Whatever happened to night schools that taught people useful skills? - Sarah Todd
A post on social media caught your correspondent’s eye this week. Somebody was suggesting that every school should have a ‘fix-it lab’ where students learn to repair their clothes, bikes and electronics.
The thinking behind it was that all children should grow-up knowing that not everything is disposable, that ‘care and repair are part of living well on this planet’.
Such a simple yet sensible idea that strikes at the heart of the whole irony that so many of the younger generation are shrouded in. There they are, lecturing their elders about global warming, when they are the ones buying t-shirts made in sweatshops on the other side of the world they will only wear a few times and forever getting new phones and other pieces of technology, rather than getting repairs done and putting up with an older model.
The Husband has favourite shoes that are over three decades old that he takes to the cobblers to be re-soled, suits that have had the waistband and leg width altered depending on the style (and tummy circumference) of the moment.
Sewing was never your correspondent’s strong subject at school - in fact, she was sent to do woodwork with the boys after failing to complete the introductory project of a pencil case over the course of a whole term - but valiant attempts are always made to stitch buttons back on.
My brother learnt to weld, an invaluable skill for his working life as a farmer, from a night class when he was still at school. Back then, be it basic car mechanics or DIY for first-time homeowners, there was a course to sign up for.
Why and when were the opportunities to learn such useful, practical skills taken away? There is certainly nothing along these lines on offer at our local schools and colleges.
Was it health and safety? Whatever it was, it is a crying shame.
Is there anything more depressing than new drivers without a clue how to check their oil or put the water in their windscreen washers? Or children who don’t own a puncture repair kit and oil can for their bikes?
As an aside, if ever anyone looked like they wouldn’t know how to change a car tyre it is our Prime Minister.
While Sir Keir Starmer tried to look ready for action on Monday, with shirt sleeves rolled up and no tie or jacket as he addressed Labour’s poor performance in the local elections, he gave off an aura akin - when it comes to possible practical skills - to a chocolate teapot.
Yes, forget having done the right degree at the right university, let’s have some politicians who can pull a pint, cut somebody’s hair, change a tyre, unblock a sink…all those jobs that the metropolitan elite who seem to have taken over our country probably sneer at, but the rest of us hold in genuinely high regard.
There is, it seems, a gaping chasm between the sorts of people who can ‘do things’ and those that can’t.
The fact that none of those circling around the current incumbent of Number 10 Downing Street seem to mention the issues that those of us taxpayers picking up Britain’s massive benefits bill - claims are currently being made by over 20 million people - are bothered about says it all really. It’s as if any prospective leadership candidates have decided mentioning anything everyday working people worry about, like illegal immigration, is political suicide. Instead, they just keep churning out the old line about how they inherited all their problems from the Conservatives.
This voter doesn’t want to hear about the importance of AI or to have a leader jetting off to the other side of the world to bang on about climate change. She wants someone who has had a burst tire because of a pothole and who – when it happened – wouldn’t sit there like a lemon, but would get out of the car and swear before opening the boot and deftly pop the spare wheel on.
Forget pontificating politicians, maybe the future of our country lies in encouraging the practical.
Not only do we need ‘fix it labs’ in all schools, we need to move away from our country’s current mindset of ‘somebody else will do it.’
Just look at local authority housing. Back in the day gardens would be beautifully tended, now it’s unmowed lawns and bare borders. Old washing machines chucked out on the lawn, waiting for somebody else to sort. Fences unpainted and windows unwashed.
A sweeping generalisation, as there are some great exceptions, but nothing will improve until pride and a sense of purpose and community is restored.
Britain needs fixing.