Formal Training?

[ericm979]

Social skills are important! There's not many jobs where you don't need them.

My jr high had a killer shop. High school had an auto shop, a photography lab, electronics lab, and even aeronautics courses. And a computer lab, in the '70s using teletypes and paper tape. I took all of that except auto shop. But we have cut funding for education so much that those things are gone except in some wealthy districts.

What really sets people up for life is teaching them to learn on their own. I didn't really get that until college but I have been using it ever since. It enabled me to switch careers when my first one didn't pan out and keep learning stuff in my field.

 

[TerryR]

My "training" was gained on the farm, when I was around 12. I walked up as my Dad was spraying the roadside with a hand wand and had gotten to the end of the hose. He told me to get on the tractor and move it up for him. End of training. :-/

 

[kenmbz]

We had our neighbors dad's old IH. Drove it around the field with all of us hanging off of it.
None of us got squished, all good to go.

 

[MossRoad]

I took a year of “Farm Implements and Equipment” in Junior High. I was living in semi rural Oregon, and the state had a ”Farm Implements” license you could get at 14, if you had formal training in how to operate equipments and implements safely. You could work the family farm without it. But, to go run equipment for anyone else you had to have the license. Thus the Junior and Senior High schools had classes. And, the teacher signed off on your training. I took it so I could start driving tractors and counting flats, on the berry farms, instead of picking fruit.

Out of curiosity how many folks have had any kind of formal training on their equipment and attachments?

They still offer it at some of the more rural schools around here.

Personally, I had forklift training. I had to show the instructor how to start the forklift.

 

[Williy]

I got a fort lift license because I had a
drivers license. Driving a fort lift is kinda
like driving a tractor. The 40 ton fork lifts
I didn't like I don't think they put enough air
in the tires way too much rock and roll. Also
driving a fork lift on a moving combat cargo
ship is another story! One time I worked at
wally world and to operate a pallet jack they
would not let me operate one said I needed
training and a license I told them what I did
in the service but that didn't count!

willy

 

[IndyJay]

...but today's kids have to learn how to do a lot of things on their own. Some do, but end up with large knowledge gaps that they aren't even aware of in things like materials, basic leverage, plumbing, electricity - all stuff that school could have taught them as it did for us.

How things have changed. A lot of these things kids learned by following their Dad's around, asking endless questions.

 

[Tinhack]

Nothing like that in my HS. Closest would be Wood Shop and ROTC. I was in ROTC where I learned the General Orders and how to kill. Got on the Rifle Team and we placed 4th in the nation for target shooting. I've owned a rifle since I was big enough to carry it and knew how to shoot. I tried to join the services to get into sniper school but a childhood illness kept me out. Did five years as a deputy sheriff after a divorce and went back to school. They only took veterans into the SWAT team so I took my degrees and went to work.

The only other elective I had in HS was typing. I've used that skill throughout my business career.

 

[MossRoad]

The only other elective I had in HS was typing. I've used that skill throughout my business career.

I took 2 semesters of typing in HS.

Two reasons:
1- I was 1 of 2 males in the class.
2- Typing teacher had a white 67 Malibu and I was trying to get her to sell it to me.

End result - no girls and no car. But I did get a skill I have used for 43+ years so far. That's fair, I guess.

 

[NCL4701]

I’ve said many times, typing was the most useful course I took past basic math and English. At the time I took it, I had no clue how much typing I would be doing in my lifetime.

My Dad gave me about 10 minutes of stern instruction and put me to driving a tractor when I was about 8. Good stuff like never get near the PTO when the engine is running; if you’re lucky it will rip your arm off, more likely it will kill you. Don’t use the left brake, it doesn’t work. Never reach through the steering wheel to adjust the throttle, if you hit a hole it will spin the wheel and break your arm. Scared the crap out of me, walked off after tasking me to disc a 10 acre field.

Past that, it was mostly figure it out on your own. For example his method of teaching me to back a trailer was to show me about 2 minutes of him doing it, then leaving me with the task of backing a 10’ single axle farm trailer through a snaking path through a bunch of trees. Told me he couldn’t stand to watch so he was going back to the house for lunch, he’d be back in an hour with my lunch, and the trailer had better be at its destination without damage by the time he returned. Took me about half an hour but I got it where it was supposed to be and haven’t had any problems backing a trailer since. Learned to shoot a rifle with the same 10 minute instruction process when I was about 10.

Formal training would have been nice, but never had the opportunity. Amazing I’m still alive.

 

[jaxs]

Just last month my daughter,sil and me had a conversation about the need for vocational training in public school. Today's society turn their nose up at the suggestion their kid might need a trade. In typical fashion they completly overlook the value of work ethic learned at an early age. When they were in school vocational was a 3 hour elective,1 hour classroom and 2 hours working for wages. The class wasn't broken down into specialties,classroom was checkbook management,creating resume,job seeking skills (boy there's one a bunch of people could use) managing time between education,hobbies and family. Other 2 hours could be ANY JOB where employer was willing to perticipate. SIL worked at an auto parts house,daughter at a custom bakery and a pharmacy who eventually hired their son while he was in high school. While working part time and attending college,one of the pharmacists approached him about going to work for a start up business. Today at 32 years old he is full partner in a growing multi-million dollar pharmaceutical company.
Getting back closer to what OP is talking about, this kind of education is healthy for the community and tax payers should push for them. This is far above my pay grade but many of you qualify as adjunct professors. Point being that a bookkeepers and a host of other occupations could occasionally teach classes which save's institution money making classes affordable when compared to full time staff with benefits.