I can't believe this Halfords survey on Sky news today.......

https://news.sky.com/story/many-young-adul...e-13287978

Spooky or what !

I despair sometimes.
It baffles me that despite all the masses of useful info on the internet the younger generation seem increasingly useless when it comes to many simple DIY tasks.

I found a Henry vacuum cleaner. It looked pretty new but my "neighbour" had thrown it in a skip.
I pulled it out and took it home. The hose was well and truly blocked. I think the owner didnt understand it has a thermal cutout which takes 10-15 mins to reset, so they thought it was bust and just chucked it. I easily unblocked the hose and Henry has worked perfectly for years now, in my garage. Jules

I too despair. A young chap I know told me he had a problem with his radiator as it was only hot at the bottom and cold at the top. He had called a few plumbers asking for a quote for a new radiator. Fortunately they all said they could not get to him before the end of next week. I bled the radiator for him, two minutes and job done. He thought it was some kind of black magic !!!

J

I don’t think that they have practical lessons at school now. Like a technical block with woodworking, metalwork etc. learnt how to wire a plug, not having moulded plugs that can not be changed now days. Growing up with an old back boiler in the coal fire taught you how heat rose up the pipes and if to hot the tank bubbles. Now all gas they are told not to touch, have to be corgi registered etc. It’s the world we have created.

I think school plays a significant part.

In the 1970s we had a great woodwork teacher. He ran the school sailing club - we raised the funds through holding school discos, country dancing and parents dinner dances. The school funded not a penny.
We maintained the 3 boats - 2 old Enterprises (that had been donated) and a Mirror that we built ourselves.
Some lads also made themselves glass fibre canoes - the teacher supervised making moulds from an existing canoe.

My mate and I would somtimes come into school at weekends and holidays to work on the boats as we raced one of them at the local sailing club (near Wakefield) where they were kept and wanted "our boat" to be as good as we could get it - IIRC we were about 13-14 years old. The teacher just gave us the keys to the wood work room and all its tools etc.
I recall once the headmaster knocked on the window asking what we were doing. We explained we were sanding the hull prior to painting. "Excellent work lads - carry on" was the reply. And he just strolled off.

I dont think that sort of thing happens nowadays. Jules

I, like a lot of my generation, were trained in a gender specific ( Single Sex School ) world, where boys were trained for a factory environment, and jobs were reasonably available in workshops.

From the age of 13, I joined a Technical School and, whether I liked it or not, I was on the path, presumably, to be 'plugged' into a lathe or milling machine, and to spend my days producing bits and pieces for larger assemblies.

However, by joining the RAF, I was lucky enough to get further training in electronics.

Included in this Apprenticeship was the basic theory, maintenance, and fault finding of petrol and diesel generators, which has since helped me (before I could afford the AA).

I hasten to point out that its use to me has dwindled with time, as the petrol engine was a Ford 93A 24HP. ( A side-valve, flat head, carburetted engine with no electronics )
The diesel was the size of a small house.

I do believe that basic survival skills, for running and maintaining your life, should be a school subject alongside the more academic ones, whether domestic or technical. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 79k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

If anything the problem is that bright children are pushed towards the academic subjects while the less bright are pushed towards the practical subjects. Ironically the little gits at the local secondary school get motor mechanic lessons to teach them how to steal (sorry, I mean maintain) cars. The school also had a 3D printer back in 2010 and a laser cutter/engraver so that linked academic ICT with practical outputs. The students, along with the design technology technician built a Dalek that was borrowed by BBC News.
Daughter attended that school and got 10 A-C GCSE (including Design Technology), A Levels and a music degree at Southampton. She owns the toolkits and power tools as her programmer husband (masters in programming) admits he doesn’t have a practical bone in his body though he’ll build a nice gaming PC if you ask him.