I agree with the many replys on this thread, particularly those from MikeInNH, Triedaq, common sense answer, and Caddyman. As a 60-year-old form Shade Tree Mechanic, I sometimes find myself overwhelmed by car problems I probably would have tackled 40 years ago. As a power plant electrician turned instrument technician, turned electrical engineer turned IT Systems Analyst I’ve found myself automated out of a career on numerous occasions.
Sure there are still power plant electricians like there are still car mechanics but much of the job has been dumbed down to accommodate untrained personnel. Also, many of the tasks of a car mechanic are not needed on today’s autos. A car used to need valves and rings at 80k miles, tires at 20k, distributor rotor and cap at 10k, carb o’hauls at 50k.
A lot of the problem of declining skills of home mechanics comes from inexpensive car maintenance shops who can lube a car or change out an exhaust system almost as cheaply as you can buy the parts. I understand that a lack of motivation can come because I’m rich enough to get someone else to do the dirty work. But my grown kids who aren’t as able to afford this still aren’t interested in DIY. They are probably overwhelmed by the car’s technology.
I don’t think that denigration of blue-collars skills is a new problem. Even back in the 60’s, we were pushed toward “college track” courses so we wouldn’t end up car mechanics. A few of us took up car repair as a hobby. I think that in the South, where car racing is so popular, DIY mechanics are more likely to learn how cars work in order to “tweak” a bit more performance from their stock models. Here in NY we are not so inclined and often look down on those who are.
I was very fortunate to grow up in a neighborhood that was mostly working class. My Dad had accepted a position as a college professor, but had not completed his doctorate, and, along with his siblings, was helping to support his father. My maternal grandmother lived with us. My Dad was the kind of person that could talk to and get along with anyone. We all pitched in to help each other in the neighborhood. I learned repair skills, but more importantly, learned to respect people who had these skills.
My brother really put the skills we learned growing up to good use. He earned a doctorate and began a college teaching career. When the president of the institution told the whole faculty that they were a dime a dozen, my brother handed the president his resignation, gave him a dime and told him to go hire a dozen new faculty. He then became a technical writer–worked for a couple of Fortune 500 companies and then started his own company. He thought it would be useful to know something about law, so he enrolled in law school. This turned into a full blown law degree and he was admitted to the bar. He then practiced law with a law firm, but became disgusted with litigation procedures, so he and a friend bought a plumbing company. He did plumbing full time until a small college asked him to teach part time. He drives to the college in the morning in his plumbing truck in a suit and tie, teaches his classes, then goes into the restroom, pulls on his coveralls and makes his service calls. I asked him about all his career changes and his reply was that “dealing with university administration, putting up with courtroom judges and running the eel through a stopped up sewer is dealing with the same substance”.
At any rate, we grew up believing that there is dignity in any kind of work. I have a lot of respect for a technician who can rebuild a transmission or diagonose a problem in my car and make the repair. I’ve done some of my own auto repairs and I realize the skills involved. When I was a teen-ager, I watched a really skilled mechanic rebuild a carburetor in less than half an hour. I tackled the simplest of carburetors–a one barrel carburetor with a manual choke on my 1950 Chevrolet pick-up. It took me an entire afternoon and two tries to get it right.
Amen.
I’ve been lots of things. I have friends who are MDs, friends who are PhDs, friends who fix cars, friends who are welders, and friends who are simple clerks. One of the best and most caring people I know is a purchasing clerk. Regardless of their jobs, they’re all good friends and good people. Albert Einstein was once a patent clerk.
When the almighty finally judges us he won’t ask or care what we did for a living or how much money we made. The only thing that he’ll judge us on is how good a person we were. If that’s a good enough criteria for him, it ought to be good enough for the rest of us.
I don’t know what NY you are from, but the one I am from has lots of active local tracks. Some have fallen in recent years, sadly. It used to be a real family sport with lots of participants and spectators at the Chemung Superdrome, Shangri-La Speedway, Spencer Speedway, Skyline Raceway, Limerock Speedway, Canadaigua Speedway, Black Rock Speedway, Utica-Rome Speedway…
People seem to be overlooking the value of recreation as a method of learning. I learned about math, goegraphy, etc, because I tinkered with radios (ham & SWL), not because some teacher stood in front of a class and lectured. Also, our outdated education system is a product of of the industrial era, when factory honchos wanted less smart workers, that they could control more easily (the subject of a Coast to
Coast AM show). Learning as displeasure is resisted.
So these people who want to lengthen the school day, etc. don’t realize that they are exacerbating the problem- like a doctor giving a patient more of what makes him sick.