Comments by "alex smith" (@alexsmith-ob3lu) on "Second Thought" channel.

By the 1980s, the American army was already giving out remedial reading, writing and arithmetic classes to its new recruits; thanks to a heavy diet of TV consumption. Also in the 1980s, industries across the U.S could only hire a fraction of the engineers they so desperately needed due to the immense dumbing down. This has been going on for a long time…
5
@alexisgarcia1344 I’m old enough to remember a time when America public schools taught reading and writing using McGuffey’s books. We also had shop classes that taught carpentry, automotive mechanics, home economics, personal finance etc. Obviously, not everyone needs to know the difference between a diesel and combustion engine. But nobody knows how to cook an egg anymore.
5
@alexisgarcia1344 You might have been the last generation of folks who had some sort of exposure to shop classes. My nephew graduated high school way back in ‘88. He took carpentry classes but he told me that by then; most shop classes had already been removed from high school. I agree with you 100%. Public high schools and colleges use exploitive marketing to trap people in debt. Nowadays, most college graduates can’t even find the Pacific Ocean on a world map. So what’s the point of all that time and money spent?
3
I find it amazing how everyone thinks about low skilled and high skilled jobs, but nobody touches the middle skilled jobs. Starting in the 1950s, nobody had the patience to do an apprenticeship anymore. It was all instant gratification or go to college and graduate school.
2
@alexisgarcia1344 Thank you for sharing your story! A big problem with our present day leadership is how callous and predatory they tend to be. I don’t think it’s going to get any better. Home schooling and private tutoring is a better alternative (the way I see it). I’m very sorry to hear about how you and your students are treated. That is awful! Everywhere I go these days, it’s one disappointment after another with the way our country is going.
1
@stephaniewebb9474 Really? I never knew any of that! Can you link me some sources? I’m very interested in how all these big businesses lobbied to get rid of home economics and shop classes.
1