Stewart

 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.)

http://www.amazon.ca/Multiple-Intelligences-Classroom-Thomas-Armstrong/dp/1416607897/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327529183&sr=1-1

            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”.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061673730/ref=s9_simh_se_p14_d0_g14_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=auto-no-results-center-1&pf_rd_r=AAAE38F10C5E46579BBB&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_p=1263465782&pf_rd_i=zane%20and%20the%20art%20of%20motorocycyle%20maintenance

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”.

http://www.coe.uga.edu/~rhill/workethic/hist.htm

 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 20^th and 21^st Centuries. In my opinion, the powers to be in this province should take a page from this book when reforming our education system.