Stewart
Dedicated to my
Father a Mechanic
Most of the comments in this blog are based on the
book, Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford
Blog 1
Diane Lewis
I like to
think of my life journey as a series of paths in a forest, like the Robert Frost
poem, The Road Not Taken. http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-road-not-taken/
I feel I am a passenger on this trip not necessarily the pilot. I am actually
ok with that, it makes life more of an adventure when you submit to the
universe and don’t always try to be in control. I don’t think we can control a
lot of things anyway.
I could not
wait to start reading Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford. http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Class-Soulcraft-Inquiry-Value/dp/1594202230.
I used to teach at Memorial
Composite High
School in Sydney Mines. This school is a
combination of vocational training and academic programs. It was a prototype
for this mixture of disciplines that was supposed to be replicated all over Nova Scotia. For
whatever reason, they did not get built. All across Canada, Boards of Education started
closing vocational schools. When I taught there 2003-2007 there was lots of buzz
about opening Composite High Schools again and we often had Department of
Education visitors, even a Premier, on fact finding missions wandering the halls.
On page 19 Crawford talks about “…in our schools, the manual trades are given
little honor.” From my experience, I would say that is true for the trades and
the arts. There is definitely a hierarchy of importance in the curriculum game.
Educators and parents still seem stuck on the notion that everyone must have a
college education, believing this will be the best preparation for the future
job hunter.
I worked
for many years in the non profit sector as an Administrator. I can appreciate
the overall sentiment in the book that office jobs tend to be less fulfilling
than hands on type of employment. I was also interested in this book because I
make a living using my hands and teaching children and adults how to use
theirs. I try to promote Art Education whenever I can. I don’t feel the public
and even some of my colleague’s value what I do. They often make comments or Freudian
slips about how easy they think my job is, not a serious subject, just fluff.
There is such a bias in our culture about Science and Math being the most
important subjects to learn. The lowly Artist’s role has to constantly be
justified in times of cutbacks. (Multiple Intelligence in the Classroom-Thomas
Armstrong 3rd Edition Page 123.)
The final
reason I was anxious to dive into Crawford’s book was because my father was a Mechanic. He was a Farmer from rural Cape Breton.
He did not have the opportunity to attend university and thought it was the
best option for all of his children. Two out of three of us agreed.
Crawford
makes reference to the Robert M. Pirsig book, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance”.
I was too young to appreciate that book when I read it. At
that time in my life, I was a very literal thinker and did not appreciate the
way this book was presented. For some reason I loved Crawford’s book. I was
fascinated by all of the details about fixing engines and repairing rare
motorcycles. I can’t do any of these types of repairs for myself but admired
his passion and the notion of doing something that makes your heart sing. In my
mind there is such beauty in even the simplest job done with passion, pride and
attention to detail.
I agree
with him that past generations were more self sufficient. My father could fix
anything from vacuum cleaners to watches. He seemed to be able to transfer his
Mechanic’s problem solving skills to anything that had moving parts. He had
been trained as a Blacksmith but did a stint in the army during World War ll
that transformed him into a Mechanic. The army had not only given him a trade
but placed him in a unit where they were developing prototypes for fighting in
the harsh conditions of Russia.
They were sleeping outside in sub zero temperatures learning to be resourceful.
They were prepared to die for their country defending the world from a mad man.
Stewart Lewis on the
back of an “Electric Toboggan”
My mother
grew up during the great Depression and the images of children in her class
fainting from hunger where imprinted in her memory. She instilled in me a sense
of resourcefulness that I use with my students. “Waste not, want not” was one
of her favorite sayings. Everything had to be repurposed, nothing was wasted.
On page 17 Crawford points out that “…the consumer discards things that are
perfectly serviceable in his restless pursuit of the new.”
I
had a Nova Scotia Teachers Union Grant to green my classroom. I documented the
process in a Power Point called “Artcycle”. I was raised to give things away
but not to throw things away. What I own does not define who I am.
Slide from Artcycle
Crawford’s
book echoed what my parents also instilled in me a “Protestant Work Ethic”.
That translated into:
be reliable, go above and beyond your job description, never take a sick day
and don’t expect personal fulfillment from your work.
Needless to say, I really embraced this book.
The value of hard work, enjoying the process of thinking about things, not being
sure, experimenting, relying on your instincts or past experience, it all makes
sense to me. On page 194, the book talks about Brewer’s psychological
experiment rewarding children who were told ahead of time they would be given a
certificate with gold seal and ribbon. Weeks later those who were rewarded took
less interest drawing and had lower quality work.” Crawford’s mantra of pride
in what you do without external rewards seems to be confirmed by this experiment.
In our school system today, failing a student is discouraged. It was my
experience that by the time students got to high school they no longer cared
about doing a good job, but just wanted a mark for no apparent reason. When the
Department of Education decided it was unfair to take away a student’s right to
write their exam, even if they didn’t attend class, they stopped coming to school.
They are now revisiting that decision.
Shop
Class as Soulcraft was a thoughtful and humorous commentary on the blue and
white collar biases in the 20th and 21st Centuries. In my
opinion, the powers to be in this province should take a page from this book
when reforming our education system.
