[Timesink]

The educational part comes with overcoming reluctance to "tear into" something, to see how components interact with each other, how to correctly tighten fasteners with a torque wrench, all sorts of things. The importance of good electrical grounds, etc etc. I've fixed countless items just by "fiddle-faddling" with them, the important thing is to get people out of the very un-Zen mentality of "Oh, it's broke, better buy a new one or spend $$$$ paying someone to repair it.

Don't forget the concept of "planned obsolescence"!

[Freedom4US]

Don't forget the concept of "planned obsolescence"!

That's part of it, but the technology has changed. I'll bet high schools used to offer radio and tv repair too, back when those items were easily repairable. Consumer products today aren't designed to be repairable it would seem.

[_Jim]

Don't forget the concept of "planned obsolescence"!

THAT is truely an overused saw - I have *never* been on a project or in a meeting where we 'planned for obsolescence'.

The objectives were always, however: cost of components, cost of manufacturing (labor), meeting applicable safety requirements (e.g. UL listing, etc.) ... HIGHER levels of integration *can* lead to non-repairable units (not repairable at the user level) BUT this more than offsets the cost of new units ... BUY a quality product and the service you'll get from such items will be more than just proportional - the TROUBLE is, MOST PEOPLE BUY CHEAP (on the basis of initial acquisition PRICE alone)!!