I see now what he was referring to.
Mike, Dfrom, I thought the Saturn seminar might be more along the lines of what you guys are decsribing. I thought I might even learn something. It wasn’t. Or maybe it was, but it was just too basic for me and bored me to death. It was way back in '95, so I kind of forget.
I think it’s great that there’s a lot of collective car knowledge here, and I’m regularly impressed by what you offer. However, talking about the complete ignorance of a group of people that encompasses a lot of our unseasoned users is off-putting and condescending to them. Littlemouse has a point. My social worker roots are showing here, but have a little compassion.
And the world goes 'round and 'round.
Those same people whom youall decry for being car ignorant …
are the same people YOU turn to, due to your …well…‘ignorance’ of …lets say…
taxes,
plumbing,
medical,
computers,
legal matters,
etc, etc.
You see , it may not be ignorance perse’ , but a chosen focus that does not include the automobile because that’s what WE get paid to do and why we actually have a job.
My wife is a nurse for her second career and her first was banking. While banking she thought numbers like you and me think english. You walk in the front door of the bank and by the time you get to the counter your statement is printed out and waiting…she knew your account number by heart and probably your phone number too.
…her approach to all things car ?..’‘go drive my truck.’’ if something’s amiss, or usually…’‘go put me some gas.’'
I’m the car guy, she’s not, and it works very well that way…36 years now.
'‘ignorance is bliss.’'
Thomas Gray
Automotive enthusiasts, people who LOVE their cars and belong to clubs and ownership groups, can be counted on to maintain their vehicles meticulously…But they are a very small minority…
Life before the Civic…
Mountainbike,
Not sure how the Colleges work in your area but in mine (Baltimore County, MD) CCBC offers credit classes (which you describe above) and non-credit “continuing education” classes which I describe further above. Total cost $269. Check out the link:
Mleich, ours don’t but it was ignorant of me to assune that the same guidelines would apply everywhere.
Re: Caddymman’s original point, I suspect that he’s correct that many car onwers would save a great deal of money of they knew more about their cars…but not everyone has the aptitude. I can look at a drawing and “see” exactly how everything goes together, and figure ourt how it works, but I was recently asked to write a creative story for a local college publication and for the life of me I could not figure out where to begin. And I’ve taken English course my whole educational life. I have far greater education in English than many have in mechanics. I simply have zero aptitude for creative writing. And no matter how hard I tried, I simply couold not remember in history courses who did what when.
It has always been my belief that we all possess knowledg and we all possess ignorance. Only the subjects vary. And it’s a good thing they do. It’d be a tough world if every’s aptitude for finance was as limited as mine!