Comments by "Daniel Bradford" (@Falconlibrary) on "Why The U.S. Has A Shortage Of Auto Mechanics" video.

  1. I'm stunned to learn that employers don't provide tools. I didn't know that. That's crazy.
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  2. When I started teaching high school in 1992, our school had "shop class". Now, it's hard to find any school that does. Classes that are geared towards male interests (and which are expensive because they utilize tools) have been wiped out. When I was in high school, every boy knew how to use tools: we learned in shop class and from our dads. Now dads have been pushed out of the homes and shop class has been pushed out of schools. By the end of my thirty years of teaching, almost none of my students knew how to use even basic tools. We couldn't get school maintenance to do some basic things in the classroom, so I brought my tools from home. The boys were FASCINATED by what I was doing, and I ended up explaining to them how I chose the tools and what each one was for. The interest among young men is there, but our schools are for girls, not boys.
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  3. I was a teacher for thirty years and we also hear about a "teacher shortage". As you said, it's a shortage of salary, not labor.
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  4. I was going to say: the job has gotten a lot more complicated and employers don't pay for tools or training and don't pay you what you're worth. Did you ever think of opening your own shop? Seems like a good independent mechanic would clean up.
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