More on need for non-institutional education
I loved shop class. I learned classical drafting (pencil, vellum, and straightedge), architectural design and modeling, woodcrafting, metalworking and welding (spot, oxy-acetylene, and arc), and how NOT to cut my fingers off using woodworking tools.
I just visited my old school - now my children's current school - and all that equipment is gone. Such a shame to take away all that practical experience.
I just visited my old school - now my children's current school - and all that equipment is gone. Such a shame to take away all that practical experience.
In one of the accounts, survivors of the zombie apocalypse with now obsolete desk jobs ( no internet for PCs) were being trained to use old-fashioned shop skills that they used to pay other people to do.
These retrained workers found they received far more satisfaction from being able to replace a toilet or wire a new house than they had from their desk jobs.
That bit of fiction possessed a clear ring of truth.
My middle-school shop teacher was a curmudgeon and coupling that with my lack of self-confidence, I didn't get much of a chance to learn about the tools available in the shop.
Later in life, I discovered that I had a LOT of 'mechanical skills' involving shop tools, welding and automobiles. (and later, computers and a few other things, too.)
My (step-) grandchildren have been incredibly lucky in that their parents have supported them to try anything and everything they've shown an interest in. Makes me jealous as well as proud.
And it's never too late to try new things. I turn 69 next month and I just discovered wood turning two or three years ago. And now I'm 'turning out' things much better than I was just months ago, too!
Oh, and that reminded me of the time a friend taught me how to solder copper tubing for home plumbing repairs. I replaced a hot water heater that required something like ten or fifteen soldered joints, and No Leaks when I finished. And all sorts of electrical repairs around the house, too. I put a Heatilator Fireplace into my first house and added a faux-brick façade to it. A neighbor-contractor/builder visited one day and his jaw dropped... "Where did you learn to lay bricks that well?!" he asked. I smiled... it had been my first attempt at anything like that, and the results were beautiful. Then, of course, we very soon sold the house and moved... :)
Life's like that, too.
Go for it! Everything!
Want low engine emissions? Can't achieve the legal specs with carburetion. Requires computer-controlled fuel injection and multiple sensing and feedback loops. Carburetors and mechanical-feedback fuel injection could meet 1960s specs very well, but not after about 1973.
Likewise electronic ignition, a necessity to allow a distributor to 'distribute' the ignition sparks reliably, consistently and under precise control, again to meet the specs "WE" imposed on the machinery.
And to achieve the highest degrees of safety and reliability, there's pretty no 'mechanical' way to provide anti-skid, air bags and traction control that can meet the specifications and demands that have been put onto our motor vehicles since the '70s and '80s.
I loved my '69 car. I could change the oil, clean the plugs, set the timing to match the fuel grade I was filling the tank with, scrape the oxides off the contacts under the distributor, change and install the points and condenser (and I even understood how the 'condenser' worked in that simple circuit!) and I could remove, rebuild and replace the carburetor faster than the engine block could cool off.
Today, my car is a computer with tires and steering wheel. There is NO mechanical connection between the 'gas pedal' and the engine AT ALL, and the layout and design make it a real pain to even think of changing the oil and filter.
Isn't progress wonderful? My First Law... "The Whole World is a Tradeoff" and those are some great examples of why that Law is spot on.
Happy motoring. ps. If your car breaks down, turn on your cell phone and call AAA or a friend or relative to help you. That's 'progress,' too, isn't it?
:)
Many 'intellectual jobs' requiring college degrees or technical skills can be done by anyone with adequate skills and training, from anywhere in the world!
It seems to take a Ph.D. in Rocket Science nowadays for folks to figure that out!
Lousy thinking.