Auto companies, I as a taxpayer think you guys have been playing us for
>suckers for a whole lot of years. We've been operating your automotive
>trade schools for your benefit. This is going to stop.
>
>For the same reason as high schools do not teach Maytag washing machine
>repair, they must not teach car repairs. If Maytag needs a mechanic, they
>do what's right and hire a kid and teach him how to fix washers and dryers.
>If Ford needs a mechanic, they ought to own up and hire somebody and train
>him to fix Ford's jalopies.
>
>Furthermore, even after the taxpayers spend themselves stupid on a voc. ed.
>auto shop course, the graduates are not fit to go immediately into the
>world of work. In other words, taxpayers spend a million dollars on a
>shop, hire a couple of highly paid ex-mechanics who teach what cars were
>like about 20 years ago, then the poor kid goes to a Ford dealer and
>answers a help-wanted ad only to find they want about 8 years work
>experience on Ford Fordomatics, preferably all within the last two
>calendar years. We're lucky more kids don't hang themselves!
>
>No, the free ride is over, Ford, GM, and Chrysler Motors. You want
>mechanics, YOU foot the bill because we're through.
>
>P.S. Parents, don't spend your life savings sending your kids to college.
>Outsourcing, factory closings, government cutbacks, and the general economy
>means your college graduate kids will be living in your home until they're
>40 or you die first.
Bunch of crap. Schools should be teaching kids the basics of how things work. (Physics and chemistry are a good start) as part of the GENERAL course, and how more specific things(such as appliances, automobiles, radios and manufacturing) work, in a generic sense, in specialized courses. Nothing brand specific - but which end of a screwdriver to hold, how hydraulic and electrical systems work, what a diode or a transistor does, how to check electronic and electrical components, etc. One heck of a lot more usefull than sending them off to university for a general BA. Skilled and semiskilled trades are ONE job that won't be easily offloaded to third world countries. Repairs will almost have to be done locally.
As far as high school graduates being ready for the job market? Forty short years ago a technical high school graduate could earn his keep in his specialty, whether electrical, machine shop, automotive, or electronics.
Sadly, not so today.