discussion KIDS TODAY - When I was young!

[Guest]

I think one area of education that is really failing kids is the practical general education they are missing out on at Primary school - kids are taught all they need to pass national curriculum CAT tests (Cognitive Ability Test) and come to secondary schools without the ability to use a compass and measure for example.

At Secondary School we're prescribed the national curriculum which covers a wide range of areas, none of in much detail to be of any real use, because kids have to play catchup because missing out on key skills from Primary School they are set back even further.

Saying all that though the way kids are wrapped in cotton wool these days it's suprising the government even allows them to step foot in a workshop! Afterall we can't go exposing kids to dangerous things like blackboards and chalk dust, and have to use machine washable, low odour, dry wipe felt tip boardmarkers (Although we are still allowed to use bullet and chisel point markers - those are safe apparently!)

 

[wonwinglo]

Bring back the men of steel...

This is really making for depressing reading,just imagine the inventors and scientists of yesteryear worrying about cutting themselves or spilling abnoxious liquid over the work area ? what we need today are those men of iron and steel who could fashion things from raw natural materials with great gusto,little wonder that this country ( the UK at least ) is in the state that it is in ! once a nation capable of making great bridges,railways,carriages,aeroplanes with designers who knew what they were doing,now we are lucky if someone knows how to use a 12 inch rule,a micrometer,make saw cuts,bash out aluminium forms from sheets of soft alloy,make proper joints etc etc,little wonder that Guy cannot get the staff he needs at Legoland ? the whole system needs a proper overhaul,I could go on and on but it is so depressing to think that today despite the high technology presented before us we have landed up in this way.

I feel so lucky that I can enter my tiny shed workshop,and use that valuable knowledge instilled in me many years ago to make satisfying scale models from scrap and raw materials.

The nanny state is biting hard,this silly health and safety thing has gone too far,if you bang your finger nail with an hammer it goes bloody red and boy does it hurt ! if you touch hot metal it burns you,but one thing is for sure and that is you never do it again ?

Let common sense prevail,bring back woodwork and metalwork and bookbinding,and lets nurture real engineers again.

 

[Guest]

One of the projects we carry out at school is to produce an item which could be sold in the gift shop of a museum.

To prevent arguments we give the kids a choice of subject, to design a bubble pack for one of the following:

1) Fossilized wood (not many takers for this one...??)

2) Replica historic coins (they are like coins but you can't spend them in a shop...yes not many takers here...)

3) WWII reproduction Nazi SS Death's Head ceramonial Bayonette...(Sharp stabby things with skulls and eagles on the handle...a very popular project!)

....On second thoughts the prospect of getting 26 year 10 kids to run around the workshop with reproduction Nazi weaponary was probably not the sharpest (pardon the pun) idea!

We did make a RTV Silicone mould for the handle and cast a few in pewter which came out rather nicely!

Next week...how to make your own assault rifle using basic workshop tools...**joke**

 

[Guest]

back in my last years at school before heading off to be endentured I made a Harpers ferry flintlock pistol combining wood work and metal work for the CSE or what ever it was called. The only thing i wasnt allowed to do was bore the touch hole, a problem fast corrected once the pistol was home.

many years later i shot the pistol at Bisley with no problems and a patched lead ball hitting the 25 yard target.

My old metal work teacher was a good guy firm of hand and foul of mouth but learnt a lot from him. Than k you Mr Ellis

Kevin

 

[Guest]

Did any of the other students make flintlocks? You could have challenged them to a duel!

:knight:

 

[Guest]

not in my year but the year before a lad made the frame and lock for a Navy colt.