Shop class

From "The Case for Working with Your Hands" by Matthew Crawford in this week's New York Times Magazine: "This seems to be a moment when the useful arts have an especially compelling economic rationale. A car mechanics’ trade association reports that repair shops have seen their business jump significantly in the current recession: people aren’t buying new cars; they are fixing the ones they have. The current downturn is likely to pass eventually. But there are also systemic changes in the economy, arising from information technology, that have the surprising effect of making the manual trades — plumbing, electrical work, car repair — more attractive as careers. The Princeton economist Alan Blinder argues that the crucial distinction in the emerging labor market is not between those with more or less education, but between those whose services can be delivered over a wire and those who must do their work in person or on site. The latter will find their livelihoods more secure against outsourcing to distant countries. As Blinder puts it, “You can’t hammer a nail over the Internet.” Nor can the Indians fix your car. Because they are in India."

The author also recalls his own time teaching school when he wished for a Ritalin fogger. (I had to laugh since I tell students every semester that I am going to invent a caffeine mister to wake them up!) It's important for people to know how to work with their hands, and for some/many, it is the best way to learn.