So engineering education doesn’t provide much hands-on experience, but why do so few have that experience outside of the classroom? Why aren’t people working on their cars or fixing appliances as much as they used to? The easy answer is to turn to the generational argument about how people are getting softer and less willing to get their hands dirty. “Those damn millennials!” But how would that even happen? Maybe there was a national summit and a whole generation of toddlers met and passed a motion to stop tinkering. Seems a bit unlikely. It makes more sense to look at the changing conditions in society itself. In my view, the decline of do-it-yourself-er is a reaction to the way design itself has evolved.
#6 - Decline of Tinkering
#6 - Decline of Tinkering
#6 - Decline of Tinkering
So engineering education doesn’t provide much hands-on experience, but why do so few have that experience outside of the classroom? Why aren’t people working on their cars or fixing appliances as much as they used to? The easy answer is to turn to the generational argument about how people are getting softer and less willing to get their hands dirty. “Those damn millennials!” But how would that even happen? Maybe there was a national summit and a whole generation of toddlers met and passed a motion to stop tinkering. Seems a bit unlikely. It makes more sense to look at the changing conditions in society itself. In my view, the decline of do-it-yourself-er is a reaction to the way design itself has evolved.