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I, too, was fortunate to have woodworking, mig welding, electronics soldering, combustion engine repair and a little aircraft building as a part of my middle-hi
by exDM69 14y ago
I, too, was fortunate to have woodworking, mig welding, electronics soldering, combustion engine repair and a little aircraft building as a part of my middle-high school education. I enjoyed it a lot and I learned a lot of stuff that I would have not learned by reading books and taking exams.
But I guess American kids won't need any of that since everything is manufactured in China these days. You just need a lot of lawyers to keep the Chinese from stealing your intellectual property.
- gcheong 14y agoManufactered in China, but designed and prototyped in the US. Which would you rather have your kids doing?
- jarrett 14y agoExactly. And to design and prototype something, you need engineers who understand the tools and materials. You can't design a stamped metal part for a Chinese factory if you never learned about stamping metal.
- exDM69 14y agoHow long do you think the situation is sustainable? I'd prefer my kids be proficient with power tools, computers and pen & paper, all of them are necessary.
- gcheong 14y agoI completely agree. I would say that the situation is sustainable if we are careful not to lose the whatever advantage we have and if we invest in finding new ones but also very tenuous given the global nature of our world today and the nature of the competition that is arising. In case I misunderstood, I agree that losing the classes you mention could very well mean losing our edge in design and invention but losing spec work to factories in China is not a very good argument to keep those classes.
- iRobot 14y agoTotal and utter bollocks. Millions of Chinese students have or will have done engineering and science at the degree level, that combined with the Chinese business acumen will almost certainly ensure them both designing and building the things we require in the future. The USA will however have plenty of patent lawyers to ensure they are all sued if they try to get too clever.
- danielweber 14y agoThe United States manufactures more than ever before. (Well, the recession probably drooped output a little bit.) China manufactures more stuff than ever, too, so they are a larger share of the world market.