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

..the "lack of"?

I spent the past two weeks teaching a structural collapse rescue course to a group of city firefighters. Majority of the class were 20 and younger 30-somethings. Most had a couple years on the job. A couple younger new hires. While I am honored and truly enjoy being able to be able to teach and pass my skills on to up and coming firefighters, it was a pretty disturbing experience in a way.
The course is pretty tough and can be dangerous at times. If you screw up, you can seriously injure or kill yourself or someone else. So you need to be alert and on top of what your students are doing at every moment during live exercises.
While most of these guys were smart, what myself (and the other instructors..) found troubling was #1,the lack of experience with simple tools, and how to use them. #2 and most importantly, the inability to figure out a problem and overcome it and perform the task safely even as a group.
We had a guy that at 27 yrs old, had never even set foot on any type of ladder until two yrs ago at the academy. Guys couldn't drive a nail. Another, held a circular saw for the first time in his life the other day. He was terrified of it. I understand not everyone grows up around tools and that atmosphere but come on, some of it is just common sense. One guy almost put the tip of a jackhammer through his cheek because he wouldn't follow directions.
Problem solving and critical thinking were out the window. Again, most of the exercises required the need for basic common sense and logic to perform them safe and correctly. Some of these guys were beyond dangerous because, they just couldn't figure stuff out on their own. I cant tell you how many times we had to jump in and stop them and say " WTF were you thinking??". Plus the fact that they are quick to toss in the towel and cannot deal well with criticism.

I really hope that this isn't a trend.

Sorry end of rant. Now get off my lawn!


.

don't fret Vinny..
your local Para's need training..
hook-up with your counterpart..
when your boys blow it..
his will fix it..

Rika

I just watched a 25 year old hammer a nail. He just about held the hammer by the head. He may have well used a rock. One of my young eng.

He was too smart to watch me do the rest of them after I coaxed the tool away from him.

Vinny,
I'm 100% with ya on this. Sadly, it's not just basic tools kids lack these days. My recent experience:

Bought something at a store. Total came to $15.41.
I gave the young guy at the register $21.00.
He looked at me as if I just handed him a manual for a UFO written in Martian.
I told him to input the numbers into his register.
He then saw that by giving him $21.00, the change would be $5.59.
He seemed to have gotten it -- I wanted one $5 bill, instead of four $1 bills.
He then proceeded to hand me five singles and 59 cents!
Argh. I just took my change and walked away...

Remember folks: this is our nation's future. Be scared. Be very scared....

Every man should learn or be able to do the following:
1. Do basic arithmatic in their head
2. Effectively use a hammer, saw, screwdriver, and other hand tools.
3. Backup a trailer.
4. Build a fire,light it, and keep it going using one match.
5. Determine if a four-sided structure is square using only a measuring tape
6. Determine if a wall is plumb.
7. Determine if something is level using a clear hose and water.
8. Wire a three-way light / install a light fixture.
9. Open an old-fasioned (non-twist) bottle without using a bottle opener
10. Climb a tree
11. Throw a ball. (Scary how many men can't even do this!)
12. Cook basic meals
13. Iron a shirt
14. Use a fold-up map
15. Figure out basic directions (N-S-E-W) using the movement of the sun
16. Catch a fish
17. Spackle a hole in a wall / put up sheet rock
18. Drive a manual transmission
19. Shoot a gun
20. Un-clog a toilet / snake a drain


-Z

But I bet they all can use a keyboard....

Watch Steve Martin in ''Roxanne''. There is always a learning curve.

Tell me you were all mechanical geniuses when you got your first 911. ;)

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.

When I was still on the service truck, I had helpers that had never run a cordless drill or power tool of any type.
I guess it is a generational thing. Most of our dads worked in the garage on various projects from keeping the car running to wood working and renovation projects.
As we move further away from a marketplace that makes things and sells them to one that simply purchases products produced abroad, I don't see it getting any better.... Most people have no interest in doing anything for themselves and pay to have things done for them.

I will admit I have not had to back up a trailer very many times and am not very good at it. I bet that it wouldn't take me long to figure it out with some practice...

Backing up a trailer is fun. I learned it early.

Fixings flat. I get waved at every single day by some motorist with a flat. I drive a State truck. Alarming how many abled body men doing the pleading wave.

21. Tie a square knot.

I have to thank my father who got me started.

I remember getting a basic tool box as a Christmas present one year when I was very very young. Contained pliers, hammer, screwdriver(s). Then later on in my preteens came the Craftsman tool set....with THREE different drive socket sets (1/4", 3/8', and 1/2")! Whoa....that was the year Baz became a REAL man!

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vHIOzsU0fbM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I used to be a part time woodshop / Construction instructor in a local high school, don't get me going on this. Problem solving is not taught in schools or by parents anymore. Like everything, you must follow the rules and are not allow to think outside the box. I hate to have my neighbors, many of them are younger hipsters wearing their girlfriend's tight jeans, help out should anything major happens. How are hell are they going to save anyone in those tight jeams should a a major earthquake occurs. Their fence board breaks, they call me because they do not have a hammer and don't know the best way to perform the repair. I hand them a hammer (22oz checker faced hammer) and tell them to get some nails. I get this a couple of times, " wow, it so heavy".

When I visit my daughter and son-in-law, my daughter always has a list of small, usually simple things to fix...some as easy as a battery in a key fob...Others as complicated as an auto accessory or lawn mower not starting. I am always surprised that my 30-something son-in-law doesn't hang around and watch so that he will know how next time (that is how I learned from my father-in-law)...and surprised that he is not somewhat embarrassed. Neither ever crosses his mind. He just walks off. At first I expected him to return, but when I go in, he is watching TV. It seems generational to me. You just pay someone else to do stuff for you.

Z, iron a shirt, WTH? That takes me about 1 hour.

1. Reboot a computer
2. Coordinate an outfit
3. Bum a ride
4. Send an instagram
5. Find an Orange Julius in any mall in America
6. Recite any scene from any "Twilight" movie verbatim
7. Sleep 12 hours anytime, anywhere

My younger son is 6, and we build a bird house the other day. I held his hand and used a table saw to cut the roof to this little bird house. Oh, he knows how to use a hammer all right. A nail was driven into every wooden object in the back yard.

Don't forget how to wear that bennie half way on their heads where it sits just right.

They are really, really good at video games though..............

I always wanted to do projects with my dad when i was a kid, bird houses, home made flashlight etc... He had tools and I was never restricted from using them.

I owe a lot of my mechanical aptitude and home maintenance abilities to him. I am chomping at the bit to buy my son his first set of tools and he's only 10 months old.

Actually, I should take back the snarky snark that I posted...

There are a few things that I have difficulty with on that list of 20. Math and N•E•W•S are two things that I struggle with always

Its not the use a tool thing that bothers me so much. I understand not everyone is a Norm Abrams. Especially for the guys brought up in the big city.
The lack of common sense and logic thing is what really scared me.

I wouldn't say it's entirely the young people's fault. It's also societal. Everything is disposable. Why learn to fix when you can replace?

I'm 23. I love fixing things. Small electronics, mowers, cars, you name it. Have the cams out of my 944 right now. Also just recently changed the drive belt, auger belt, and drive disc in my late grandfathers 25 year old snow blower. Getting it prepped for winter.

Coming from someone of the generation Vinman describes, Vinman's sentiments towards my generation have merit. My friend's are absolutely amazed at times at the variety of things I can do, like those described above. They literally cannot fix or build ANYTHING.

I was never taught any of this in school. I'm a philosophy grad. Love it. But also regret not being more versed in the STEM skills. Philosophy taught me to learn, and my computer skills help me find what I need on the internet, in forums like this. It's such an incredible, and yet underutilized tool by my generation for learning simple but useful skills.

I blame the education system.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1413233813.jpg

Vinman, I noticed something throughout my years' of schooling, which became more prevalent in university.

Everyone LOVED absolutes.

If I get this mark, I get into this program.
If I get into this program, I can get a good job.
If I study the last few years' exams, I'll know every question they can ask, and I'll do well on the test.
If I review every power point slide posted this semester, I'll do well.
If I answer every question on the review and know it, I'll do well.

If one of these conditions changed, like not being given a review or powerpoint slides, it was PANIC.

The reliance on absolutes creating security I felt dissuaded problem solving, logic and common sense. Not sure if it has always been like this or if it is something particular to my generation.

I blame a lot of it on the demise of shop classes being taught in middle- and high schools.
We had shop classes in Jr high that would put a lot of companies to shame now days.
Everything from wood, metal, electrical, printing, even architecture and in high school, auto shop.
What is offered today?

Scott,

Not a whole hell of a lot is offered anymore. My brother is still in HS and has never mentioned one of those courses, neither have his friends. Auto and a bit of woodworking was offered at my school but they were really stripped down.

In my opinion, it's because the skill set they teach is not pushed as much as it used to be. I was never interested in that stuff at the time, because all my teacher's pushed arts, university and "higher" education as superior. They really instilled the values of trade work as being inferior and lower on the social ladder, not even mentioning the practical uses and life skills those types of courses teach. That was/is the perception given to students. Maybe not everywhere, but that will cover most of southern Ontario.

Years ago, I inherited an old single-stage snow blower that had been repaired many times before my ownership. When it broke on me, I would do the same - figure out what was wrong and fix it. Auger drive wasn't working? No issue - tightened the belt. Self-propelled system messed up? No issue - repair the chain.

I got it to the point that it would start up, spin the auger, and engage the self-propel mechanism very well. So well that once I turned around to say something to my wife, and it continued snow-blowing my driveway. At that point, I figured it was time to invest in a new snow blower, although it was fun watching that thing clear my driveway by itself... :D

-Z-man.

lmao! If it ever gets to that stage i'll know it's time to get a new snow blower.

But it really is built like a tank, literally.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1413237601.jpg

I remember taking metal shop in high school. My sister had taken the class the year before and was one of the first females to do so. Mr. Smith said I had a tough job ahead of me as my sister had gotten the highest grade in the class and there were two females in my class. He'd demonstrate how to do a project or start one and hand the piece to one of them, half done. I had to work my butt off to get the highest grade in that class.
Mr Smith was partners in an outside firm too. They made dental molds for false teeth. Machining was so fine you couldn't see the parting lines of the mold, so he told me. He had one of his personal machines in the classroom, an old Bridgeport mill. When Bridgeport started up their museum they tried to purchase it from him as it was the best existing example of that model they could find. He wouldn't sell it to them.
Yes, shop class was not where you were supposed to find the guys going to college. I know that the teachers really enjoyed it when one of us 'college prep' students took one of their classes. I think it made all the years of the other guys worth it.
What is needed today is a course in good old common sense.

Firefighting and heavy rescue sounds hard and unsafe. It's 2014, isn't there an "App" that can do that stuff?

Bingo ! One of the major things that we noticed.
One of the things we do in every training evolution and scenario, is to throw a monkey wrench in the works. Especially if everything is going too smoothly. After all that is reality in this line of work. Situations change, equipment breaks. Suddenly you may become another victim. Whenever we did something like that, you can see the frustration and crappy attitude they would have. Instead of stopping and rethinking the situation to fix the problem and continue the evolution. A lot of the time its a simple fix. Other times it has to be a major rework of the methods you are using at the time.

JD, I know its not all of your generation that is like that. There were 3 or 4 guys that turned out to be superstars.

Scott,

My passion about teaching shop was to give kids something to look forward to when the crap like Math, Lit, Physics was too much during the day. A place for them to swing a big hammer beat thing up and have a bit of fun. Build something from scratch and feel good about themselves. It turned out much to be bigger then that. I had these two girls build their parents kitchen cabinets. Some made large dressers, large picnic table and benches. I let them go and allow their imagination go wild. It was fun, then I go back to reality and to my real job after 12o'clock.

All these schools (High Schools) talk about pushing STEM, or Engineering, Architecture and all that BS and yet, the first class they take out was electronics, then mechanical and architectural drawing, then machine shops and construction. Those are the basic of all of the above. I try telling them, but they all have PhDs, so they must be (ans they are) a lot smarter them I.

Today, everything has a manual, there is an answer somewhere so they do not have to go through the stress of thinking about it. Simple thing like, where to buy a broom? Most of us would think, hardware store or even a Safeway. For them, there is no thinking, immediately they go and google it on that damn phone, which is like a third ball attached to them, and it tell them where and how far and even if its a good deal or not. Its a btich to having to think. The path of least resistance is human nature.

My kids always had to help with tasks around the house and I'm pretty ambitious about the tasks. My oldest always and loudly resented it. He's a senior in Engineering school now. He actually thanked me this summer - he can't believe how few hands-on skills his friends have.

I mentor the high school First Robotics team. Every fall we have two nights of training to introduce all the new members to power tools and teach safety. By the end of a build season we have most of the members competently measuring, cutting and using hand tools. Kids who stick with it 3-4 years can be really good.

My younger boy was named "pit boss" his second year. He's a natural, started Engineering school this year. Worked as a pipe fitter all summer and part time now that school is started. He helps the boys next store repair their cars.

I guess my point is - they're not all hopeless.

WTF is STEM?

I actually never took any shop classes in HS. I did take the Drafting lite class (basically an intro to drafting that was only 1 hour instead of 2). My dad had taught me pretty much everything that I needed to know about cars, and had taught me some about electrical and wood working. He had always been a bit of a gear head and at times had supplemented his income by fixing and flipping cars. My grandfather was the wood guy in the family, but Dad taught me the basics. I'm really glad that Dad taught me that stuff.

I had a buddy that took auto-shop in HS. It was the only class that he ever got a C in.

PFFFT! You young whippersnappers with your snow blowing gizmos.:rolleyes: I clear my driveway the old fashioned way.....by hand with a shovel and hours of back pain inducing joy.

Just like using a GPS robs you of your mental bearings, so does using today's internet to solve problems. It makes the brain lazy and discourages the use of critical thinking to solve problems. The kids these days are just as smart as ever, but for sure, I think they're lazier, only because they have vastly superior resources compared to our younger days. Remember going to the library to read old magazines to research a purchase or solve a problem?

science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Before I inherited that snowblower of mine, we used evergreen limbs from the nearby forest to clear the snow. Was worth the hour trek uphill and back to make clearing the way to the stables quicker. Much easier than doing it by hand. What's a shovel? :D

ZMan--I laughed at loud at that visual. Thanks.

Funny I just found myself teaching college age kids last week how to swing a hammer and not push it into a nail.

They keep looking at me trying to figure out the mystery of swinging a hammer and how I can drive a nail in 2 strikes.......