Reviving the joy and honor of working with your hands (2015)

I wish education wasn't so split between "academic" and "vocational" (for lack of better terms).

In high school for my A levels I was able to take both Maths, Physics and Politics (with an academic focus) and Metalworking and Photography (with a more practical hands-on focus). I loved this, and feel like this was incredibly useful to me later in life.

But for some reason beyond school level you are mostly forced to choose between academics and hands-on work (at least in the UK). With the hands-on pathways being looked down on by much of society.

My father was a machinist for 25 years and then went into education and training for skilled trades, very much screamed about this for most my life. When I dropped out of college, he tried to get me to just enter an apprenticeship for a trade. It’ll be dirty, uncomfortable, sometimes painful, he said, but you’ll leave your work when you go home, and if you’re dedicated and half-good at it, you could eventually have your own business and crew before the physical stuff catches up to you. By then the lack of experienced tradesmen here will have turned into an crisis and I would be in an enviable spot. Here I am, 25 years later, worried I didn’t listen.

Hypothetically, I wonder how viable it is to switch to a vocation like electrician or HVAC in your 40s-50s.

I'm glad the "heavy" part of this is not understated. The big iron is out there, surprisingly cheap, and it usually stays put for quite a while because it is a damn bitch to move. Tear down a wall, and put it back later. And make sure your floor won't cave in.

If you ever get yourself into serious hobby machining, get ready for the average density of all your possessions to double.

This is why the Northern European countries have a tradition of teaching Sloyd Woodworing in elementary schools:

https://rainfordrestorations.com/2013/06/04/traditional-sloy...

>Students may never pick up a tool again, but they will forever have the knowledge of how to make and evaluate things with your hand and your eye and appreciate the labor of others.

Shop Class as Soulcraft essay (and book) continues on these points pretty well: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/shop-class-as-so...

It's super cool to build things. I love talking to people at the makerspace. Lot's of people working on interesting projects. I can't imagine not having home ec either. I don't remember the teachers name, but I've made a quesadilla the same way since 5th grade.

Some tech skills are helpful too. I typically CAD projects so I know what size lumber and cuts need to be made.

I'm split on the topic. I think there is value in working with your hands on a service basis, but don't believe in trying to build things.

My father was a farmer for 40 years and built a business that was supposed to be his retirement. Then the government eminent domained his water rights without any compensation, destroying his life's work, and leaving him and all the other farmers in the area high and dry.

Now I don't build anything that isnt cashed out immediately.

Before the fall of Techshop, they offered me a setup where I could take all of the classes I wanted in three months. Muhahahahaha.

I already had a few advantages going in: a year of drafting in high school, a year of computer drafting in college (mind you the tools were long dead); the ability to think in parametrics; courses in engineering to go with my physics degree; and just being a general geek. Like a maniac, I took all but one class they offered.

Probably one of the happiest times of my life, scampering around the shop and churning out trinkets for friends and family, making weird art projects for myself.

I recently read a book called "Shop Class as Soul Craft" which talks about "the trades" and how it shapes the individual and the nation. I found it really enlightening and highly recommend it.

I have a few hobbies that are somewhat physical (whittling, calligraphy) and the shift from purely digital work to those are very relaxing. There's something special about involving more senses that just your eyes with a job.

I think the fact that essays like this one proliferate is showing a cultural reversion.

For the past few decades, there was a push for everyone to get a university degree, driven by a prmise that academic achievement would guarantee a prosperous life: A good salary and a high-status job.

We've seen that promise broken. Especially in the US, where student loans are a drag on people's lives. But even in Europe, where people will get degrees in things that are better taught on the job (i.e. graphic design) and still need to struggle getting internships and even badly-paid junior roles.

I think it's been known for a long time that you can make money in the crafts, often more than you do in entry-level office jobs. But I think an important part of making the crafts more popular is status.

If your dad is a lawyer and your mom is a professor, you might not get encouragement if you want to be a welder, chef or roofer.

There needs to be more respect for those professions. They, too should get respect for learning a complex craft and mastering it.

> It’s all part of the sharp decline in vocational education — shop class — in this nation that began in the 1980s as blue collars became unfashionable and the emphasis shifted to a college education.

Low supply?

> “There’s a huge need for people in CTE fields,” Kaine told me Friday. “The old stigma about CTE, or vocational education, that’s really disappearing and there’s kind of a renaissance going on.”

Big demand?

This would imply that machinists, etc., are enjoying a big surge in salary. Is this true?

> It’s all part of the sharp decline in vocational education — shop class — in this nation that began in the 1980s as blue collars became unfashionable and the emphasis shifted to a college education.

Yeah that's what happened. They became "unfashionable", rather than hopelessly precarious due to structural economic changes.