[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Zeke

You were fortunate to have the remodeling experience before going into engineering. How might we impart some practical training for all students. Didn't they once require girls to take a "homemaking" class? That should be co-ed.

I am VERY lucky to have hands-on experience in my past, my time spent doing remodeling and working as a mechanic is a huge benefit to my professional career. It is staggering to me just how many brilliant engineers that work daily with complex mechanical systems (airplanes) have no freaking clue how to change their own oil, change a tire, wire an electrical outlet, etc. It's also a travesty that my BS required more credit hours than any other major in the university but didn't include a single applied concepts course. A good engineer is a hands-on engineer, I often wonder if they create very many good engineers.

My stance is that some number of "practical" courses should be required parts of the high school curriculum, they were when I went to school in the 1990s. I think I took welding and auto tech to satisfy those requirements, plus they were fun classes. I also think that students should be required to take a practical business course where you learn about safe use of credit, money management, and investing/retirement. All of the above will be of more benefit throughout life than a social studies course. Sadly our high schools don't care about preparing students for life, they care about preparing students for college.