On Wednesday, December 6, 2017 at 11:37:08 AM UTC-10, sms wrote:
>
> My wife, before we were married, installed a car stereo in her car. My
> daughter is very good with that kind of stuff. In the Americorp
> organization she joined after college, they do outdoor education and
> they train everyone in the use of power tools and in construction
> techniques. I helped out last weekend building garden beds. I pre-cut
> all the lumber and brought it. Her fellow volunteers were very good at
> putting the whole thing together, drilling, screwing pieces together,
> and understanding the whole design. I don't know if they could have
> planned the whole design and done it in a way that minimized lumber
> costs, and that did not depend on the fasteners for structural
> integrity. OTOH, my son was never into any of this kind of stuff.
>
> My belief is that the lack of mechanical ability among many youth and
> adults is based on two things:
>
> 1. Japanese cars. Far fewer mechanical breakdowns and less maintenance
> led to the end of dads spending time with their kids showing them how to
> change oil, plugs, points, rotors, and adjust timing on high-maintenance
> vehicles. The whole skill set of using tools and fixing cars was lost.
> Car maintenance teaches skills that are transferable to many other
> applications.
>
> 2. Immigrants from countries with low-cost labor. My Indian friend told
> me that it took a lot of getting used to life in the U.S. because in
> India even middle class people have multiple servants to help out, i.e.
> cooks, cleaners, gardeners, drivers, etc.. In China, labor is so cheap
> that the middle class hires laborers and there is no "do-it-yourself"
> mentality, it is viewed as demeaning to do home improvements like
> painting or fixing plumbing problems. In the U.S., skilled and unskilled
> labor is expensive so the "do-it-yourself" mentality and infrastructure
> developed.

The electromechanical world that we grew up with has been replaced with the digital/informational age. We don't give kids erector sets, we give them Nintendo/Playstation sets. Toolboxes are no longer important for getting things done - the cell phone is. These days, dad has no idea on how to work on cars because the engine is controlled by computers.

My guess is that cars will be a lot easier to repair when the switchover to electrics comes to pass. When that time comes, we'll repair problems by switching out motors and control modules. Easy-peasy.