I think the main problem started with peanut clown and the DEPT of ED. now after all the time that has passed since it got installed. the Greens have brain washed all of the kids into believing the world is going to end if they don't stop using oil. same thing they did with shop class. we have people today that have no idea how to use tools. it like everyone HAS to go to collage. guess why they do not teach history anymore in grade or high schools ? they want the kids to be stupid. back in 96 (?) I think it was, looked at my kids social studies book and could not believe what I saw in it. 2 and a half pages on the whole of WW2 and 64 plus pages on the civil rights crap. one big step to getting things right here again is getting rid of the DEPT of ED. and the damn teachers union. find some old tool room guys and clean them up to start teaching the kids again how to use tools, and fix things. I remember back in the 1980's a lot of schools where selling off all the shop gear and tools they had. the kids need help, as they do not know any better than what they where taught by the clowns that are teachers today.
I would have thought that kids being incapable of using tools and performing practical tasks was a problem that people could address for themselves. Teach them yourselves. It will certainly be profitable to be able to fix and repair stuff when hardly anyone else knows how.
While I agree with you, the sad fact is that many parents can't afford the equipment and don't have the space to do wood working projects, mechanical stuff like a car restoration, or welding equipment.
Also at this point, many of this generation of parents do not have the skills themselves. Look at the popularity of that guy's Dad's Advice web site where he teaches young people to do many tasks we take for common knowledge.
I remember the “Home Economics” classes in high school....Teaching kids in today’s “STEM” classes is great....but they also need to know how to clean their house, do their laundry, cook their food, and balance a checkbook.
When I was a kid in High School they offered both Home Economics that taught mostly cooking, then another course that taught Independent Living, geared towards both girls and boys. It taught the things you mentioned, but also how to budget, shop smart, change a tire and jump a battery. It was one of the few classes I really enjoyed.
Bachelor Survival was the mid-70s high school class where this boy made a shirt with a sewing machine and Boston Cream Pie in the Home Ec kitchen. Thumbs way up.
Our high school offered a class like that but they called it Single Survival. We actually had both girls and boys in it. We didn't do much clothes sewing as far as making things, but we did do mending of clothes, fixing zippers, sewing buttons back on, etc. But we also did food budgets, shopping, checkbook balancing, and things like what is the best value for your money. Like which is the better value, one tomato for 30 cents or 2 for 50 cents, if you only need 1 and the other one will rot? I had the problem of my dad was not handy with tools other than to do things the cobbled together way. Like using coffee cans and coat hangers to fix the car exhaust. It wasn't until I started to work in the foundry that I really started to know the right way to fix things, using the correct tools and parts that were called for to replace broken ones.
in the last 20 years or so, I have taught a lot of younger guys how to do stuff that we think nothing of doing. I always tell them, " it's not rocket science, for god's sake" although changing out a hot water heater with 2 PR guys is pushing it. I had to explain everything I did and why to them. it took at least 3 times longer than if I did the whole thing myself.
one thing I always tried to tell guys about is to read the damn book that came with whatever it was. the reason behind it was if they paid some person a 100 grand to write the damn thing about it, it would make sense at least to look over it, if not read the whole thing. like the whole hot water heater thing, why do they sell 3year one or 5 year ones ? simple. they have done testing to see how thin they can make it and how long it will last. a friend of mine thought I was nuts when I told him this. he has his PHD in imaging. but after his 3 year water heater died after 3 years and 4 months. he said he would never doubt me again on things like this. it also why you mom's or grand mom's water heater last 20 years or more. they just do not make them like that anymore. everything you buy today has a life span of less ten years. I think of it like I do BIC lighters. they work great for a while, but then you going to have to buy another one.
I think the main problem started with peanut clown and the DEPT of ED. now after all the time that has passed since it got installed. the Greens have brain washed all of the kids into
ReplyDeletebelieving the world is going to end if they don't stop using oil.
same thing they did with shop class. we have people today that have no idea how to use tools. it like everyone HAS to go to collage.
guess why they do not teach history anymore in grade or high schools ?
they want the kids to be stupid. back in 96 (?) I think it was, looked at my kids social studies book and could not believe what I saw in it. 2 and a half pages on the whole of WW2 and 64 plus pages on the civil rights crap.
one big step to getting things right here again is getting rid of the DEPT of ED. and the damn teachers union. find some old tool room guys and clean them up to start teaching the kids again how to use tools, and fix things.
I remember back in the 1980's a lot of schools where selling off all the shop gear and tools they had.
the kids need help, as they do not know any better than what they where taught by the clowns that are teachers today.
Homeschool.
DeleteIt's going to take a true, hot, civil war to get rid of any of the 500+ agencies full of unelected tax eater bureaucrats that rule over us.
DeleteI would have thought that kids being incapable of using tools and performing practical tasks was a problem that people could address for themselves. Teach them yourselves. It will certainly be profitable to be able to fix and repair stuff when hardly anyone else knows how.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with you, the sad fact is that many parents can't afford the equipment and don't have the space to do wood working projects, mechanical stuff like a car restoration, or welding equipment.
DeleteAlso at this point, many of this generation of parents do not have the skills themselves. Look at the popularity of that guy's Dad's Advice web site where he teaches young people to do many tasks we take for common knowledge.
DeleteI remember the “Home Economics” classes in high school....Teaching kids in today’s “STEM” classes is great....but they also need to know how to clean their house, do their laundry, cook their food, and balance a checkbook.
ReplyDeleteEd357
When I was a kid in High School they offered both Home Economics that taught mostly cooking, then another course that taught Independent Living, geared towards both girls and boys. It taught the things you mentioned, but also how to budget, shop smart, change a tire and jump a battery. It was one of the few classes I really enjoyed.
DeleteBachelor Survival was the mid-70s high school class where this boy made a shirt with a sewing machine and Boston Cream Pie in the Home Ec kitchen.
DeleteThumbs way up.
Our high school offered a class like that but they called it Single Survival. We actually had both girls and boys in it. We didn't do much clothes sewing as far as making things, but we did do mending of clothes, fixing zippers, sewing buttons back on, etc.
DeleteBut we also did food budgets, shopping, checkbook balancing, and things like what is the best value for your money. Like which is the better value, one tomato for 30 cents or 2 for 50 cents, if you only need 1 and the other one will rot?
I had the problem of my dad was not handy with tools other than to do things the cobbled together way. Like using coffee cans and coat hangers to fix the car exhaust. It wasn't until I started to work in the foundry that I really started to know the right way to fix things, using the correct tools and parts that were called for to replace broken ones.
in the last 20 years or so, I have taught a lot of younger guys how to do stuff that we think nothing of doing. I always tell them, " it's not rocket science, for god's sake"
ReplyDeletealthough changing out a hot water heater with 2 PR guys is pushing it.
I had to explain everything I did and why to them. it took at least 3 times longer than if I did the whole thing myself.
one thing I always tried to tell guys about is to read the damn book that came with whatever it was. the reason behind it was if they paid some person a 100 grand to write the damn thing
ReplyDeleteabout it, it would make sense at least to look over it, if not read the whole thing.
like the whole hot water heater thing, why do they sell 3year one or 5 year ones ?
simple. they have done testing to see how thin they can make it and how long it will last.
a friend of mine thought I was nuts when I told him this. he has his PHD in imaging.
but after his 3 year water heater died after 3 years and 4 months. he said he would never doubt me again on things like this.
it also why you mom's or grand mom's water heater last 20 years or more.
they just do not make them like that anymore. everything you buy today has a life span
of less ten years. I think of it like I do BIC lighters. they work great for a while, but then you going to have to buy another one.