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Post by 4wd on Oct 30, 2018 7:27:28 GMT
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Post by rgsp on Nov 1, 2018 9:45:44 GMT
Dexterity is a bit different from a general ability to "do things", and will often come for particular tasks, with a bit (maybe quite a lot) of practice.
When selecting candidates for Cambridge undergraduate Engineering, I do like to see some inclination from them to make things, or perhaps repair things: it isn't everything, but does tell quite a lot about the person's mental attitude and motivation. When asked, I often get the answer "Oh I live in an ordinary house in [insert town X] and can't make or do things at home", or even worse "My school didn't teach me how to make things". Doesn't mean instant rejection for the candidate, but it does raise a serious question mark.
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Post by 4wd on Nov 1, 2018 10:19:55 GMT
Would that not tie in with the #1 choice of trying do stuff on a screen first though. I do wonder at times if media, education and legislation seem to be designed to instil the idea that almost everything is too difficult and or dangerous unless you had a training course. A bit off topic but I rather despise the constant litany of doom put out by Guardian and BBC end of media about climate and environment. It generally seems utterly London-centric and influences far too many into a negative can't-do mindset.
Recently they can hardly go a day without promoting Veganism because farming animals is now somehow bad. I'm reminded of a cartoon where cows were grazing alongside four lanes of stationary motorway traffic and the (Guardian reading?) drivers were knowledgeably pointing out much those animals must be affecting climate. You couldn't make it up, there seems to be a kind of alt-science developing devoted to proving every wrong idea imaginable is actually right.
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Post by rgsp on Nov 2, 2018 8:52:29 GMT
Would that not tie in with the #1 choice of trying do stuff on a screen first though. I do wonder at times if media, education and legislation seem to be designed to instil the idea that almost everything is too difficult and or dangerous unless you had a training course. I'd go along with all of that. Being able to model and analyse physical things on a computer is a huge positive ability, but you don't need to use it if all you want is a bit of steel to repair a hole in a rusty wheelbarrow. I carry a small (pocketable) ringback notebook around with me a lot of the time, and it contains a lot of sketches of odds an ends, which are a lot quicker than using any computer CAD package. There's also a lot to be said for "try it and see" when making simple things which cost little and can sensibly be junked if the first guess was wrong. The problem with the BBC has been brewing since the mid 1960s, and has a very clear cause: at that time some idiot took the decision that the organisation would ONLY employ arts graduates - anyone with a science or engineering degree was automatically rejected. After a decade or two you then get a bunch of people who are simply unable to distinguish physical fact from bullshit, and I rather suspect the same thing applies to The Guardian, which used to be a very respectable newspaper, but is now little more than a propaganda comic (although they do still have a few very good investigative journalists).
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