Handy kids are amazing. Your car will not start and your kid pops the hood, “Just a minute Dad, let me get a wrench and I will have it going in a minute.” You reply, “Better not let your mother hear you refer to her that way, but if you can get it going I will take care of Mom.” Your child rolls his/her eyes. “Wrench Dad, with an r.” And as quick as you can say “handy” your car starts. You have a warm feeling for having brought this child into the world. Or there is a water problem in the house. You discover water in places that you find obnoxious. Can you imagine the unbridled joy of having a child who can actually help you deal with the problem? Read more
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Swickard: You Have to Hand It to the Handy
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Thank you for your timely comments. I work at a high school that is about 85% Hispanic (I am white), with a 55% graduation rate. That is not a typo. The program I work in is called Credit Recovery; I have a lot of kids who have been in and out of juvenile detention, as well as teenage moms who are trying to finish high school. There is a lot of drinking and drug use among the students and their parents, even though a lot of them are on the free lunch program.
It pains me to say what I am about to say, because although I have lived in the rural west since 1991 and have been a farmer and am now a rancher, I went to one of those ivory tower liberal arts Eastern colleges. Frankly, some of these kids who are more interested in welding and automotive shop should receive their training in these fields rather than be stuck trying to write essays on Shakespeare. That way, instead of being high school failures, they have training in a skill so that they can find a job and be productive. Let's face it, a lot of them are not college material, nor do they have a support network at home that places any value on a college education. It pains me that most of them cannot write a coherent sentence and will have a hard time getting a job through conventional channels. Let them blossom at something they can DO, and be hired on that basis.
For a lot of my kids, my program is a waste of time, money, and resources. It's time to be practical about this. Thank you.
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