Page 3 of 3 FirstFirst 123
Results 31 to 33 of 33

Thread: Lifelong Habits

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Western Nebraska
    Posts
    4,680
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post

    Standard school programs tend to frustrate those with advanced abilities, herd together the middle of the roaders and do very little for those who struggle.

    jtk
    Wife is a teacher, it's worse than that. Everything is based on standardized testing, especially funding, so the teachers are to teach to the test, nothing else. She teaches on a reservation, the kids are behind because of other problems, but they get compared to all other schools in the state, test scores are bad. The state then assumes they need "help" and changes curriculum, which just makes it worse because she is then reteaching or skipping subjects, so the score obviously don't improve again. Point is, at least in this case, the teacher knows whats wrong, but they are being forced to "teach" a different way. Wife is a good teacher, and I'm afraid she is about to walk away from the career because of the mess.

    Kids who think differently turn into adults with new ideas, which drive our civilization forward. The system as it is today though sure tries to stop independent thought. Maybe by accident...

    Back to subject, I do have a habit, I make my bed every day. No matter how wonderful or terrible the day was or is expected to be, that little bit of routine of making or crawling into a made bed, bookends the chaos and defines the work day.

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
    Posts
    11,247
    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    At 14 I went to work as a plumbers helper. The mechanic I was assigned to was a stickler for the proper tool for the work. You never used the wrong tool. The worst dress down I ever got from him was because I used my channel locks to tap a pipe over to get through a stud. I was told I was a lazy abuser of tools and a few other things. And then the lecture, "You will injure yourself or me. You will damage the tool. You will damage the work. Because of your laziness." To this day I instantly feel the guilt if I even think about hitting something with anything other than a hammer or something similar. The right tool for the job no matter what the task, working, cooking cleaning etc. etc. No turning screws with a butter knife around me because I will show you some kind of crazy.
    Jim
    James, I also had similar experiences in my early days, it developed an appreciation for safety, accuracy and performance that have stayed with me to this day. Yes you hack some stuff, however there's no substitute for proper tools and procedures, especially in my field.

    Another was a German instructor who had a folk saying in German that translated roughly to "check that the cow is brown on the other side". It has been a lifesaver working in technology, many many times it prevented me from charging off on a tangent.

    Most other instructional moments are not individually significant enough to remember, however they made me the person I am today, and many of those characteristics are positive. I wish I could pinpoint the moments and thank those responsible........Regards, Rod.

  3. #33
    I thought of this thread while standing on a ladder needing to push a thing into another thing, as I hit it with the back of my hammer drill's battery. Nothing broke, shockingly, but I felt searing shame. I was working with someone who builds highways and traffic control systems and told him about this thread. He had a good laugh. "When you're 60' in the air, you do what you gotta do, just be smart about it."

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •