Mechanics should be taught in school?

[primalcarl]

How many times has your bike/car gone wrong? And how many times has it been something simple or you suspected it to be something simple (but the mechanic may have made a bigger deal out of it)?

If basic mechanics was taught compulsorily in schools everyone would be much more able with their vehicles and hopefully know when they're being ripped off.

At my school R.E was compulsory every monday afternoon.

Not good for mechanics or the car industry but good for everyone else. Anyone else have opinions on this? The same could apply on everything technical I guess (plumbing, electrical etc), but worth discussing
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Bikes: Honda S-Wing > Honda Varadero XL125V > Yamaha XJ6N > Honda Silverwing> CBR600rr > VFR 800 FI > R1200gs

[dandit]

but then dodgy firms wouldnt make any money and neither would I when my mates bike don't work hehe
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WHAT DO YOU MEAN 100 MPH THATS IMPOSSIBLE I STILL HAD 3 GEARS TO GO OFFICER. Currently riding a naked cbr 600 and driving a 52 plate 2litre tdci mondeo

[Ste]

People do have the ability to teach themselves stuff, as no one is born knowing how to do something mechanically they find out using their brains and some sense. Generally people learn what they want to learn how to do, and if they don't want to know how to do simple stuff to their car or bike then that's their own look out, as it is not an essential life skill like reading and writing are.

If you can't do something to your car or bike then there are people willing to do it in exchange for money but with the simple and trivial stuff this is a waste of money. But hey, it's their money to spend how they see fit. Never mind for the amount a garage would charge you to change your oil you could buy a Haynes manual and know how to do it, it's their life and their lookout. Life is full of choices and choosing if to do work on your car or bike yourself is one of them.

Life isn't wrapped in bubble , most things you are left to make your own choices as to what course of action you take. Life is full of choices and people need to be aware of them and the fact there is a choice.

[Josh]

Sucks when there isn't a Haynes manual for your bike though
But I agree with what Ste said.
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[primalcarl]

[Ste]

[bikedudextrm]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Think RE is legally compulsory.

Not sure if it should be taught in schools, but some knowledge of mechanics is useful for everyone (just the same as knowing how to cook or how to sew a button on).

Some basic knowledge should certainly be needed for the driving test (eg, how to change a wheel).

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[primalcarl]

I know a lot of girls that now having passed their test, are more interested in their cars and wish something had been available at school. Maybe not compulsory, even a lunch time club would have been good
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Bikes: Honda S-Wing > Honda Varadero XL125V > Yamaha XJ6N > Honda Silverwing> CBR600rr > VFR 800 FI > R1200gs

[tatters]

[jayluvmito]

i spent my whole time fuking about in re...i had a bad time in school but just dont agree with religion anyways...

some basic knowledge should be tault, eg, how to wire a plug etc..
even how to hold a knife, and a kid in my dt class was using a knife wrong eg. cutting towards him and he slipped and slashed his wrist....just missed major veins but there was a lot of blood and he had like 40 stitches or something....all down to stupidy, and not being tault on the teachers side, (as some people just dont have common sense...)
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one day...

[Ninja]

Good idea - on the same basis you were taught Home Economics for instance . . .

Don't know how relevant it would be in today's world of fully electronically controlled and monitored engines. But the basics would be a good start.

Schooling is about giving you the necessary basic preparation you need for the (civilised) world you find yourself in. This takes many forms . . . basic mechanical, electrical and plumbing should be part of it I reckon.
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James
4 wheels transport the Body ... 2 wheels transport the SOUL

[jayluvmito]

my sister was in the year above me and she was taught personal, social and health education, (pshe) which was basically home economics...but they stopped in my year and we had more science instead...

stupid school
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one day...

[tatters]

RM (wood/metal/plastic work) at my school was a waste of time l was in the top set and all we did was bloody drawings and made a pen holder and a small wooden tool box for G.C.S.E, and the school had new laves and mills, welding area, furness (forging), which had never been used and was installed in the 1970,s to learn how to machine and weald would of been very useful but l have l learn it now from the old blokes at work.
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[jayluvmito]

we had loads of engerneering facilitys at our school, and made..............a key ring

spent 1 1/2 years wasting my time there, had a row with the w*nker of the dt teacher and left....

learnt all of my building knowledge and my mechcanical/engerneering knowledge from me dad....
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one day...

[tatters]

[jayluvmito]

definetly...
he got me into bikes, working on bikes, building my own bikes and gettin a headstart hopefully over all the other apprentices....

still never get out bikes working though...
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one day...

[Bendy]

At my school, if you were judged to be too stupid (to be blunt about it) to take a language, you went to a kind of 'life skills' class.

Now, forgive me but wouldn't a life skills class be a rather useful thing for everyone to do?

There was a lunchtime mechanics thing run at my school, but I didn't go cos I was spending lunchtimes up to my elbows in fibreglass at that point, as we were building a hovercraft in tech studies.

[hugo-a-gogo]

I did motor vehicle technology at school, it was a bit basic, but better than nothing. It did atract all the thickos tho
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Hunter S Thompson
clicky 4 bikey

[Kickstart]

[McJamweasel]

[tgabber]

I believe it is compulsory for schools to offer RE education but parents have a right to have their children opt out.

At my school RE lessons were used for lots of things including sex education.

One of my lasting memories of those classes was a fairly young male teacher giving us the run down on sex and saying 'sex is a very pleasurable thing' at which point the class joker pipes up with 'please sir, how do you know?'

Cue teacher going red with embarassment. Classic.
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[karen_moomin]

I think mechanics should be taught in school, along with a range of basic DIY and basic electronics, as compulsory subjects.

Mind you, knowledge is money.

I also think there should be more emphasis on Geography, History and International Relations and Politics in schools.

[bikedudextrm]

I spent most of my time at school in isolation as i was a bit of a trouble kid, i was in a room with a few other people all day and we weren't aloud to talk or nothing, the teachers for or classs would come a long now and again and give us weeks worth of work. Very boring, half the time i would be asleep. I used to enjoy doing RE when i was in there as the book had lots of funny pictures in unlike the maths books .
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[izzi81]

have to agree as well. Home economics was all about teaching you home skills which you might need in life (cooking, sewing etc.) so why not have something similar about basic mechanics... after all almost everyone now has a car and yet I bet 80% of them no nothing about how it works.
Currently they are also teaching basic computing skills in schools at a young age because it's seen as a skill people need to have now. I'd say it knowing a bit about how your car/bike worked, enough to fix small things, would be of major use as well..
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