Posted on 05/03/2016 4:23:41 PM PDT by DuncanWaring
Was talking to a recently-retired computer-science professor today; he said in the last few years he's been seeing students showing up in college who have literally
Never.
Used.
A.
Screwdriver.
He has been teaching a higher-level class in automating control of a train setup.
Part of the project is to assemble a train car from a kit.
These kids have no idea how to do it.
I don't think they are dumb from the standpoint of unable or stupid on a functional level...they can learn when pushed...if you can put up with the whining...
They simply have been told their entire lives they are entitled and see no need to learn things like "How to use a Screwdriver"
Someone else will do it for them...!!!
Read a map, use a washing machine or dryer, cook a meal, mow the yard, how to sweep or mop a floor, write a letter on actual paper, address an envelope, write a check, the list is almost endless...
I posted yesterday about working with a millennial guy. We were building a lumber frame with joists similar to a floor. I measured and laid everything out and asked him to nail it together while I went to get more supplies.
30 minutes minutes later, I got back to find one nail driven in. This guy was over 30 years old and had never driven a nail.
Here’s how I learned how to use various tools :
Had a car at 16. If the car broke down, I don’t drive. No bailouts. It’s amazing how quickly you can learn how to swap out a CV joint on an ‘84 VW Rabbit if not having a car looms over your head using nothing but a manual (and a friend that had a pretty nice set of tools).
When I took it to get aligned after that, the guy told me it looked good! I felt like a million bucks!
I do almost all maintenance & repairs on my Honda Elements today. Yeah, it consumes time, but I have fun doing it.
It doesn’t take much to learn basic mechanical stuff. The big problem is that schools shun interest in things like this since they’re all too concerned about making sure an appreciable number of kids go on to college to continue their brain scrubbing regardless of the talents the kid has.
If you’ve never been taught or had to learn, you’re not going to know it.
My family, friends, and coworkers all think I am a wizard because I built my own PC from parts off of NewEgg. They say, “Where do you send it if there is something wrong?” I say, “I don’t send it anywhere, I open it up and fix it.” Their eyes always bug out at that. I built it in 2010 and it is still running like a top. Since I have the OS (Windows 7) on a small SSD, it physically cannot “upgrade” to Windows 10. I love it!
That’s good. I think the pads on my Suzuki Sidekick are even easier - Like 60 seconds - I also have a Nissan Hardbody pickup with front brakes similar to the Altima. Brake shoe changes are also good practice in doing things methodically and acquiring a feel for mechanical things (springs and use of measured force, etc.). My girl does some of the maintenance and repair on her two-stroke trail bike — my hobby, actually.
I was talking to my wife the other day about how we were taught how to write a letter and address the envelope in fourth grade.
By the tenth grade we could balance a checkbook.
I wonder what exactly do they teach these days besides how to be gay and how to love muslims.
Because the business process of making payments is the same regardless of the medium.
It’s a common thing I am seeing among the younger set - they know how to use a computer-based application, but give them the same exact thing in paper format and they are completely lost.
If one understands the process, one should be able to handle either format. What we’ve got are people who understand one format but not the process.
Yeah, that was the idea. And the fact they don’t do it anymore speaks to its effectiveness.
For the record, I teach 4th grade and neither “gay” nor “muslim” is taught in my school.
Are you teaching them how to address an envelope and write a proper letter?
And do they know how to tell time on a regular watch?
So what — if that is the most disturbing thing you can point out, everything is pretty darn good.
You don’t see a problem with college-age kids knowing how to do nothing but play video games?
A handy man around here makes a good living on picking up “broken” lawnmowers, “fixing” them and then selling them. He picks them up on the curb and takes them home. He said that 95% of them are “fixed” in 5 minutes by: replacing the gas with fresh gas, cleaning the clogged air filter, or replacing the spark plug. Cleans them up and sells them for $50 - 100 each.
People who have heard of this great mechanic routinely pay him $50-100 to repair their broken lawnmower .... yep, you guessed it, he replaces the gas, ......
I knew how to use a screw driver when I was a little fart. Soldering came at about 12 and was welding better than the guys by 14.
I had one of those once, old Chrysler (below) with these screwy lug nut thingy...
I didn't know it the first flat tire I had...
Believe me, Hilarity didn't happen...
That car was the biggest piece of junk I ever owned, literally "everything" that could leak did...with about 88,000 miles on it...
“Laz?
A little help here please....”
I caught that too. I’ve never seen Chickensoup and Laz in the same room...jus sayin’.
Connections for the gas is threaded backwards.
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