The Breakroom > The Water Cooler
Any hope for the kids?
mike os:
if one enters mine he may never emerge in recognisable form :bugeye:
Lew_Merrick_PE:
I can't answer for Europe, but my wife was a member of the local school board for many years. Our (then) logging-based economy town was never given grief over our shop classes. They were finally put to rest about five years ago because the teacher who had run things retired and we could not get a teaching-certified replacement.
The (larger) town thirty miles away canceled all their shop classes back in the 1980's over a fear of lawsuits. This is a commonly cited reason for such cancellations. The only problem is that such things are nearly mythical (at least here in the U.S.). Waivers created in the 1920's provide legal protection for the school against such lawsuits unless based on malfeasance on the part of the teacher. The parents have to sign them. Most schools with which I am familiar would have a parent orientation night with respect to any shop class with power tools or sharp tools. If a parent could not or would not attend, they had to sign a form noting that they had been offered the chance to attend the orientation, but had not.
The "problem" lies more with parents than with schools. When my eldest-daughter was in "middle school," a "parent orientation night" was held. More than half the parents were concerned about "keyboarding" and running specific pieces of software for the programming class than wanted to know what types of systems the kids would be programming! Two decades on, it is nearly impossible to find a computer programming class in middle or high schools in our area -- the home of Microsoft and several other "software" companies. This was driven by parents!
I always forget the guy's name, but he was the Chancellor at UC Berkeley who sparked the "Free Speech Movement" there in the early-1960's. He was the Nixon Administration's "Undersecretary for Education." In 1959 he gave a speech at Wharton College (which my mother, a doctorate in Education, attended) where he said, "We are not in the business of educating people, we are in the business of selling education. It does not matter if 'Johnny can't read' when he leaves school, we can always sell him such classes later!" These are the people who have been in control of setting "educational goals" for four decades now here in the U.S.
I attended public schools here in the U.S. -- in six different States. I graduated high school in 1971. The math class my daughters had as seniors in high school was the math class I had in seventh grade! One of my (youngest) daughter's history "teachers" tried to tell her that the War of the Roses never happened! Philosophy and logic classes (a mainstay of junior high and high school when I was in such places) are no longer taught. Instead, we get classes on "how to use the internet" -- as if there is a kid anywhere in America who needs such instruction.
I will add that I usually have half-a-dozen kids hanging around my shop on summer evenings and weekends. There are a couple who follow through for weekends during the school year. That's out of a neighborhood with (about) forty total 10-18 year old kids. Where schools fail, the "crazy old coots" need to stand up for traditions. Isn't that what we here are all about?
John Hill:
--- Quote from: Lew_Merrick_PE on January 27, 2011, 12:44:00 PM ---
I will add that I usually have half-a-dozen kids hanging around my shop on summer evenings and weekends. There are a couple who follow through for weekends during the school year. That's out of a neighborhood with (about) forty total 10-18 year old kids. Where schools fail, the "crazy old coots" need to stand up for traditions. Isn't that what we here are all about?
--- End quote ---
It would be nice to have a few interested kids hanging around my shop but I would be afraid of be accused of kiddy fiddling or some such.
Raggle:
Thank you for all the replies. Lew's was particularly illuminating.
I just wonder whether similar restrictions apply with Chinese and Indian kids? No answer expected
Ray
benchmark:
--- Quote from: Raggle on January 27, 2011, 05:30:04 PM ---Thank you for all the replies. Lew's was particularly illuminating.
I just wonder whether similar restrictions apply with Chinese and Indian kids? No answer expected
Ray
--- End quote ---
And guess which nations are slowly taking over the worlds industrial empire :coffee:
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