Brilliant Minds in the Works

[Dan Crabtree]

two days ago at school another student bent a paperclip into a U shape and stuck it into the electric outlet for $2 :shock: . Yes, two dollars. Sparks flew everywhere and it burnt his fingers. Hes the same age as me. Ive know not to stick anything thats not supose to go in the outlet forever. But I spent my elementry grades in a rural farm school. Are we forgetting to teach people the basics ( and this is the most common sense thing that everyone should know)? or are we just getting dumber. And lets also take this time to remember that water and electricity dont mix, and sticking things in the outlets that aren't supose to go in the outlets is a bad idea. Please tell me if i should go over the abc's

[Ed Thomas]

Dan, sometimes stupidity is just an overwhelming urge, apparently. My friend, the welding instructor, caught a student showing off by arc welding without a helmet or eye protection of any sort -- looking directly into the arc. "Look Ma... No eyes!!!"

[Strine]

Dan,
At work the other day I was accused in no small measure by my "mentor", a twenty three year old (I'm over fifty), that I had not enough common sense to solve a problem that I faced. What he was trying to tell me was that I did not have enough experience in the particular job and that he was sorry he had been lacking in his mentoring.

My point is the amount of common sense we have is a measure of what we have learnt from our own experience or from the experience of others.

We don't touch the hot plate on the stove because our mothers said "don't touch that it's hot" Hot? what on earth does that mean...we touch the stove and have a life experience to last for ever, ... our common sense is heightened.

Your student has obviously missed out on the experience that would tell him he is an idiot if he proceeds. Is that his fault? or is he just adding to his common sense later than the rest of us.

And to end this drivel, my mentor won't be accusing me of anything in the future :x . He will be respectfully pointing out that we both have a problem and and that between the two of us we will set things right. Fortunately for him the common sense I did have prevented me from flattening his nose.

[HWooldridge]

Strine,

I agree - people don't do stupid stuff because they figure out the right way to do something and then do the opposite on purpose.

I went to a welding class years ago and one student watched a whole day of demonstrating without a lens. The instructor didn't check the hoods before issuing them and the student just didn't know any better - he thought the hoods were just to protect the head and face. He spent two days in the hospital nursing his eyes.

I have four sons, all grown now, but they watched me rebuild engines, work in the shop, on the lathe, drive a tractor, etc. since they were very young. They picked up "common sense" by watching and doing on their own. Experience builds on itself because similar projects come along and your brain says "I can figure this out" and then you do - thereby building more experience. This goes on until we pass on.

I'm glad you didn't flatten his nose - although the "experience" might have been good for him... :wink: