The System Doesn’t Want Smart People Working With Their Hands

Comments · 174

• NA

  @naniedesbois3891 · 1 day ago

  Someone who can use their brain and their hands is more difficult to control because they have ideas and know how to make them real.

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• CR

  @Craig_Simpson · 5 days ago

  My wife calls them "Zombie Skills" meaning when the zombie apocalypse comes and society breaks down you can look after yourself.

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• SH

  @ShaunHall-m4z · 5 days ago

  I have dyslexia so going through the educational system here in the US taught me to explore and learn about our universe on my own terms. I found my journey much more rewarding.

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• MA

  @malc.s.5373 · 5 days ago

  Nice episode. I remember sitting in chemistry and latin classes at grammar school thinking I could be doing something more useful than this. My mates that failed the 11 plus seemed happier doing more practical stuff like metalwork. They were creating things in their teens and knew how to weld cars when I was doing boring office work for a bank.I have just turned 70 but at làst I grow veg and make very interesting organic creations with wood. Happy days.

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• RO

  @RobinSongsAreMagical · 5 days ago

  Ah, so true. We have considered &quot;thinking (academic) paths&quot; as more lofty.<br><br>Sadly.<br><br>Even worse, we (as a society) have mostly held the opinion that those who had not climbed high on the academic ladder weren&apos;t thinkers...<br><br>Embarrassing.<br><br>Anyone who is academically advanced will lean on those who took the manual jobs. Yet, this &quot;white collar / blue collar&quot; distinction still smacks of &quot;class snobbery&quot;.<br><br>Woeful.<br><br>And the meaning? To create division and dependence.<br><br>However, we can turn it around. We can choose to learn together and from each other.<br>We can choose to be open to new ideas, have discussions and broaden our thinking.<br>We can choose to acquire new skills.<br>We can choose to be more &quot;well-rounded&quot; and might keep not only ourselves but society afloat.<br>We can choose to spend daylight hours active and mostly out-of-doors and then share our thoughts in round the fire chats.<br><br>We still have a choice to change. We can still re-connect &nbsp;- &nbsp;to each other and nature.<br><br>Thanks for sharing - its very inspiring to watch your videos. I am <b>trying</b> to gain new skills, such as (sourdough) bread baking, crochet and a little bit of gardening.

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• SI

  @simonRTJ · 23 hours ago

  &quot;The System Doesn’t Want Smart People Working With Their Hands&quot; analogy to New Zealands council stranglehold and choking red tape and the exorbitant outrageous costs to do anything to ones own house, prevents anyone with less than a massive income to improve their living conditions.

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• CP

  @CppObjectOrientedProgrammer · 13 hours ago (edited)

  You&apos;re not an endless customer&amp;worker(for $) if you do much on your own (gardening, water, electrical, wood, metal working).

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• WP

  @wp9133 · 20 hours ago

  Today I dug out my sewing machine and made some curtains for the bathroom. I used fabric I already had instead of buying new blinds. It felt great to utilize this skill that I learned long ago.

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• MI

  @mimetist_oficial · 5 days ago

  At school: Memorizing was at the top, repeating was second... and then they talked a lot about how important it was memorizing the thinking to be done.

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• CL

  @clovermark39 · 3 days ago

  I encouraged and taught my son to be practical. He is an intelligent man and his work is mainly online software type. His university degree was electronics involving making devices. He made a device that made things like bear, kefir, yogurt etc as he also is keen on natural fermentation and the goodness of it which I encouraged too. I mainly do my own work because I don’t have a lot of money and think it’s not always good to grow up with a lot of money.

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• ST

  @StewSims · 1 day ago

  It&apos;s increasingly evident not only are knowledge-work jobs at risk of being &apos;automated&apos; away, but some practical jobs also carry this risk with the pace of change in both AI and robotics driving this, so the labour market of the future is pretty much impossible to predict. This is why as you suggest a well-rounded education including both the practical and the academic would benefit everyone. It&apos;s also beneficial from an environmental standpoint and resilience to global change. We tend to advocate just one path, even today when there is renewed interest in practical skills and professions there is this dichotomy. I think we would all be a lot happier and the world would be a better place if people did a mix of &apos;doing&apos; and &apos;thinking&apos; work their entire lives with some of this being work we choose to do purely for ourselves and neighbours (grow veg, tend a smallholding, communal gardening etc.). Of course there&apos;s one big problem: the valuation of profit above everything else. You can&apos;t get away from the fact politics and economics currently conspire against these goals and I&apos;m not even making a partisan point here - it is how the entire world works. Not to say we shouldn&apos;t try for better, and at least if people hold onto this idea of a better future and are talking about it more that is a starting point to making progress.

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• CA

  @carolewarner101 · 4 days ago

  When I was a kid, I loved sports and camping and nature. &nbsp;AND reading and music and just about anything interesting. &nbsp;6I was in to adventure...at 16 I went skydiving!!! &nbsp;BUT...my dad was a lawyer and his dad before him. &nbsp;Mom raised us and ran the home, as was that generation, but she took art classes in college. &nbsp;Not just on a whim, but the serious art classes as a major. &nbsp;She was extremely good. &nbsp;I remember when I graduated high school feeling like my life was over. &nbsp;I didn&apos;t know what I wanted to do with my life, or so I thought. &nbsp;I actually DID know what I wanted. &nbsp;But NONE of it felt like an acceptable option. &nbsp;I felt like it was expected I go to college and do something grand, like become a doctor or something. &nbsp;Which I did. &nbsp;But I only practiced for about ten years and then couldn&apos;t do it anymore. &nbsp;I loved the patients and helping them. &nbsp;But I HATED running a business and an office SO much (I have pretty severe ADHD) that I shut my practice down and went on an adventure to walk the Appalachian Trail. &nbsp;And when I got back I couldn&apos;t MAKE myself reopen the practice again. &nbsp;So I spent about ten years feeling like a failure... &nbsp;And now? &nbsp;Now my husband and I have a bit of land and we&apos;ve planted an orchard and we&apos;re building a house with our own hands and planting a huge veg garden...And all the things I should have been doing from the very start! &nbsp;I loved tiling the bathroom and the kitchen. &nbsp;Loved learning how to wire the house and do some of the plumbing. &nbsp;LOVED IT! &nbsp;Can&apos;t wait to have a wood shop. &nbsp;I absolutely LOVED wood shop in 9th grade. &nbsp;<br><br>Such a shame that a smart kid like me didn&apos;t even think it was an option to do what I&apos;m doing now back then. &nbsp;I think I would&apos;ve lived a happier life the whole way through, honestly. &nbsp;The saddest part of all for me is that I never had any children. &nbsp;Missed my chance while I was busy getting my &quot;education,&quot; doing a residency and getting my practice up and running. &nbsp;By the time I felt like I could take it on, I no longer had viable eggs it turned out. &nbsp;I&apos;ve always regretted missing out on children...

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