In other engineering disciplines this used to be called "shop class" or similar. In his day my dad was taught as much about carpentry, metal work, plumbing etc

In other engineering disciplines this used to be called "shop class" or similar. In his day my dad was taught as much about carpentry, metal work, plumbing etc as he was taught about radios and circuits. As an educational technique, "sink or swim" is about as efficient as spinning a wheel and handing out degrees.