 |
| Photo From Here |
I finally got around to putting in the pipe coupling on the bottom tray of my cider press the other day. I couldn't find a stainless steel coupling locally so I was waiting to get one when I put an order in to the industrial supplier I buy stuff from occasionally. Done deal now. Finished up with the repairs on the spiral staircase as well. I hope to get that here and put in place tomorrow. I'll be able to get it anchored down over Spring Break and that'll be another one off the list.
The Golden Gloves has started and I've got crazy meetings to go to. Went to one last night - short film about kids with autism and then break out sessions by departments for Common Core standards. I'm getting tired of hearing about those things. If shop teachers are supposed to be teaching their specific skill area and English and math and the social sciences, why do we need the rest of the faculty. Just hire a couple more shop teachers and send everyone else home. Or more realistically, what makes you think I'm going to be able to make a measurable improvement in little Johnny's reading level when no one else has been able to do much in the last ten years? Our class periods are only 48 minutes long. They come in, I give them the line-up for the day, they change clothes and get the tools out, they weld for about 30 minutes, clean up, change clothes and they're gone - 2-1/2 hours of welding time per week. And I'm going to teach them how to read. You want them to read? Have their parents read to them every day when they're little and keep their little mitts off anything that's electronic. No cell phone, X-Box, Nintendo, computer. Play good music in the house with a real radio not something with ear buds. Get them outside everyday for some exercise and playtime. Take them to the library and get them books not movies. And for Pete's sake, if they write anything at all, make them use the King's English and not cell phone short hand.
I posted this from the Starlet Showcase a while back but it bears repeating. His advice to high school students at the start of the school year:
Anyway, here's my advice: read a book, read lots of books, keep your face washed and don't worry about your complexion too much, don't give your teachers a hard time, don't be late for everything, always use condoms, get plenty of sleep but not during class, and if you go home with someone and he doesn't own any books, don't sleep with him. That's basically it. Have fun.
Also from the Starlet Showcase:
"Read in order to live" - Gustave Flaubert
"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life" - Mortimer J. Adler
Thanks for reading!
2 comments:
I remember Pops cutting the plug off the TV and taking it to work with him. Told me I got 1 hour per day. Gave me the book Jaws to read. Been hooked ever since. I missed out on a good education because I was a fricking idiot. Had to work harder to make up for lost time. It paid off, but I could have made my life a whole lot easier. Now I'm teaching the young bucks how to read wiring schematics and circuit diagrams. Most of them can't follow a fault or troubleshooting tree. I don't think they teach logic and common sense in school anymore. It's pretty sad.
Logic and common sense aren't one of the things that are directly measured on the big tests all schools are forced to give so they don't get much attention. The people making all the educational policy decisions are either politicians or professional educators. Both groups are out of touch with the reality of the working world. They need to back up maybe a 100 years or so and see what educational philosophy was back then. Everyone could use a little bit of manual training or Sloyd in their education. They keep reforming things and the poor kids in inner city schools are still dropping out at about the 50% rate. Everybody needs to read. Everybody needs a couple of shop classes. Simple as that.
Post a Comment