High School Senior
Recently, we sat down with this great high school student, his story was one so many of us are able to relate too. As a middle - high student he was receiving C's at best and the occasional D made its appearances on his report card at times. The young man was doing all of the work but bored and whimsical, losing or just not turning in his completed work. He says, "my parents were always on me about turning in my work, I stayed after class and recesses many times". He would do just enough to get by. The start of his freshman year he talked to the high school’s counselor about technical hands-on learning classes, he wanted to go on to a career in welding and automotive work. He was able to participate in metals and automotive technologies classes, his grades went from C’s and D’s to A’s and B’s in his first semester of high school. He is now a Senior and working in a special 8th period class building one of the nation’s only electric ATV’s in a high school program. This young man exemplifies the cause Tools 4R Schools is working to perpetuate, you can see the twinkle in his eye and how smart he is.
Automotive Technologies (Auto Shop)
Watching a young lady in Auto Shop pulling the axle out of a car in the shop.
Automotive Technologies (Auto Shop)
Watching a young man in Auto Shop working on putting new floors in an old car.
The founder of Tools 4R Schools has seen the impact of technical hands-on learning first hand. She says, "When a student doesn't learn in a traditional lecturing environment, these classes and programs are sometimes the only thing a student has to keep them engaged".
Speaking with technical hands-on learning Instructors in our Public Schools, the Organization learned of the great sacrifices and extreme work teachers are subject too, out hustling for consumables, for safety equipment, and parts and pieces. The safety gear and equipment when available, is normally 3 to 5 years old. Businesses would be shut down by OSHA if they used the gear and equipment used in most high school technical hands-on learning programs.
Due to tough funding choices schools have disbanded these classes and programs entirely, teaching our children to test well so that the numbers look the best. All the while, the children have lost. The nations education system has put very little importance on technical hands-on learning and its programs for many many decades, and wonder why we are unable to find workers to use their hands doing jobs that pay a living wage or the jobs that teenagers once filled being filled by unskilled adult workers and wanting a living wage to do so. This trend can be turned around, this travesty can be fixed, it is going to take action, not words to do so!
EIN: 81-0716080
12730 Ridgewood Rd SE, Jefferson, Oregon 97352, USA
Call us: 503-779-9320
