[GreenKeys] Cleaners, lubricants, pipe-dream "The way things work" animation

[kf9nz@juno.com]

        AMEN AMEN about the schools.   I graduated from a "technical"
high school in Chicago (a few years back - this year is my 50th reunion
year)  and we had machine shops, foundry shops, print shops (printed our
DAILY newspaper there in letterpress)  auto shops, electric shops, wood
shops (anybody here ever study pattern making? - for foundry patterns?) 
etc. etc.  Recently the Chi Pub Schools eliminated what was left of the
shops - to the irate screams of the Alumni.   I guess it doesn't mean
much anymore though.  Nothing is manufactured in the USA anymore.  It all
comes from China.  All we do is shuffle DATA.
        Soap box mode off
Frankf9nz
        
 >
> > Incidentally, it has been documented that kids who learn how to 
> maintain
> > motor-scooters have an easier time learning about computers (see
> > "Technological Fluency and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by 
> David
> > Cavallo: http://web.media.mit.edu/~cavallo/Thesis-index.pdf).
> >
> 
>   A lot of kids have no opportunity in what's left of our 'schools' 
> to
> have shop classes (or music, or art for that matter) so they grow up 
> with
> "Don't touch that!" drummed into their heads.  Another thing I'd do 
> at the
> Ham classes was to bring junk from the swapmeets - old dead gear and 
> radio
> stuff, and I'd let the kids take it apart. You put a screwdriver and 
> a
> pair of dikes in a boy's hand and let him work on things, (read: rip 
> old
> stuff up) and he'll soon get the idea that he *can* do this...  
> coupled
> with the general electronic knowledge that working toward a Ham 
> License
> confers -
> 
>   You plant the seeds - no telling where the trees will grow.  I've 
> had
> more than one person in my classes tell me that they went on to get
> engineering degrees because of their exposure to Ham radio and 
> general
> electronics in my (and others') classes.
> 
>   And we need more hardware geeks to keep collecting and 
> maintaining
> Teletypers - no?  You betcha!
> 
>   Cheers
> 
> John KB6SCO
> 
>

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