The skills of our younger generation. Or should I say...

[look 171]

Funny, that what they use to teach, drive a nail with two whacks. I can never do that but did not swing much hammer in my younger days. Thank fully I always hired out. When I was old enough, I bought nail guns. Screw that two whacks stuff

[vash]

What size nail? Two hits? 16d?

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

21. Tie a square knot.

22. Tie a tie....

[fred cook]

When my son got close to driving age, I bought a worn out Dodge Dakota pickup and "allowed" him to help rebuild it. If he was not out helping, nothing got done on the truck! Since this was going to be the only vehicle he would be allowed to drive, he pitched right in. Later, while in college, he was co-oping at a tech lab and volunteered to fix a broken wind tunnel that was badly needed. His boss was amazed that he had an engineering student that could use tools! Since that time, he has repaired his vehicles a number of times and can pretty much do anything around his house. Just don't ask him to go outside and kill a snake! I believe that he would move to another state first!

[tevake]

Hey cluster of consonants , wondering just what you get out of this silly repeating of earlier posts? You add nothing to our discussions. Just waste space here.

Are you enjoying wasting your and our time? I'm not sure I under stand what you get from doing this?

[yel911]

Again, it's the parents fault. I did my first engine pull at 14 years old, solo. We do it all for them.

[tangerine911S]

Older generations love to analyze the younger and say how useless they are now. There are plenty of young screw ups now but there were plenty then as well. The world's not getting dumber. Quite the opposite.

[motion]

Originally Posted by tevake

Hey cluster of consonants , wondering just what you get out of this silly repeating of earlier posts? You add nothing to our discussions. Just waste space here.

Are you enjoying wasting your and our time? I'm not sure I under stand what you get from doing this?

Its a spam-bot. They are all over Pelican. Easy to recognize and ignore

[turbo6bar]

Knuckleheads and useless fools exist among all generations.

I grew up geeky and soft. My metamorphosis into a studly man began when my father bought a 1970 MGB convertible. We worked on getting that car up to snuff, and later I took the car with me to school in Atlanta. During one trip down to Atlanta, the points in the distributor crapped. I had to install and gap new points in the blistering summer heat of Alabama. The span of 20 minutes saw my emotions transform from dread to pride as I repaired the car. I finally knew I could fix anything on that car.

A few years later, I decided an office engineering job was not for me, and I went into landlording (buying and fixing distressed single family homes). I honed my witchcraft so eventually I could wear a toolbelt with authority. It's not about the ego, but rather, the confidence and pride of knowing I can do anything I set out to accomplish.

Kids need to be put in positions to accomplish. Dads need to stop taking cars to the dealer for oil changes and let the kids get greasy. Surely, one doesn't have to change their own oil to be a man, but you have to start kids somewhere. They won't build a storage shed if they don't take baby steps first. Also, those baby steps foster a creative, problem-solving mind.

Jurgen

[71scgc]

My daughter does all the home repair/maintenance chores in her little family. Easy stuff, like lighting a water heater, changing the air filter, etc.
The other day I talked her through readjusting the door lock switch in the dishwasher over the phone. Once inside, she figured it out herself.
My son in law could never have done it, even if I had been there looking over his shoulder.

So sad...
My daughter just calls him a wuss and breaks out the tools. They are hers, BTW.

Carter

[oldE]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

What is needed today is a course in good old common sense.

See my avatar.

On a brighter note, a friend of ours keeps us updated on her son, now 15.
A couple of years ago, he got an old lawn mower from a neighbor, fixed it (with a little help from his dad) and started doing lawns and dragging home other "junk".
This year he bought a F-150 with a bad motor, found another motor and had the transplant done last month.
If this kid doesn't become a mechanic there will be some serious talent wasted.

Best
Les

[VINMAN]

Originally Posted by tangerine911S

Older generations love to analyze the younger and say how useless they are now. There are plenty of young screw ups now but there were plenty then as well. The world's not getting dumber. Quite the opposite.

The world is getting more "book smart". But thats about it.
There is a huge difference between being intelligent and having the ability to apply it.

Motion nailed it. We are turning to technology to get us through life. That a bad thing. Technology fails at times. You need to have a backup. That backup is quickly disappearing.


.

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by tangerine911S

Older generations love to analyze the younger and say how useless they are now. There are plenty of young screw ups now but there were plenty then as well. The world's not getting dumber. Quite the opposite.

That statement is quite an absolute.

While on one hand, you can argue that we are smarter because we have a deeper understanding of many things like DNA sequencing, the mysteries of the universe (Bring Pluto back!), and medicine. Technology is a major driving force in most of this.

On the other hand, the very same technology which has enabled man to gain more understanding of the universe around him has also enabled him to essentially use less of his brain: why try to figure something out when a computer in my hand can answer just about any question I have? (And I don't even need to type anything - just verbally ask it a question!)

So while today we have the ability to understand more than before, it does not enable us to improve one category of knowledge: the ability to reason, figure things out, and what is generally known as common sense. A key to this is observation. And the general populace does not pay attention long enough to anything (except their smart phones) to be able to apply observational skills, and thus skills like deduction and analytical reasoning are diminished. Again: why should one figure out something when wikipedia has all the answers at my fingertips?!?

Now one would argue that without having to use reason and analytical skills to figure things out, our brains would be free to process, compute, and calculate more 'stuff.' I simply don't see this happening, except for those who still work their brains the old fashioned way.

So the question is: are people getting smarter, or are they relying on smarter technology to get by?

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by tangerine911S

Older generations love to analyze the younger and say how useless they are now...

I agree somewhat. A few things happened, none of them a problem, but they insulated the past generation or so for the need to get involved with "things'.

Most of the machines I grew up with and interacted with everyday were inefficient and required constant, little maintenance actions to keep well sorted.

I can remember packing wheel bearings with my Dad, adjusting carbs and greasing hinge points on our family station wagon before long trips in the 1970's. We carried all the essential items with us plus the tools to install them.

Those days are over. Cars are appliances that run and run and run. Scratch one opportunity to get to know how to trace an electric short. That reliability and endurance has come with complexity. Beyond some simple trouble shooting tips I've learned over the years, AAA baby.

Even tires are 100% better these days.

The price of repair and the cost of buying new has narrowed considerably: That *****en' set of tools dad had to repair the TV? Nope. My best friend from HS owns two appliance repair shops in California. He said they have gone from 75% repair to 25% repair: He had to start selling new to survive.

Urbanization. Kids are now almost completely isolated from the means of production on every day items, from food to other consumables. Agritourism is huge in my area: On any given fall weekend the folks from DC arrive here en mass to stroll through a corn maze, pick fruit, pumpkins and berries; farmers here make a lot of money selling things that were once ubiquitous, at least when I was a kid.

Manufacturing improvements. CNC machines, robots and other manufacturing automation means a lot of entry level manufacturing jobs are no longer available.

So much more but the key for me is that learning how to fix things, which entails problem solving and common sense, just isn't required that much anymore. It simply isn't.

Where I live the quality spread is just like it was: A good mix of the useless and skilled.

[flipper35]

I know a guy older than me that was a pilot for one of the armed services branches. I can guarantee he has not flown in combat because combat does not follow an outline. He cannot function if it does not follow his outline. His basic troubleshooting skills are basically non-existent. He may be smart, but he cant function outside his normal parameters.

I know a lot of younger generations that are the same. When it hits the fan they cease to function properly.

[GH85Carrera]

Back in my single days I was at a girlfriends house and she wanted to go to the store so she could buy a new microwave oven. I helped haul it in and get it set up. She then asked me to haul the old small microwave to the trash. I asked if she minded if I just took it home. She was puzzled as to why I would want it.

I opened it up and it was very obvious the fuse was blown. I had to unsolder the poor design and I replaced it with a fuse holder that was easy to replace the fuse. I put it together and I had a free microwave. Well it cost the few dollars of the fuse and the holder.

She was at my house a few day later and was amazed that I fixed it. I had nothing to lose so why not try?

She had never known anyone that was a fix it type. I taught her how to do a lot of small repairs. We broke up eventually but remained friends and she called me a few years later for advice. She had bought a house that was owned by a little old lady and it had not been updated or repaired for decades. She lived in the house and would work late into the night. She would start in one room and fix it all up and move to the next room. She had some simple plumbing issues I helped her with. That built up her confidence and she ripped out the entire kitchen and rebuilt it. She was slow but she did good work.

It took her several years but she fixed up that house and sold it for a very nice profit. She called me when it sold to thank me for fixing that old microwave oven and showing her how to fix things instead of just getting new.

Her entire family was just astonished that she could do any of the repairs.

[J P Stein]

My wife brings me stuff to fix and gets upset when I can't work magic on some broken POS. She now believes me when I say I'd need a complete machine shop and an injecton moulding machine to fix some widget and acts accordingly...bout time after 40 years.

The hot rod in the shop presents another problem. I now have "parchment skin" on my forearms......now they look like war torn Europe. The old bod no longer folds into the shapes required to get into spots like under the dash. Half the crap under there don't work......50 years of hammer mechanics take a toll.

The car looks good (from 20 feet), runs & drives OK, but the only instruments that report are those I've put in there (oil press & water temp) .....and the gas gauge from a previous life.

I'm getting old and can't remember when I learned to drive a nail. Maybe when my old man built out first real house. Can no longer do a 16d in two whacks tho.

[KNS]

Originally Posted by 71scgc

My daughter does all the home repair/maintenance chores in her little family. Easy stuff, like lighting a water heater, changing the air filter, etc.
The other day I talked her through readjusting the door lock switch in the dishwasher over the phone. Once inside, she figured it out herself.
My son in law could never have done it, even if I had been there looking over his shoulder.

So sad...
My daughter just calls him a wuss and breaks out the tools. They are hers, BTW.

Carter

I don't get this!!! How can the son in law sit around without thinking to himself: "I need to man-up and get some tools in my hands", "I need to demonstrate to my family that can keep this household running". I'm not saying he needs to be able to be able to re-roof the house or pour a new driveway but jeez the simple things at least.

I would have been mortified if I watched my wife perform these tasks (though proud of her abilities...) without stepping in and figuring it out.

[oldE]

Originally Posted by KNS

I don't get this!!! How can the son in law sit around without thinking to himself: "I need to man-up and get some tools in my hands", "I need to demonstrate to my family that can keep this household running".

It could be he is a lazy SOB like my daughter's partner.
He can't even be bothered to take the garbage out when he goes for another cigarette.

Or maybe he just doesn't see it as being "in his area of expertise".

Best
Les

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by Oh Haha

The reasons posted by Vinnie are why I am showing MY kids(son and daughter) how to the basic things. My kids will not be "those ones" in the future.

Son clogs the toilet, I show HIM how to plunge it. And, for the love of whatever you beleive in, you don't need 10 yards of TP.

I showed him how to sharpen a camp hatchet using my bench grinder this weekend. Why? He thought that is was ok to try to chop cement with it.....

It probably gets old for them but anytime I do a task that I think they should learn I have them watch and then help me.

My dad included me in all sorts of stuff, very grateful for it! Only one scar from it all remains, caught a drop of molten lead on my wrist while doing some casting.

I finally, at age 28, put some of the wood working to use in building a "fit" crate for my 944 engine head that supported the 5 sided shape and left the valve springs free.