.

In fact I was probably doing it about 8, with a battery and paperclips
and brass paper fasteners for switches :-)

If someone hasn't got to that stage by 16, where is the evidence of their
interest and ability?

Owain

Admittedly my back boxes aren't always straight, but I blame the
bricks...

That kind of €˜tinkering by children is pretty well a thing of the past.

No its not. One of my neighbours kids whose dad does nothing
like that keeps borrowing my tools to do stuff like that and doesnt
normally need to ask me what to use and returns them still perfect
and does a decent job of what he wants to achieve.

I did the same thing at his age, but used my dads tools and did all
the electrical stuff and repair of appliances and stuff like lawnmowers
and bikes etc and cars. My dad was much more into carpentry;

Toys like Mecanno, the various electronic assembly toys,
books which encouraged youngsters to experiment with
basic science etc, are no longer popular.

But stuff like Minecraft is.

Like you, I was tinkering with basic electrical things at 8 or so, I
went on to gain an engineering degree, and worked in industry.

Now too many youngsters want to be €˜celebrities.

Never come across any like that at all.

Without wishing to be racist etc, back in the 80s I was working in a
developing country on some military equipment along side some
Americans. Some local Army person were assigned to help us. One
of the Americans made some disparaging comments about the
technical skills of his local assistants while we were having dinner
one evening. As one of his colleagues pointed out, the soldiers
had probably never had even a bicycle as a child let alone worked
on anything as complicated as the kit they now were faced with.

And yet quite a few in africa and india are brilliant mechanics.

The bloody afghans made their own very decent rifles by
copying what the brits showed up with out of bar stock etc
during the Afghan wars and ****ed the poms over completely.

By not ensuring our children explore basic technology etc
we are placing them in the same position. Playing computer
games / having the latest mobile phone isnt basic technology.

But connecting them up and doing the table they are mounted on etc is.